Have any of you noticed anything different about seed viability here lately?

Always in the past I would save any seed I didn't use one year and use it the next, and germination was usually close to 100% (except for certain seeds that aren't viable long (onions, parsnips, etc.). Heck, it wasn't uncommon for me to use tomato, pepper, corn, and bean seed that was 5 years or more old and germination was usually fine. If it was that old, I'd sow a bit heavier than normal to account for reduced viability.

But here lately.....

I work in a garden center, and a couple years ago I was given a BUNCH of seeds at the end of season that were to be thrown out. Like, hundreds of packages. The next spring I planted a flat of them. Nothing happened. Not one seed germinated. I thought maybe something was wrong my dirt or my previously used flat, so I bought a new flat with those Jiffy peat pellets and replanted. Nothing. 0% viability on a dozen or more different types of seeds. Well, I tried to plant other packs of those seeds that year and none of them grew at all. I chocked it up to something having happened to those seeds. Threw them all out.

Bought new seeds and they grew fine. Saved the new seeds I didn't plant that year to plant next year. Planted them next year and........ NOTHING GREW. Now, in between they were not stored in a freezer but just in my air conditioned and heated home, like I've done every year since I was a kid.

The only thing I can figure is that these seed companies must be doing something to the seed to make it only be viable for one season. Has anyone else been experiencing this?

For those that are wondering, the seed company in question here is Ferry Morse. I haven't really paid enough attention yet to know if this is also happening with other companies.

You definitely want to get heirloom seeds

Same here germination is terrible except for heirloom seed

I do have many heirloom seeds and have done plenty of seed saving. But there are still some things I like to plant that I prefer hybrids of.

I buy more seed than i need and use it for years to come regularly. Generally don’t have any problems with it. I did get a bad batch of sweet corn seed this year, but it was fresh. I do store most of my stuff in a fridge or freezer so that may help

Usually I save my own tomato seeds but this year my wife found a great deal on last years seeds at a local thrift store so I ended up using them. I have to say germination was great. Still got the packs. I'll check on what brand they were tomorrow.

Save some for me if the ..

^^^^ and store properly ,freezing is good. Have you tried soaking them first before planting.

I don't save seeds. I buy plants for things like tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, brocolli and peppers. The last 3 years I have been able to buy decent sized plants for about 50-65 cents each.
I have noticed that I have had poorer germination in my seeds that I get from the company I have used for 40 years. (Jungs) Mostly in green beans and cucumbers. Last year was better. I too have kept half packets over for a year or so with marginal germination for the most part. Some seeds like Zucinni I think grow better than most weeds. I have used seed that must have been 4-5 years old in the bottom of a box and they germinatred very well.
I am using a lot more Zucinni as it is so low cost and productive. I make all my relishes from that now as well as some pickles and also shred and freeze it for home made pizza crust and also for layers in my lasagna instead of the noodles.

Bryce

I have had few problems keeping most seed from one year to the next. I often use just half a packet one year and keep the rest for the next. Store them in a cool dry location.

Seed are the cheapest garden component, but I have a had time throwing unused seed away.

Interesting seed vault in Norway. The world backup seed vault.

When I was a kid i put seeds in baby food jars in a shoe box, that germinated well 30 some years later. The seeds from the box stores, in paper envelopes, germinate poorly a year after purchase. I think something is likely put on those seeds too.

Keith

What kind of seeds did you try? Some store over very poorly and others can keep forever.

Off the top of my head, various varieties of tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers, several types of flowers. Tomatoes and peppers are ones that I'd never had a trouble using old seeds of before.

The seeds I planted this year were bought last year and all were good.
Corn and tomotoes.

My wife will be planting cucumbers today that the seeds are older. Hope they are still good.

I've noticed that too.

Some kind of GMO built in obsolesence? They hate people that save seed to plant.

I used to work for Liberty Seed Co. I forget what company bought them out a few years after I left.

Here is what I know about seeds and germination. Things may have changed since I left the company and I don't know much about the genetically modified seeds.

The germination rate for all seeds was tested every year in the winter time. I did the testing and we had a large hot box that I put the seeds in when testing them. I used 100 seeds and rolled them up in a heavy type of paper towel and sprayed the towel with water until it was saturated. Each seed was labeled with its name and lot number.. Each type of seed had a minimum germination rate that it needed to meet or it was discarded. We handled several hundred types and varieties of vegetable seeds and several hundred types and varieties of flower seeds.

They stored their seeds in a big unheated warehouse. It got hot in the summer and cold in the winter. They were stored in burlap bags and cloth bags. The main thing was to keep all seeds dry. Each veggie and flower was assigned a lot number when it was delivered to us. We sold all the old seed first as long as it met the germination rate before we started on any new that came in unless a farmer wanted more seed than we had available in an older lot. Some highly popular corn and bean seeds would be bought and sold in hundred pound bags.

Most of the veggie seeds would meet the minimum germination rate for at least 4 or 5 years from what I was told and what I saw while I was there. The flower seeds were usually about 3 years.

If you throw your old seed out and buy new every year, you may be buying seed from the same lot of seed as what you threw out. If the germination rate is good the seed company isn't going to throw it away. They will keep selling it. We always listed the germination rate on the pack age and it was always listed lower than what it tested. For example, I may test a lot of Incredible sweet corn and it would have a germ. rate of 94. We would list it as 90. If it tested 88 we would list it at 85.