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Re: Old seeds

On Sun, 2 Feb 1997 18:43:44 -0800, you wrote:

>Hello everyone, As I mentioned recently I'm new to gardening and when my
>sister-in-law heard that I was going to be making an honest effort at it
>this year she sent me a huge box of assorted garden seeds.  Seems that she
>has inherited these from deceased relatives.  I opened up this box yesterday
>and what a surprise I found.  There are hundreds of packages of seeds of all
>types, flowers and veggies.  The only thing is some have dates as far back
>as 1962, what a hoot to see the price per packet of 10 cents.  I wonder if
>any will germinate.  Does anyone know anything about old seeds.  I thought I
>might try to germinate some in damp tissues first.  Any suggestions?
>
>Dot Geib
>Pitt Meadows, B.C. Canada
>Zone 8??

Dear Dot,

For the flowers I should give it a try. If there are exceptional
flowers among the packets it is worth to make a germination proof on
e.g. damp tissue. If 50% of the seeds germinate, you are lucky. Try to
grow them in small pots.
For the vegetables I think there is only one thing: Forget them. It's
a pity but if you want some result with your vegetables buy new seeds.
Even when you can put them to germination, these are old varieties
with no or little resistance to diseases. And as a beginner it think
it will be a little bit discouraging when you see that your plants
will be eaten by bugs, caterpillars, larvas, bacteria, viruses, moulds
and other vermin. As an organic gardener, I should also advice not to
use pesticides. For a beginner it is better to take resistent
varieties, hybrids or non-hybrids. Some seed catalogs mention the
resistency against diseases and plagues.

Good luck
André Vanheddeghem
Ronse, Belgium
Zone 8
andrev@unicall.be
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