Seed germination - is freshness an issue?

[squeezyjohn]

I only ask because I have 4 varieties germinating at the moment and two come from fellow FTT members, whereas two were bought from a US based seed supplier (sustainable seed co.) - the two varieties sent to me by a generous FTT member have started sprouting and putting up the baby leaves - whereas the seeds from sustainable seed co are showing no signs of life yet.

Do you think this is a freshness issue? Or are the bright-leaf types slower to come up than Burleys

The varieties from MarkW are: Silver River & YTB - up and running nicely

The varieties from Sustainable seed co are: African Red & Oxford 207

Thanks in advance

Squeezy

 

[bonehead]

i know some varieties take longer to come up than others. i once started more than one kind of seed in the same starter tray and had to leave on the cover longer than i would have liked because of a slow sprouting situation with some varieties. i got worried about dampening off of the early started seeds to keep the slow seeds moist until germination.

 

[deluxestogie]

How many days has it been?

Well stored tobacco seed is good for 10 years. Sustainable Seed has not been in business that long. Their tobacco seed comes from Skychaser.

Bob

 

[DonH]

I had good success last year with Sustainable Seed seeds.

 

[DGBAMA]

My Virginia seed took much longer than the others last year.

 

[Markw]

Hi Squeezy.
My African Red that a kind member sent me took some time to come up. it is funny some of the older seeds that I will be growing out this year was 8 years old and was the first to germinate. I have noticed that there are some that take longer than others. If you are a bit worried I would just sow a few more to be on the safe side. And thanks again Squeezy for that Yacon they are doing just fine I can't wait to get them planted out.

Markw

 

[skychaser]

The African Red seed is from 2013. The Oxford is from 2012. It all germ tested good. Give it 7-10 days and you'll see sprouts.

 

[squeezyjohn]

Thanks everyone ... for reinforcing what I probably knew anyway. I didn't realise they were your seed stock Skychaser ... great to know their provenance!

 

[squeezyjohn]

I'm 12 days in and one or two of the African Red seeds have just emerged but I've still had nothing from the Oxford 207. I'm using the same compost mix for all my seeds. I'm keeping them next to a heater that keeps it nice and cosy and making sure that they do not dry out. I will keep going - but I did not expect it to take this long!

Maybe the seeds know they're in Britain and are scared of coming out in to the open because of the environmental cruelty I have planned for them over the next 5 months or so!

 

[Ishi]

The African Red I got from Sky sprouted in 9 days. I put the seeds in a jar on top of 1/2 inch starter mix the put the lid on. The temp was 60 -70 F. Transferred them when the sprouts were about 1/4 inch long. pocked up some seed that had not sprouted so in some pots now I will have to pull a few.

 

[squeezyjohn]

I think it's a temperature issue my end actually ... it's been so mild this march that we've turned our heating right down which unfortunately means that my prime warm spot for germinating is significantly colder than last year and I hadn't noticed ... I'm going to try putting them in to my allotment hotbed to see if they prefer the warmth from that.

 

[Knucklehead]

I think it's a temperature issue my end actually ... it's been so mild this march that we've turned our heating right down which unfortunately means that my prime warm spot for germinating is significantly colder than last year and I hadn't noticed ... I'm going to try putting them in to my allotment hotbed to see if they prefer the warmth from that.

Can you get seedling heat mats? (propagation mats in some areas) I feel that mine have helped me a lot in my basement. Although heated, it stays 6 or 7 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. The thermostats for the heat system are upstairs is one reason, being underground is the other. The literature with the mats claim a ten degree heat increase over ambient temperatures.

 

[deluxestogie]

The 10ºF is just horse puckie. But they do add a 17 Watt boost to each 1020 tray.

Bob

 

[squeezyjohn]

Well - the Oxford 207 hasn't made an appearance yet ... but my hotbed is powered by the heat coming from fermenting horse muck ... so horse muckie it is then!

I'm an off grid kind of guy so I won't be using excess electricity to get them started - I wonder if Oxford 207 is one of those that needs quite high light levels that I wasn't giving them by my old methods? They're getting it now!

 

[leverhead]

...I wonder if Oxford 207 is one of those that needs quite high light levels that I wasn't giving them by my old methods? They're getting it now!

It won't hurt anything.

 

[skychaser]

I don't recall Oxford being one that needed light. I've only run into a couple of those. Temp does make a big difference though. Varieties that sprout in 7 days at an average temp of 75f will take two weeks at 65f. But you are at two weeks now and should being seeing something. I had that seed germ tested by the WSDA in March 2012, and it came back at 90%. No reason you should being seeing much difference. It's got me curious now though, so I'm going to do a little home germ test on the Oxford seed and see what I get.

Are you seeing sprouts in the African Red yet?

 

[skychaser]

It's got me curious now though, so I'm going to do a little home germ test on the Oxford seed and see what I get.

It's been just under 4 1/2 days since I started my test and I have sprouts showing in about half the seed now. Those things should be growing for ya squeezy. ??