15 year old seed

[sirtanon]

Those are some amazing looking maters, and from such old seed. Congrats!

.. and did I hear 'SASE' and "seed offer"? Ooohhh


... on a side note, since this thread is about starting old seed.. I have some 41-year-old seed that I'm going to see if I can coax to grow quite soon.. not going to hold my breath, but I figure it's worth a try.. will be pretty cool if it works!

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by sirtanon

Those are some amazing looking maters, and from such old seed. Congrats!

.. and did I hear 'SASE' and "seed offer"? Ooohhh


... on a side note, since this thread is about starting old seed.. I have some 41-year-old seed that I'm going to see if I can coax to grow quite soon.. not going to hold my breath, but I figure it's worth a try.. will be pretty cool if it works!

It’s unlikely 40 year old seed will germinate but there is nothing to lose in trying. If you have plenty of seed try a couple of different methods.
Watch for marsha’s annual and generous seed offer in late winter. I am sending plenty zena’s gift seed to include in her offer.
KarenO

[sirtanon]

Originally Posted by KarenO

It’s unlikely 40 year old seed will germinate but there is nothing to lose in trying. If you have plenty of seed try a couple of different methods.
Watch for marsha’s annual and generous seed offer in late winter. I am sending plenty zena’s gift seed to include in her offer.
KarenO

Yeah, I'm aware.. it's an extreme long shot, I'll agree, but I think it's a fun challenge, and I also think it would be amazing if I could wake even one of these seeds up.

For reference, there was a man named Bill who posted on here 6 years ago that he had seed of a variety called 'Walter', which he had obtained from the breeder's grandchildren, and was very interested in growing them out. Others in the thread pointed out that Walter is available elsewhere, but he stated he wanted to grow these due to the personal connection.

Original Walter thread is here

I responded to Bill, and he sent me a bunch of the seed he had.. this was back in 2011, and the seeds are even older now. I figured that since I'm finally getting back to proper gardening, I'd use this as an opportunity to give these seeds a go.

.. as it stands, about 80% of my current seed collection is over 10-years-old anyways, and I'll be starting quite a few of them alongside the Walter seeds. Heck, only one of the 9 varieties I've currently got slated to start this week for my fall/winter grow is less than 10 years old.