A friend of ours has a wife who is a teacher. Her school ordered seeds for a class project and then, sadly, cancelled the project.
All the seeds were given to the students that wanted to take them home.
These are what were left over, from the Seeds of Change company. They had them stored in a closet for a couple of years and then decided to move. She asked if we wanted them for the farm.
Free seeds? Sure!
There are seeds of all types of veggies, melons, herbs, even a few flowers. The packets are a kind of vinyl that is heat sealed so we're guessing they are sealed up well. However, they are about 2 years old now, maybe going on 3. What do y'all think? Do you think they are still viable? Not sure what lifespan seeds like this have. It probably wouldn't make sense to open every single packet to test each variety. Maybe we should just leave them sealed in their packages until planting season for whatever variety it is and test them then?
How Wonderful to receive Free seeds.
ReplyDeleteI would Not open the packages until you are ready to plant.
I do store seed packets in the freezer until ready to use. When or just before planting season there is a test that you can do to see if the seeds are still good or not: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2015/03/how-to-test-seeds-for-viability.html
At times I do the float test but not always reliable, plus for real tiny seeds they will float no matter what but have done with larger seeds I would place in glass of warm water, leave set overnight and those that float to the top - discard, and those that sink are still good to plant but like I mentioned; that test is not always reliable.
My suggestion; go with the damp paper towel experiment as mentioned in the link above.
Great resources, thank you. I need to sort them and find out which are good for fall so I can check them sooner rather than too late.
DeleteOnion family seeds are only good for about 1 year, and corn/celery/pepper seeds for about 2 years. Most others should be good for 3-5 years. Of course, there could be germination and I'd surely do a wet paper towel test on them before throwing any away. What a great find! And kudos to Seeds of Change for the generous donation to the school.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info on that. We learn something new every day don't we? Yes, Seeds of Change do great work like this.
DeleteGo for it! Plant them in eggshells,if they come up,put them out
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the eggshell plant starters. I forgot about that, thanks!
DeleteI agree with Patricia and peg. I always try to see if any of them germinate before I plant them in anything. Of course, eggshells do not take much from resources. Cover the seeds to keep them moist. And, keep them warm.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I love that everyone is so knowledgable. Thank you much!!
DeleteHigh Mowing Organic Seeds has a nice seed viability chart, and the comments following are rather surprising. One person reported that his sweet corn seeds had almost 100% germination after more than ten years (he kept his seeds in his fridge), so your mileage may vary. But since your seeds are stored in plastic packets, you may have decent germination as well, better than what the official charts may indicate. Coffee filters are good for pre-sprouting seeds, since seeds won't stick to the filter like they tend to do on the paper towel. Good luck with your windfall of seeds.
ReplyDeleteThan you so much. I've heard good things about seeds that have been stored. We'll see what happens. And I like the coffee filter idea too. Thanks!!!
DeleteI agree. Well sealed seeds, in a closet without light and with a fairly constant temperature should be good. Personally, I'd plant them out, keep a record of what you planted where, and if they haven't come up in a week, replant,except for carrots and a few long germination plants. Most seeds do well when they're packaged well and treated gently.
ReplyDeleteYep, that's how they were. Thanks for the info we might as well give it a shot. You never know!
DeleteFree seeds - can't beat that price!
ReplyDeleteThey are well-sealed and were kept in a dark closet - so I think you could plant them. Since your Spring garden is already planted, the Fall would be good - you can plant "Spring" vegetables again in late August-early September in this area.
Free is the best price of all. :-)
DeleteThey were in a closet, dark, and air conditioned for the whole time. And need to remember the Spring veggies for late Summer. Remind me if I forget, ha.
So nice to receive all those seeds but so sad that the school canceled the project.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Oh my gosh, yes, the teachers were so disappointed. I guess They ran out of time and just moved on to other projects.
DeletePut the seeds that you don’t want to use in your bird feeder or toss them in one of your no mow areas and see what happens. They will either grow or some critter will eat them ��
ReplyDeleteWell there you go! That's a win win isn't it? Thank you!
DeleteI say plant what ever you fancy. We have found that most seeds come up years after the sell by date, heck they have grains from the Pyramids in Egypt that they germinated. The only thing that will be problematic will be parsnips. I dont even know if you grow those over there and they take 2 years to get to your plate. ditch those. if you dont want to waste the compost soak some and put them on kitchen paper, if they sprout you know you are on to a good thing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for some more great info. I love parsnips but not sure if they grow here either. I'll have to check that out. Thank you.
DeleteHey, they're free and some of them will certainly sprout! So nice she offered them to you. If anyone could give them a good home, you can!
ReplyDeleteWe're so grateful they thought of us. Hey, seeds never hurt, right?
DeleteI just sowed a packet mixed hot pepper seeds (Salsa mix which is cayenne, hot Hungarian, jalapeno, Anaheim and Poblano from 2012. I ended up with 50+ seedlings. Assuming the packet had about 100 seeds.(It was a smaller packet). And considering it is a blend (20% each of the aforementioned seeds) it will be surprise as to what I harvest. I will be learning how to make my own hot pepper sauce and canning lots of salsa.
ReplyDeleteTonya!!! You have been missed. I love the idea of so much pepper. I've thought about something like that just to maybe make all sorts of sauces and such .
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