Seeds that take forever?

[slugworth]

Add your input about seeds that take forever to germinate (over 14 days)
Is it just the oddball varieties?
For me Indigo blue beauty and garden peach took forever.
And that was using a warming mat.

[Labradors2]

Garnet took a month! (My own seeds saved in 2017). I do not use a heat mat. I almost gave up on them until Marsha told me that they tend to take longer to germinate than other varieties...….

Linda

[Notostraca]

Ildi always takes a long time for me compared to other varieties, and the seedlings are usually weaker.
Might just be my seeds, which are quite old now, but I remember the same being true when they were fresh.

[slugworth]

Heatmaster took 2 weeks also

[PaulF]

For me, the older the seed the longer the germination time. Once had a twenty year old that took a month before one seed out of 15 finally popped up.

[slugworth]

Mention should be made if you use a warming mat and the wattage or not.
I use one that is 17 watts.

[loulac]

Originally Posted by slugworth

Mention should be made if you use a warming mat and the wattage or not.
I use one that is 17 watts.

Wattage is secondary as long as you use a thermostat to regulate the temperature you have chosen. Personnally I only keep tomatoes that can germinate in 3 - 5 days at a temperature of 28C / 82F

[slugworth]

The seeds I mentioned were all saved seeds from last year.

[slugworth]

plug n pray
no thermostat

[habitat_gardener]

Using a heat mat (no thermostat), the following took more than 14 days:
KARMA Miracle, fresh seed (in the garden, now one of my most vigorous plants!)
KARMA Apricot, ditto
Khurma, seed from 2011
Brandywine Sudduth, from 2012
Eva Purple Ball, from 2012
Green Tiger, from 2014

(and then I had 3-4 varieties from 2017-2020 seed that didn't germinate at all!)

for eggplants, several took longer than 14 days, all fresh seed
Mitoyo
Green Dragon
Xi'an Green
Chornyy Krasen

I have a small 20-watt heat mat and a larger mat, wattage unknown.

[slugworth]

I have one of those kill a watt meters,you plug a device in and it tells you how many watts.
It's good to know TTG (time to germinate) so I can plan next year when to start seeds.

[Father'sDaughter]

The cure for seeds that aren't germinating is to sow more... I had older Heidi seeds and started just two in an egg carton with a bunch of other seeds. All the rest popped by the end of the first week. After the end of the second week I gave up on the two Heidis and started four more seeds in another egg carton. Within a day the original two seeds sprouted... The other four all also eventually sprouted.

Slugworth, what is your seed saving method?

[slugworth]

Paper plate method.
Sow more seeds is not an option.
I only have x amount of seeds to play with every year.

[Father'sDaughter]

Did you ferment them before drying them on a plate?

[slugworth]

never fermented a seed in my life
There is a youtube video on all 3 methods of seed saving and there was no difference
between the 3 types.
My mother gardened for over 85 years and she never fermented seeds.
I even saved them on glass panes one year and just stacked the glass against a wall.
The problem is,the warming mats are geared towards trays of containers with dirt.
For the paper plate method they are actually too hot and the seeds cook.
I had to stack the plates in ziploc bags with air like a pillow to get the proper temps.
Once the seeds pop,survival of the fittest.I add dirt and the biggest plants get rewarded with living.