how old is too old for flower, herb, and vegetable seeds?

[Tormato]

12 year old marglobe tomato seeds never popped,in soil on a warming tray.

A few years ago, I germinated 1965 seeds of Ace 55. It only took 4 days. Those seeds were in Auburn U's deep freeze since then. The freezer finally broke down, and there was a mad scramble to distribute all of the seeds to growers. I somehow wound up with the Ace 55 seeds.

As for normal 12 year old seed, not frozen, It often takes a month (sometimes a bit more) to germinate. I sow very shallow, as seedlings can be extremely weak. If I work again with old seed, I'll like place them on a moist paper towel, sealed in a zip-type baggie. I give up at 45 days if nothing germinates in that time.

[Tormato]

Muskmelon, watermelon, and squash seeds can last a long time.

I hear purslane can remain viable for like 45 years in the soil, I think it was. I'm not sure how long it keeps indoors.

I was just reading something about old timers growing melons. It seems that some farmers believed that only planting 4 to roughly 10 year old melon seeds would produce the sweetest, best tasting melons, and have the largest crop.

[slugworth]

12 year old marglobe tomato seeds never popped,in soil on a warming tray.

A few years ago, I germinated 1965 seeds of Ace 55. It only took 4 days. Those seeds were in Auburn U's deep freeze since then. The freezer finally broke down, and there was a mad scramble to distribute all of the seeds to growers. I somehow wound up with the Ace 55 seeds.

As for normal 12 year old seed, not frozen, It often takes a month (sometimes a bit more) to germinate. I sow very shallow, as seedlings can be extremely weak. If I work again with old seed, I'll like place them on a moist paper towel, sealed in a zip-type baggie. I give up at 45 days if nothing germinates in that time.

april 10th will be the 2 month mark.

[slugworth]

Ace or Ace 55?
Ace 55 I have seeds from pre-covid 2019 I never started.
Ace sounds like the 1965 version

[Tormato]

Ace or Ace 55?
Ace 55 I have seeds from pre-covid 2019 I never started.
Ace sounds like the 1965 version

It came to me as Ace 55. The 1965 date of my seed makes sense, as Asgrow Seed Co. released it in the fall of 1964/spring of 1965, with Auburn likely getting a good supply for testing and probably future breeding purposes.

[lee53011]

i've been told onion seed is only good for one year. My 8 year old seed didn't get the memo! I keep all my seeds in the freezer though.

I have had the same experience with my onion seeds, and I also store them in the freezer.

[NarnianGarden]

I have tomato seeds that are over ten years ago (the oldest maybe from 2007, thanks to some very nice and generous people who have sent me some of those varieties), and I realised that I really need start growing some of those for seed-saving purposes... I'll sow some of the oldest seeds next year, and collect the fresh seeds. It really would be a shame to lose those rare varieties..
It seems that finding seeds on-line is getting harder and harder.. so many options gone. No more Russian eBay sellers, Ukraine is difficult to order from, no more buying from the U.K., some great EU vendors have gone out of business, Tatiana's tomato base isn't selling any seeds either.. and ordering seeds from the U.S. is getting more expensive and cumbersome, with all the different regulations and customs requirements between countries...
I was actually wise to hoard some of the seeds I did during the past five years. Taught me the lesson that just because something is available today, it might not be there tomorrow...

Also got plenty of various Brassica seeds. From 2013 onwards. They are going to be used for micro greens, as I no longer have a gardening plot large enough..
I have told my parents that if the Lord takes me to Heaven soon, my most valuable earthly possessions are my seeds..! but I don't want to have them laying around, I need to start using and regrowing the treasured varieties.

[Whwoz]

I have 20 year old pepper seed, probably Jimmy Nardello, germinating currently. One potted up with 2 more on the move, not sure how many were planted and considering that no special storage conditions were used for most of the intervening time, a very pleasant surprise.

[habitat-gardener]

I had a bunch of older packets of peas, mostly from 2004-2014 (and a few from 2015-19), so I divided them into five groups: 2' snaps, 2' shells, 2' snow, tall snaps, tall snows. About a week ago, I soaked them overnight and have been rinsing them twice a day. A lot of them are still alive! I don't know if they will turn into anything, but it's too wet and cold to plant peas in the ground, so I might as well play with my seeds. I've started potting up the sprouted ones into 6-packs indoors. If the rains stop long enough for the soil to be workable, I'll try planting some of these out in the garden.

But now that so many have sprouted, I wish I had figured out a way to sprout the varieties/vintages separately!

[bower]

I started masses of pepper seed from 2014 alongside seed from last year's supermarket pepper. Just potted up the super-peppers today, 100% up and shucked their seeds. So far no sign of my old peppers, but it's only a week and a half. I've taken them off the heat mat today, made sure they are moist, and will let them sit quietly somewhere for a month more.

This thread is reminding me, that if I have seed I don't intend to plant within the year, maybe I should be keeping it in the freezer.

[zeedman]

How long are pea seeds considered to be good for?

The oldest peas I've ever tried were an 8 year old soup pea; started in pots, it had about 90% germination. A 6 year old shelling pea though, germinated erratically and was nearly dead... so wrinkled-seeded peas may not last as long (much like wrinkled-seeded corn). Properly dried & stored, at least 5-6 years.