Test Your Seed Germination At Home

Have you ever wondered if some older Heirloom seeds you have are still good to plant? This would be good if you have some older seeds you might want to check, or maybe some seeds you saved from the garden. Testing your Heirloom seed germination is the best way to know this. If you store your seeds properly, you will be able to keep them viable, and with a high germination rate for years.

 You should know, before you start your seeds indoors, or sow your seeds in your garden, how healthy and viable they really are. One way to know for sure, is to purchase your Heirloom seeds from a reputable company like THE SEED GUY at https://theseedguy.net. We conduct our own tests and only send out fresh Heirloom seeds that can pass the muster.

 Now, if you have old seeds, or are curious about the quality of seeds that you grew and saved, taking the time to do a home germination test might be a good idea.

 HERE IS WHAT YOU DO:

1) Use a spray bottle, and mist down a paper towel until it is thoroughly wet.

2) You will need a sampling of Seeds for your test. The more seeds the better, but at the same time you don't want to use too many of them. It really depends on how many Seeds you have of each variety you are going to test. For instance, if you only have 50 Corn Seeds, then don't test 20 of them. I would say you should either test 10 - 20 seeds of each variety, or if you only have a small number of seeds, then no more than 10% of them.

3) Place seeds of the variety to be tested on one half of the wet paper towel, and then fold the other half over the seeds. Put the wet paper towel and seeds in a plastic Ziplock bag, and then seal it. You can use a black magic marker to mark the name of each Heirloom seed variety, number of seeds, and starting date on the outside of the bag.

4) The bag should be kept in a warm dark place; a cabinet above your refrigerator is a good place. When you check on the seeds from day to day, make sure the paper towel stays moist and doesn't dry out. You can mist it from time to time.

5) Seed germination varies for each variety, but after a few days your seeds will begin germinating. You will have to keep a running tally on good and bad seeds as you do this. The count of the seeds that germinate (sprout) will give you an accurate germination percentage. If a seed germinates (sprouts) then it is counted as a good seed. If some of the seeds mold or don't sprout at all, then count them as bad seeds.

6) When doing this test, give your seeds 10 days or less if they have all germinated before then. Count all your seeds that have germinated (sprouted) in the sampling. If you tested 20 Bloomsdale Spinach Seeds, and 18 of them germinated, then your germination percentage would be 18/20 or 90%.

If your germination percentage is 80% or higher, then your seeds will do just fine when it is time to plant them. If you noticed a lower percentage, like for example 50%, you can still make do with them by planting twice as many seeds to get the harvest that you want. Keep in mind that older seeds, with lower germination percentages, won't be as vigorous or healthy as fresh seeds. Sometimes your best bet is to toss out the old seeds and purchase fresher seed stock.

Here at THE SEED GUY, our 60 Variety Heirloom Seed Package has over 32,000 seeds, all non-GMO, 90 - 93% germination and is currently priced on-sale at just $79.  You get 49 Heirloom vegetable seed varieties along with 11 Heirloom herb seed varieties all snuggled into a nice-sized Mylar for year-to-year or long-term storage. What a great gift for that person you know who loves to garden!

Check out our website to see the above highlighted seed package at https://theseedguy.net/sixty-variety-heirloom-seeds or you can also call us 7 days a week at 918-352-8800 if you would rather place your order by phone. We have a wide variety of both small and large Heirloom seed packages along with all our individual varieties currently in stock.

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