old seeds
Joyce Miller (Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:28:58 PDT)
Yes, Marguerite, some genera have amazing keeping powers. In Fall 2006 I
planted probably 12 pots of Lilium gotten from a left over seed exchange.
The oldest had been wild collected in 1981. I kept no records of number of
seeds, location etc. but I was satisfied the germination far exceeded my
hope.
Joyce Miller, Gresham, Oregon, USA USDA 8
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marguerite English" <meenglis@meenglis.cts.com>
To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:05 PM
Subject: [pbs] old seeds
I found a package of seeds, including some old BX seeds, while
cleaning this winter, and decided to try some of them before I threw
them out. Good thing! I planted 5 pkts of Romulea species and 2 of
Lachenalia from BX 5, sent in August, 2002. They all germinated and I
have full pots of small seedlings growing strongly. I was amazed at
the excellent germination rate from seeds so old. What a miracle
geophyte seeds are! Now to try the remainder.
I have also been planting some 2-3 year old seeds for herbaceous
plant for my garden club plant sale. Only about half of those
germinated. (Don't ask; I'm too lazy to do germination tests with
paper towels and so on!)
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