Sweet Scarlet Dwarf and Wherokowhai not germinating

[Barb_FL]

I bought these in January and have had no luck with them germinating. Germination has rarely been an issue with tomato seeds.

I've tried multiple times with the Sweet Scarlet and only have a couple of seeds left.

Has anyone else had any problems with these? Anything I should try?

I also couldn't get Ildi to germinate but to be fair, I only tried once, and since it takes 15 days to germinate, it might be a slow grower and then be too hot for fruit set.

Sweet Orange II was purchased at the same time and had no problems germinating. Same with Basil seeds. So I don't think the seeds were ruined in the mail.

Any help/advice is appreciated.

[Sun City Linda]

I have successfully germinated both of those this year from less than a few seeds. The original seed source for both was commercial. I think I would privately contact the source to report the problem.

[kayrobbins]

I have never had a problem with either one of those. I have seedlings of both ready to go as soon as this cold weather goes away. I always get my dwarf seeds from Heritage Tomato Seeds. If that is where you got your I know Steve would want to make sure you got good seeds.

[Barb_FL]

Thanks for the replies; I bought all my other dwarf seeds from Heritage and they are all doing amazing; even have a couple of tomatoes.

Kay - you were the one that highly recommended SSD and Wherokowhai; he didn't have Wherokowhai so I bought from another very highly rated vendor. If the Sweet Orange II and basil didn't germinate, I would think they were ruined during mailing process. But both of those are fine and already transplanted from their initial cells.

You said that SSD does well in Florida during the heat; if I went ahead and bought them now (from Steve), do you think it is too late in the season to even start them?

[Sun City Linda]

With a new release, as Sweet Scarlet is, the seed offered for sale by selected vendors is donatated usually from a grower connected to the dwarf project. I would most certainly let your original seed source know of the problem.

[kayrobbins]

It is pretty late but I planted the Sweet Scarlet last summer much later than I normally start seeds. I think it would be worth a try to plant a few seeds and save the rest for fall. I was sorry to see Steve is not carrying Wherokowhai seeds anymore. I did not save any seeds this fall but I sure will this summer.

[Barb_FL]

I checked both Heritage Seed and my source. My source got it from Heritage;
so now I'm 2nd guessing myself. The description on Heritage only makes me want to grow it more.

[kayrobbins]

I don't think it is anything you are doing. You obviously know how to start seeds so something has to have happened to the seeds you were sent. When I started Sweet Scarlet I used some of my seeds saved from working with the project last year and also some from Steve. Every seed from both sources germinated.