Germinating Old Seed - squash seeds from 2005!

[luigiwu]

I've never grown squash from seed before! And one of the ones I'm trying this year is from 2005! Can you guys share how easy/share they typically are to start as indoor seedlings? Heat Mat or not? Lastly, anything special I should do to the super old seeds??
Thank you!!

[Doug9345]

I've never started squash indoors, but in general they start easily and germinate in a few days. I don't think a heat mat will hurt but I've sprouted them in the ground I doubt the ground was over 70°F

[KarenO]

Hello,

Under good (cool/dry) storage conditions you can expect squash seeds to retain a reasonable germination rate to about 4 years. Beyond that I would expect the germination rate to decrease significantly. Having said that there is no harm in trying and to see if at least some of your old seed will grow but at 9 years it may be a lot to expect. Just sow in good quality seedling mix, keep moist and warm and see what happens, nothing ventured, nothing gained and you will know within a week or so if it will work and if not, a fresh packet can be purchased.
Karen

[luigiwu]

Good to know that you can just plant in the ground without starting seedling up in NY, Doug. Thanks!

Karen, these seed were EXTREMELY hard to come by so I don't want a newbie like myself to mess it up too badly. (Having issues with peppers and eggplants already...) Anyway I'll try some indoors and if that doesn't work then I'll also direct sow. I was wondering if soaking the seeds ahead of time would do anything.

[Doug9345]

The sources that show squash at 4 years also show tomatoes at 4 years. My guess is that you'll have around 25% germination

[Tormato]

I had 9 year old winter squash (moschata) seed germinate at about 20%, indoors.

[luigiwu]

Thanks for the input Doug and Tormato. Now I know how many I should try. Did they take the regular (which is?) amount of time to come up or did they take longer?

[macmex]

In february of this year I did a germination test on 2006 c. moschata seed, stored at room temperature in a ziplock bag. I got about 75% germination, though some of the seeds took a couple of weeks to germinate. My experience is that seeds stored in a sealed jar maintain higher viability than those in a ziplock or paper envelope. Warmth REALLY helps with germination.

George

[luigiwu]

I started them over the weekend, probably 2 weeks ahead of schedule thinking they might not come up/or will take forever to... they came up in a couple of days - 100% germination. Amazing!!! Granted its been warm so my heat mat was extra warm at around 86degrees probably. Now its gonna be a challenge keeping them alive and putting them out. How warm should it be before I attempt that?

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

I started them over the weekend, probably 2 weeks ahead of schedule thinking they might not come up/or will take forever to... they came up in a couple of days - 100% germination. Amazing!!! Granted its been warm so my heat mat was extra warm at around 86degrees probably. Now its gonna be a challenge keeping them alive and putting them out. How warm should it be before I attempt that?

That's good news! Planting early and heavy figuring I'm are going to have problems seem to always give me great germination. I think I'd keep them as cool as I though I could get away with. Maybe 60°F to slow them down some.