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Clayton, NC

If a seedling from say a promising 2007 pumpkin gets off to a great start indoors through the first or second true leaf stage, should it then be as good to go as a genetically similar 2013 seed (i, e., any disadvantage to being an older seed during the season if it gets off to a good start ?).

1/5/2014 1:49:22 AM

British Columbia, Canada

Germinating the older seeds is the difficult part. Once the seed has sprouted its pretty much a level playing field.

I've started older seeds that do just as well as seeds that are 7+ years younger.

1/5/2014 2:01:56 AM

Going Green

Don't believe it. Everyone please mail me your old 1068 Wallace and I will dispose of them for you. As a matter of fact, I would be happy to help anyone dispose of any of the well know seeds which are getting old sitting in your seed collection. The seeds are to numerous to mention here but if you ever heard a lot about the seed here on Big Pumpkins but it is a few years old get rid of it by sending it to me. Lots of love for all those who want to send their old Wallace, Werner, Rose, Young, De Bacco, etc. etc.

1/5/2014 4:21:03 AM

Pinetops,n.c.

good question jack, i think you will get some very good answers to that one, but i have no idea except the older ones i have germed were fine, again germing the older ones is hard part.

1/5/2014 9:57:30 AM

Lodi, California

Plant health tends to be a factor of environment. If your growing indoors with grow lights you probably have a good chance of having a healthy plant.

1/5/2014 12:42:58 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

Here are a few posts from Steve Jepsen ( Tremor ) who knew a little bit about this topic.

As the seeds age the stored starches & hormones start to degrade. Not only will fewer old seeds germinate, but the ones that do will grow more slowly until they're producing their own photosynthates

Seeds are engineered to contain an embryo. If the embryo develops properly, then how well the embryo is protected from losses determines the length of time it can be stored & still remain viable.

White seeds not storing well makes sense. Tan seeds have another layer on their seed coat which is missing from white seeds.

How seeds are collected varies. Some folks let the fruit sit around on display while other collect seeds as soon as the fruit is done being weighed.

Temperature during display has a huge impact too.

Efforts to rapidly dry seeds for storage can't do them any good. Mother nature does what she can be she probably didn't have warm dry heat in mind when she engineered the seed coats.

Mother gives us some seeds that actually IMPROVE with age but these tend to be very small seeded plants

I've gotten old seeds to pop but not this old. Everything I've done alone has had mostly entact embryos as judged by weight. X-Rays are used to determine the estimated viability of really rare & valuable seeds.

Age tends to dry the embryo out. The starches needed to sustain pre-photosynthetic growth will be lowered or perhaps entirely gone.

The genetics can be coaxed out anyway. Giberellic acid & a mild potassium nitrate solution are used to pop the seed. But without the needed carbs, the seedling needs to go right into an agar solution. This will support growth of the developing seedling as well as every moldy disease you can imagine.

So this whole process should be conducted in a sterile lab environment.

One of our club members has access to such a plant propagaion lab & might be popping some 1976 seeds for us this spring (if they're

1/5/2014 1:51:45 PM

East Jordan, MI

LOL @ Pumpkin Farm, I'll just bet you would "dispose of them" right in the pumpkin patch.

While there may be some reduction in vigor for the first few days of growth as seeds get older, once the plant has leaves, sunshine and nutrients it will do fine in my opinion. Getting the older ones to sprout is usually the difficult part. But a 2007 seed is usually not old enough to matter, as long as it was dried and stored properly. We have growers in our club that routinely grow seeds as old as 13 years with no issues. Last year one of them grew a 735 Pukos 2001, and a 762 Neville 2000 as well as his first pumpkin over 1000 on a 1107 Werner 2004. The 1107 was the best plant in his patch even though they had a 1393 Pugh, 1799.5 Daletas, 1436 Liggett which are all 2011 seeds with very good genes. Looking at the plants growth and health at our Aug 4th patch tour you couldn't tell any significant differences between the older seeds and the newer ones.

Good Luck Jack!

1/5/2014 3:30:03 PM

Going Green

I have grown pumpkins for 7 years and had my best year ever in 2013. I would love to have those seeds I planted year one when the soil wasn't as good as it is today! It has been a wonderful 7 years and so many people have helped me so much. I would mention who but it would take an hour to list them all. What really surprised me is the bigger and better growers are the nicest most helpful. Thank you Ken for this great forum! I sent my special membership to the website today using paypal. No kidding aside if you got a 1068 Wallace I will dispose of it for you. Just kidding! It would be in a place of honor in my garden. Thank youall for sharing seeds and advice.

1/5/2014 8:10:38 PM

President - GPC

I have had several very OLD seedZ germ just as fast... then have also had some old oneZ barely have energy to push the cot... itZ worth the try...

1/7/2014 9:33:48 AM

Clayton, NC

Thanks for advice!

1/9/2014 8:31:53 PM

Vernal, Utah

Speaking of aged seeds, I grew some corn from an old granery that had a carbon 14 date of 1300-1800 year old. I planted the corn seeds after soaking and grew 13 stalks to maturaty. I covered the stalks with cheese cloth so they self polinated. If anyone is interested in this corn seed I would be happy to share.

1/22/2014 11:48:05 PM