difficult germination

[OzoneNY]

I have some Charles Herring Porter seeds. So far the germination rate is well... zero. I know the seeds are a few years old, and I was told the Porter is not on the list of easy to germinate. Are there any previous threads anyone might be able to point me to or advice to improve germination I would appreciate any advice.

[kath]

Carolyn has talked about methods she's used over the years as have others. Lots of ideas in these threads:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=36985

www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?p=463985

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=33841

www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=32370

www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=30463

www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=20603

www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=4547

Good luck- hope you get some to wake up!

kath

[AlittleSalt]

Ozone, I had problems with regular Porter seeds that I planted back on January 17th. I re-planted on the 31st and every Porter seed has germinated and is growing fast.

I didn't do anything different - used the same seed starting mix. I can't say why, just the first ones I planted didn't germinate.

[Darren Abbey]

"Charles Herring Porter" seems to require more heat than normal tomato, more like chile peppers, to germinate effectively. If the seeds are too cool in damp soil, they'll simply rot. This was my experience with CHP tomato seeds from the original source.

[Father'sDaughter]

I was actually reading some of the older threads Kath posted links for earlier today. I have two varieties on this year's grow list that I have 10 year old seeds for -- VB Russia and Sulia's Heart. I only have about 8-10 seeds of each so I'm thinking I'll try the MG soak as insurance.

[Andrey_BY]

There is one good method and a very simple.
Sow the seeds in a soil mix at a depth of 3 times a size of a seed and then water them with boiling water. This is effective both for tomato and pepper seeds and it won't damage seeds, but helpes to destroy seed shell.