REVIVING OLD SEEDS
BY CODY J. GARRETT-TAIT
REVIVING OLD SEEDS
ORGANICALLY T
here’s something exciting about finding some long-forgotten, rare seeds. Once you have them, the challenge is to revive those genetics, especially considering they’ve been sitting in someone’s tobacco tin,
basement, or garage for decades. While they look like they could germinate, you don’t have many, and you want to make sure they sprout.
Is It Possible? Yes! Even seeds that are thousands of years old can germinate. But proper pretreatment is essential, and the older the seed, the less energy it has left in storage.
Seeds from annual plants aren’t often designed to last many years, part of what makes the germination process so tricky
Seeds from annual plants aren’t often designed to last many years, part of what makes the germination process so tricky. With each trip around the sun, energy declines. Eventually, the embryo doesn’t have any juice left to break the seed coat and push through the soil to the surface. To an extent, we can minimize this through proper storage in cool and dry environments. But even still, the passage of time inevitably wins.
Clean Beans
Aggressive tactics are often needed to give the seed a fighting chance. First, the seeds will need to be cleaned, minimizing any potential mold spores and pathogens that may be on the seed surface. Soaking the seeds in a 1 or 2% hydrogen peroxide solution for a few minutes cleans effectively while also providing slight chemical scarification to the seed coat, which has likely hardened over time.
Chemical Scarification? For germination to occur, the embryo needs to be able to exchange oxygen with the outside world. The issue? Seed coats tend to harden over time, which prevents them from properly absorbing water and oxygen. While H202 can provide a chemical roughing, it’s often necessary to get a bit more surgical. Mechanically scarifying seeds can be as simple as lightly sanding the micropyle (edge) with a piece of sandpaper (being careful not to go too far), or knicking a notch out of the seed coat with a utility knife. Cracking the seed coat carefully between a pair of forceps is another method. Many old-timers used to crack the seeds between their teeth!
For germination to occur, the embryo needs to be able to exchange oxygen with the outside world 69
