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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Save Time, Check Seeds First

If you start vegetable and flower seeds indoors like I do, then you probably have quite a few old seed packets tucked away from previous years. Rather than throwing them out and buying new ones, I have a trick that will save you both time and money. Try germinating seeds from those old seed packets prior to planting up an entire tray. This method will give you a germination percentage and you can use that knowledge to either throw the packet out if nothing sprouts or you can over seed each cell in the tray to give you a more even germination rate. Here’s what to do:
First, take out all the old seed packets you want to plant seed from this year and write the type and variety on a slip of paper–I like post-it notes for this. Count 10 seeds for each variety and place the seeds on a small paper towel square. In my example you’ll notice I’ve only counted out 5 Mangel seeds. That’s because Mangels are a type of beet and the seed is technically a fruit containing multiple seeds, so testing 5 fruits gives me more than 10 seeds. Why 10? It’s easy to calculate your germination percentage. If only 1 out of 10 germinates, that’s 10% germination and you should throw out the packet. If 5 germinate, you’ve got 50% and you can use that knowledge to put 2 seeds in each seed cell should you decide to keep the seeds.
Fold each paper towel square and moisten with water, then place each folded square into a plastic bag with the label facing out. Place the sealed baggies in a warm location, like the top of your refrigerator. Mark your calendar–or the slips of paper–with the date you started and the expected germination date for each seed variety using the seed packet information as a guide. Check back in the recommended number of days, count the germinated seeds and decided whether you’re better tossing them in the bin and starting over or getting right down to business and planting them up for good. You need not waste the germinated seeds, if you’re going to start planting right away, you can put the germinated seeds in a pot with soil and let them continue growing. Good luck!

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