Age of seeds

[ruthiechan]

So I made pumpkin pie using a real pumpkin. My daughter and I want to plant a few of the seeds in a moderate sized tupperware bin (it has no top, and no worries I'll be making holes in the bottom) and so we saved a few of the seeds, they're on my counter right now (I tried doing this before with the first pumpkin this year but I put them in a plastic baggy and they all got moldy).

I, having never done this before, went off to read about how to grow pumpkins. I came upon this website, http://www.pumpkinnook.com/growing.htm, which talked about making sure your seeds weren't old.

How do you know if your seeds are too old? I have a few herbal seeds in packages (wasn't able to plant my herbs in time for this year, waiting till next year) as well that I got from the store. I don't want to plant nothin' but duds. What does a good seed look like? How does one avoid accelerating the age of the seeds?

[Iggy]

Your pumpkin seeds are not old. One thing though- they may not grow and if they do the pumpkin may not be edible. If your pumpkin was organic then you have no worries.

Fruits and vegetables in the market are grown from hybrid seeds, and lots of times seeds from squash (pumpkin is a squash) will not grow into the squash it came from.

Dry them out - let them sit on a dry paper towel away from moisture. Once throughly dry (note: do NOT dry in the oven, microwave or too close under an electric light.) then pop into a zip-lock bag.

When the seed packets pop up in your area hardware/department stores, take a look at a pack of pumpkin seeds and see when it is best to plant for your area, then go home and plant your own seeds.

Read the rest of your post - take 10 seeds, place on wet paper towels, gently cover with one paper towel, mist wet. Keep the towel damp but not sodden. According to the seed packet, see how long for germination. Some seeds germinate in a few days, some for a few weeks.

Once you seeds have germinated, count how many of the 10 sprouted. If less than 1/3 -then your seeds are old and your yield will be low. If all but a few- then they are still viable. Plant on! Take the sprouted seeds and very gently plant them. I just lay them on top of the soil, and pile some soil on the seed part and not the leaves. They right themselves when the roots take in the soil. Of course I am planting them in starter cells.

Good luck and have fun.

To find out more about gathering seeds from produce purchased in a grocery store go to Organic Gardening on the internet and research it out.

Edited January 1, 2009 by Iggy

[ruthiechan]

Thanks! I got my pumpkin from the pumpkin park near town, so I've no idea whether or not it was organic. My daughter's teacher says that every year she gets a kid who comes back talking about how they grew their own pumpkin, then again, I think they were only growing theirs for jack o lanterns. . .

[pam]

Your pumpkin seeds are not old. One thing though- they may not grow and if they do the pumpkin may not be edible. If your pumpkin was organic then you have no worries.

Fruits and vegetables in the market are grown from hybrid seeds, and lots of times seeds from squash (pumpkin is a squash) will not grow into the squash it came from.

Dry them out - let them sit on a dry paper towel away from moisture. Once throughly dry (note: do NOT dry in the oven, microwave or too close under an electric light.) then pop into a zip-lock bag.

When the seed packets pop up in your area hardware/department stores, take a look at a pack of pumpkin seeds and see when it is best to plant for your area, then go home and plant your own seeds.

Read the rest of your post - take 10 seeds, place on wet paper towels, gently cover with one paper towel, mist wet. Keep the towel damp but not sodden. According to the seed packet, see how long for germination. Some seeds germinate in a few days, some for a few weeks.

Once you seeds have germinated, count how many of the 10 sprouted. If less than 1/3 -then your seeds are old and your yield will be low. If all but a few- then they are still viable. Plant on! Take the sprouted seeds and very gently plant them. I just lay them on top of the soil, and pile some soil on the seed part and not the leaves. They right themselves when the roots take in the soil. Of course I am planting them in starter cells.

Good luck and have fun.

To find out more about gathering seeds from produce purchased in a grocery store go to Organic Gardening on the internet and research it out.

Wow you are so smart.

[Iggy]

Wow you are so smart.

Thanks Pam - I subscribed to Organic Gardening Magazine for years,

plus I had found a cache of the magazines - 10 years worth- at the local landfill site. What a treasure they were. That is where I learned about the do's and don'ts of gardening.

After taking the seeds saved from commercially grown Acorn & Hubbard squash and growing them and not getting said Acorn & Hubbard squash, I found OG on line and wrote to them asking what could have happened.

I did use the squash that grew as gourds. Let them dry out and used them for decorative purposes, some I even made into bird houses.

From then on, I never saved seeds unless the food item was certified organic.

I am also a great fan of Territorial Seed Company. There hasn't been any seeds purchased from them that was a dud. They are out of Oregon, but I know my SIL in Washington state buys from them via the internet.