14-Year Old Vegetable Seed Germination Test Results

Back in 2008, yes, about 14 years ago, my family had the opportunity to borrow a sealer from the Home Storage Center (HSC) for sealing #10 cans of dry foods.  (Unfortunately, the HSC no longer lends out sealers.) Of course, we bought all the cans and lids to go with it, and all the food to fill it, particularly those foods we couldn’t can at the HSC.  Things like breakfast cereal, different shapes of pasta other than spaghetti and elbow macaroni, couscous, and a lot of other good stuff.  My mind’s just drawing a blank right now, and I can’t just check the boxes—we’ve eaten most of it.  After all, it has been 14 years.

Some things we should not have canned, like salt.  They say the cans will rust.  So far, they haven’t.  So I’d say the biggest reason not to can salt in the #10 cans is the weight.  Put six #10 cans in the cardboard box that fits them and it’s close to 60 pounds.  I finally offloaded that albatross.  Jared and his wife got that as part of their wedding gift. 

One of my bright (or not so bright) ideas was to can vegetable seeds.  I stuffed that can full of brightly colored packets, added an oxygen absorber (which I should not have done), sealed and dated it.  It was always kept with our food storage (so it was cool, dry, and dark) and never refrigerated or frozen. 

After 14 years, I figured the seeds wouldn’t produce or even germinate.  But what if I was wrong?  Wouldn’t it be a good idea to find out?

I pulled one of each kind of seed out of the can (which is somehow still quite full).  That amounted to 28 packets.  I decided to just test the whole packet of seed.  After all, I didn’t want to save them—I was sure they weren’t going to germinate.  I performed the germination test as outlined in this article.  However, I didn’t want to use half a roll of paper towels and a box of baggies running these tests.  So I put 4-5 varieties on each damp paper towel, rolled them up, and put them in baggies.  I then placed all the baggies on the mantle above the fireplace where they would be warm.

·       Brassicas

o   Cauliflower—excellent

o   Radish, scarlet globe—none germinated

o   Broccoli—none germinated*

·       Corn—excellent

·       Cucurbits

o   Cantaloupe—few germinated*

o   Cucumber—excellent

o   Pumpkin—none germinated*

o   Squash, acorn--excellent

o   Squash, zucchini—excellent, one even had a true leaf!

o   Watermelon—good

·       Leafy greens

o   Lettuce, iceberg—excellent

o   Lettuce, black-seeded Simpson—excellent

o   Spinach—poor

·       Legumes

o   Beans, yellow—excellent

o   Beans, Kentucky wonder—excellent

o   Beans, Tendergreen—good

o   Peas, Alaska—excellent*

·       Herbs

o   Basil—none germinated

o   Chives—none germinated

o   Thyme—none

·       Nightshades

o   Bell pepper—none—maybe I needed to give them more time

o   Tomato, beefsteak—excellent

o   Tomato, Rutgers—excellent

o   Tomato, Large cherry—excellent

·       Root crops

o   Carrots—few

o   Onions—few

*The paper towel in this bag was too damp and started molding, perhaps causing a failure of this germ test.  However, the pea seeds were unaffected. 

To say that I have been completely floored by the results would be an understatement.  There is just no way so many should have germinated, at least according to the conventional wisdom.  However, I believe we can learn from this that storing the seeds in cool and dry conditions makes a world of difference. 

The next test, obviously, will be to plant the seeds outside and see how they perform.  This time I will be a little smarter and only plant a few of each variety.  However, that test will have to wait until spring and summer are here.  So far, I have started the tomato seeds and some evergreen bunching onion seeds indoors.  The tomatoes are doing very well.  The onions didn't have a great germination rate, but still, to have any of these 14-year-old seeds grow is nothing short of amazing to me.

One final shocking note to this story:  All of these seeds except one packet (and I can’t remember which it was for the life of me) were the 10 cent packets sold at Walmart or the dollar stores.  I have believed for the past 10-12 years that they wouldn’t perform well because I thought they were cheap seed from sellers only looking to make a quick profit (which may still be the case).  I still think using seed from reputable sellers who store their seed in a controlled environment is a good idea.  However, I would have no qualms about sharing this cheap seed with others who need to get their gardens going and are unable to buy seed.