seeds from 1962???

[rxkeith]

i just got some tomato seeds from a fella whose father was an old italian gardener who seemed to have a lot of things figured out. i never met the father, but was at an estate sale at his house after he died several years ago. i was very impressed with his gardens, and lay out. the son gave me some seeds after i asked him if he had some from his dad.
the son said they were from 1962, and they go back to 1912. he said his dad called them crispy red.

its too late for me to start them this year.
i know to soak the seeds overnight with a pinch of blue stuff for nitrogen booster, and just barely covering them, but 1962?. the oldest seeds that i have had sprout were 16 yrs old, and they were just stalks with no growing tip.
i will give it a go.


keith

[KarenO]

nothing ventured...
good luck, would be very cool if you can get even one to grow.
Karen

[DonnaMarieNJ]

I'm curious what a "crispy red" tomato would be like

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by rxkeith

i just got some tomato seeds from a fella whose father was an old italian gardener who seemed to have a lot of things figured out. i never met the father, but was at an estate sale at his house after he died several years ago. i was very impressed with his gardens, and lay out. the son gave me some seeds after i asked him if he had some from his dad.
the son said they were from 1962, and they go back to 1912. he said his dad called them crispy red.

its too late for me to start them this year.
i know to soak the seeds overnight with a pinch of blue stuff for nitrogen booster, and just barely covering them, but 1962?. the oldest seeds that i have had sprout were 16 yrs old, and they were just stalks with no growing tip.
i will give it a go.


keith

Keith, the oldest seeds I woke up were seeds of September Dawn that were 22 yo old.

But when all the seeds were moved from the Cheyenne WY precursor to the USDA station in Ames IA, they were able to wake up seeds that were 50 yo that had been stored just in filing cabinets at ambient temps. So I'm sure that seed viability isalsolinked to seed stoage conditions.

I think you remember how long I soak old seeds and with what and what I do after that, and how long I wait for germination and what I water with,but can repeat here if you want me to.

Carolyn

[kayrobbins]

Carolyn I wish you would repeat it for those of us that never saw that information. Being fairly new here I know I have missed a lot of good information. Sometimes I can find things by ding a search but there is so much here it can be tricky to find.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by kayrobbins

Carolyn I wish you would repeat it for those of us that never saw that information. Being fairly new here I know I have missed a lot of good information. Sometimes I can find things by ding a search but there is so much here it can be tricky to find.

First, with much older seeds it depends on how many seeds are available, but never use ALL the seeds you have at the first attempt.

Put the seeds in a small container, maybe half a cup of water to which is added a pinch of Blue stuff, like Miracle Grow or Peters, or several drops of concentrated Fish or seaweed prep if wanting something organic.

Stir the seeds from time to time, for at least 24-48 hours and hopefully you'll see the seeds sink when they become rehydrated since older seeds can be very dehydrated.

Sow the seeds in a good artificial mix, cover with a baggie, or whatever, with one end propped open for airflow. Water with water to which has been added the same blue stuff or organic stuff, when needed.

Sit back and wait.

I've had to wait up to two monthe before I saw any germination. Seeds from heart varieties are much harder to wake up since they lose viability faster than others.

Many years ago Craig L ( nctomatoman) and I tried many different methods that had been suggested, such as tea, microwave, K nitrate, giberellic acid, you name it, but the above method worked best for me.

What the blue stuff or fish or seaweed provide is a high concentration of nitrate ions which are known to be important in seed germination, and not just for tomato seed.

My best save was the variety Magnus, which appeared on the 1900 cover of Livington Seeds. At the time Craig and I were getting seeds from the USDA when that was possible, and one of the ones he requested was Magnus.

He couldn't get any germination so sent the seeds to me to try, I did, and it took a long time but finally I got ONE seedling up and it turned out to have all the traits of Magnus.

And all seeds of Magnus now available came from that plant.

Carolyn

[nctomatoman]

Here is the entry from my seed log:

94-99 0.1 Magnus, Livingston's plant, NY MA C; 891 02-49 PL Historic, Ind potato leaf, smooth medium pink oblate, good

[cythaenopsis]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

And all seeds of Magnus now available came from that plant.

Carolyn

What a great story, Carolyn! Amazing how robust heirloom tomato plants can be.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by cythaenopsis

What a great story, Carolyn! Amazing how robust heirloom tomato plants can be.

No, It had nothing to do with Magnus being robust, it had to do with how lucky I was to get the correct PL Magnus from those low germinating seeds that Craig sent me.

Carolyn

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by cythaenopsis

What a great story, Carolyn! Amazing how robust heirloom tomato plants can be.

Get her to tell you the rest of the Magnus story . . . it's not long past Mother's Day. It's probably my 90 year old mother's favorite of Carolyn's stories.

[Tanya1977]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

And all seeds of Magnus now available came from that plant.

Carolyn

Amazing! Heirloom tomato was reborn! Very good story!

[rxkeith]

okaaaaay,

i got a clarification on the seeds.

they are not from 1962. they are from last year. they have been saved from a batch of seeds each year since 1962. original seeds go back to 1912.
pressure is off.



keith

[DonnaMarieNJ]

<sigh>

[heirloomtomaguy]

Wow that sparked quite an interesting bunch of post.

[loudog]

Waiting for someone to finish the Magnus story! please ! hope this doesn't end up like MASH and The Rooster Crowed at Midnight. lol