Difficulty With Germination - Any Tips?

[SundayAfternoon]

I bought a packet of Bell Pepper seeds here in Thialand and they have germinated and are growing well. Conversly, I bought a packet of seeds called 'Red Cheese Pepper' from the US (a heritage variety) and I cannot get one single seed to germinate (in exactly the same setup - pot size, climate, soil mix, moisture, weather, etc all the same).

I know peppers can be slow to germinate, so I have tried soaking them, and putting them in damp tissue... and planting in 20% vermicast. Nothing has worked so far.

Does anyone have any other ideas for who to get these tricky little guys to germinate, or should I put it down to a bad batch of seeds?

[cooked]

Seeds seem to 'go off' quickly here, which is probably why the Thais buy them in sealed aluminium packets or in cans. We immediately take any seeds we have left over or have collected into air tight containers and then into the fridge. We also have bought stuff that hasn't germinated at all, no way of knowing what the 'sell by date' would be in Thailand.

Maybe your American variety was laying around for two long?

[Scoop1]

Hey Cooked, this is from one of my previous post's, it may help you understand a little bit more about seeds and germination, i would dust them in fungicide and if that doesn't work, i think they will be out of date, does the pack have an expiry date ?

Storing Tomato Seed.

Tomato seeds will store under the corrrect conditions for about 3-4 years, after this time they will start to lose viability, the dry seeds should be stored in small air and moisture proof containers or sachels and stored in the refrigerator from 0-4 degrees , as this temperature slows the respiration rate of the seed, warm temps and high humidity around the seed will shorten its viable life and rapidly speed up seed ageing, the decreased oxygen inside the sealed sachel or container also acts to slow down the rate of repiration and further prolong the viable shelf life of the seed. It is temperature that mostly determines the rate of chemical reaction within the seed including the rate of respiration. Once the sealed container is opened and is no longer air tight the seed is exposed to increased oxygen and humidity and this will also speed up the the rate of respiration and lower the expected shelf life. So its is a good idea to store only the amount of seed you need to plant out in seperate containers , so you dont break the seal in the containers containing the seed that you dont need, a safe seed moisture level for sealed storage is about 5.5%. Seed extraction should only come from at very least mature green fruit, seeds will germinate best in complete darkness at a temperature of 20-24 degrees and germination rates are less at temps of 15 degrees { lowest ] and 35 degrees [ highest ] a sterile media can also be used in the germiniation process if its available, seeds can also be dusted with a fungicide before planting if you are that way inclined.

Cheers

Scoop

[cooked]

Thanks. In fact I found your interesting post just after posting. Not intending to be snooty but I was a seed collector for a botanical garden, full time. However we weren't so interested in maintaining seed life as in establishing an impressive 'Index Seminarum'. Sent seeds all over the world including Thailand.

[loong]

Seeds seem to 'go off' quickly here, which is probably why the Thais buy them in sealed aluminium packets or in cans. We immediately take any seeds we have left over or have collected into air tight containers and then into the fridge. We also have bought stuff that hasn't germinated at all, no way of knowing what the 'sell by date' would be in Thailand.

Maybe your American variety was laying around for two long?

I'm pretty sure that every packet of seed that I have bought in Thailand has at least the date it was packed, and most an expiry date.

I find that when I buy seed that I have to go through them to find the ones that are newest. Quite often they are near or past expiration date.

Too often I have bought seed that have failed to germinate.

[cooked]

Further investigations: we have a packet of yard long beans that we want to sow tonight. I see " 09/11" on the front. I assume this is a date, meaning they were picked in September 2011?

On the back, exp. date 010257. I would be happy to get an explanation, thanks.

[loong]

Expiry date is 1st February 2557, so just over a year away.

This year, 2013 is 2556 in Thailand Buddhist years

Assume the 9/11 means September 2011, but strange that they would mix the calendars on the same pack. Possibly because the seeds are imported from New Zealand as many/most seeds seem to be?

[mo99]

I have found pepper and tomato seeds have a very short shelf life here in LOS. Keep them in the fridge until you need them. Adding fresh vermicompost to the seed mix helps them sprout even if the seeds are a bit old.

Another method I have tried with pepper seeds is fermenting the peppers in a yeast and lactic acid bacteria EM solution prior to removing the seeds. The seeds smelled like cheese when I was done, but I had good germination even after a few months of dry storage. I think doing this helped reduce the black mould that normally infects old seeds. I made my own EM for this process, not sure if the purchased stuff would work the same.