It is no exaggeration to state that almost all land-based life depends on seeds; even the mightiest of trees in old-growth forests came from seeds. In many countries on Earth, human beings have turned seed-saving into a business. This is a positive business to be in of course, however we should not discount the opportunity to save seeds ourselves.
Once we do so a question often arises, how long do those seeds last; how long will they be viable and able to grow?
Let’s take these tomato starts above, as we can see they are terribly cramped; why would that be? Because they were our attempt to figure out from some seeds we were given, if they were still viable and that is because the newest were saved in 2018 and the oldest in 2015; that’s 8 years ago!
Typically we don’t test viability, like this, we just had some spare soil hanging around and never expected to get such a success rate; we would have been happy with just 5%. The moral here being; don’t just throw “old” seeds out. Next, this is how we typically test seed viability.
Seed germination testing is a useful tool to assess the viability of seeds before planting. It determines the percentage of seeds that are alive in any seed lot and provides a good estimate of the potential field performance. The speed of germination varies slightly across varieties, but seeds should absorb moisture within two days and produce a root and the first leaf within four to seven days. If the test determines a low germination percentage, growers can throw the seeds away and purchase more seeds (this should be a last resort). Germination testing can also be informative for labeling purposes. Laboratory testing of seed germination is necessary to assess seed quality or viability and predict the performance of the seed and seedling in the field.1 To test seeds for germination, write the type of seed on the outside of the baggie and place the sealed bag of seed packets in a warm spot in the house. Check seeds every few days for germination by gently unrolling the damp paper towel. It is good to select a fixed quantity, for instance if we had 10 seeds and 8 germinated that is an 80% germination rate.
Another method we have used is to user older seeds in seed balls or lastly to use them to grow sprouts for consumption in salads, etc.
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