How long seeds remain viable, given optimum storage, depends on the type of plant. As has been said, tomato seeds can germinate and grow well for after quite a few years after harvest. On the other hand onion seed is best used the within the year from harvest as it loses viability quickly. Carrot, parsnip and parsley are also best used as fresh as possible.
I’ve seen charts which gives an indication of the storage life of varieties of seeds … I’ll consult Google and see if I can find one …
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Surely it depends on how you keep them. Official seed-banks seem to be happy, with the right condiitions.
I don't use liquid nitrogen, but I do put my seeds (old packets and self-collected) in the fridge at 5-8ºC, they will be drier there also. I have no proof that it improves anything, it\s just what I do. The deep freeze at. ca-20ºC might be better.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
It was a National Geographic link, completely safe. The gist of it is that some Russian scientists successfully grew plants from seed that was 32,000 years old. It had been buried in permafrost in Siberia for most of that time. I've copied the article for your convenience.
The oldest plant ever to be regenerated has been grown from 32,000-year-old seeds—beating the previous recordholder by some 30,000 years.
A Russian team discovered a seed cache of Silene stenophylla, a flowering plant native to Siberia, that had been buried by an Ice Age squirrel near the banks of the Kolyma River (map). Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the seeds were 32,000 years old.
The mature and immature seeds, which had been entirely encased in ice, were unearthed from 124 feet (38 meters) below the permafrost, surrounded by layers that included mammoth, bison, and woolly rhinoceros bones.
The mature seeds had been damaged—perhaps by the squirrel itself, to prevent them from germinating in the burrow. But some of the immature seeds retained viable plant material.
The team extracted that tissue from the frozen seeds, placed it in vials, and successfully germinated the plants, according to a new study. The plants—identical to each other but with different flower shapes from modern S. stenophylla—grew, flowered, and, after a year, created seeds of their own.
"I can't see any intrinsic fault in the article," said botanist Peter Raven, President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, who was not involved in the study. "Though it's such an extraordinary report that of course you'd want to repeat it."
The new study suggests that permafrost could be a "depository for an ancient gene pool," a place where any number of now extinct species could be found and resurrected, experts say.
"Certainly some of the plants that were cultivated in ancient times and have gone extinct or other plants once important to ecosystems which have disappeared would be very useful today if they could be brought back," said Elaine Solowey, a botanist at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.
Solowey resurrected the 2,000-year-old date palm that previously held the title of oldest regenerated seed.
Her palm seed, though, had been buried in a dry, cool area, a far cry from the S. stenophylla seeds' permafrost environment.
Regenerating seeds that have been frozen at 19 degrees Fahrenheit (-7 degrees Celsius) for so long could have major implications, said Solowey, who was not involved in the new study.
That's because all seed-saving projects—the most famous being perhaps Norway's so-called doomsday vault, aka the Svalbard Global Seed Vault —depend on freezing seeds.
"Any insight gained on seeds which have been frozen and how to thaw them and sprout them is very valuable," she said.
The Missouri Botanical Garden's Raven added that, if we can uncover the conditions that kept the seeds viable for 32,000 years, then "if you were doing it yourself, you'd be able to preserve [seeds] for longer."
Going off topic (but I started the thread!) but I think the reassurance is worth it. The links to be very cautious with are ones that come in unsolicited emails. Ones on sites such as this should be safe. What is worth doing is hovering your mouse pointer over the link and checking the link that is displayed, usually bottom right or by the pointer, is the same as the one displayed in the message. And it goes without saving, have a good antivirus checker installed and keep it up to date.
Some seed species keep better than others. Inevitably, viability will decline as seed ages. It seems logical that a seedling from an older seed will have access to fewer resources (lost due to respiration of the seed) and will germinate more slowly with reduced vigour. It will therefore be more susceptible to pests/ diseases/disorders.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
https://www.thespruce.com/how-long-do-vegetable-seeds-last-1403089
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Do you mind giving a quick summary? Yes or no would do. Thank you in advance.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I don't use liquid nitrogen, but I do put my seeds (old packets and self-collected) in the fridge at 5-8ºC, they will be drier there also. I have no proof that it improves anything, it\s just what I do. The deep freeze at. ca-20ºC might be better.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
The oldest plant ever to be regenerated has been grown from 32,000-year-old seeds—beating the previous recordholder by some 30,000 years.
A Russian team discovered a seed cache of Silene stenophylla, a flowering plant native to Siberia, that had been buried by an Ice Age squirrel near the banks of the Kolyma River (map). Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the seeds were 32,000 years old.
The mature and immature seeds, which had been entirely encased in ice, were unearthed from 124 feet (38 meters) below the permafrost, surrounded by layers that included mammoth, bison, and woolly rhinoceros bones.
The mature seeds had been damaged—perhaps by the squirrel itself, to prevent them from germinating in the burrow. But some of the immature seeds retained viable plant material.
The team extracted that tissue from the frozen seeds, placed it in vials, and successfully germinated the plants, according to a new study. The plants—identical to each other but with different flower shapes from modern S. stenophylla—grew, flowered, and, after a year, created seeds of their own.
"I can't see any intrinsic fault in the article," said botanist Peter Raven, President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, who was not involved in the study. "Though it's such an extraordinary report that of course you'd want to repeat it."
The new study suggests that permafrost could be a "depository for an ancient gene pool," a place where any number of now extinct species could be found and resurrected, experts say.
"Certainly some of the plants that were cultivated in ancient times and have gone extinct or other plants once important to ecosystems which have disappeared would be very useful today if they could be brought back," said Elaine Solowey, a botanist at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.
Solowey resurrected the 2,000-year-old date palm that previously held the title of oldest regenerated seed.
Her palm seed, though, had been buried in a dry, cool area, a far cry from the S. stenophylla seeds' permafrost environment.
Regenerating seeds that have been frozen at 19 degrees Fahrenheit (-7 degrees Celsius) for so long could have major implications, said Solowey, who was not involved in the new study.
That's because all seed-saving projects—the most famous being perhaps Norway's so-called doomsday vault, aka the Svalbard Global Seed Vault —depend on freezing seeds.
"Any insight gained on seeds which have been frozen and how to thaw them and sprout them is very valuable," she said.
The Missouri Botanical Garden's Raven added that, if we can uncover the conditions that kept the seeds viable for 32,000 years, then "if you were doing it yourself, you'd be able to preserve [seeds] for longer."
And it goes without saving, have a good antivirus checker installed and keep it up to date.
Thanks DrMac. That was helpful. Maybe I'm being a bit over-cautious, I have been in PCs since Apple 11/Visicalc 1979, but things are moving rapidly.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.