From

Location

Message

Date Posted

[email protected]

Now this is probably a stupid question but here goes!!
Do seeds get better with age? What I'm asking is, Are 2 year old seeds better than 1 year old seeds, and are 3 year old seeds better than 2 year old seeds. Ans so on.
Could an Atlantic Giant seed produce the best at, let's 4 years old.
Hope that makes sense!!

Eddy

11/1/2004 6:47:13 PM

[email protected]

should proof read better!! should be "Let's say 4 years old
Eddy

11/1/2004 6:49:01 PM

Sask, Canada

Eddy:

I see what you are saying but the genetics in a seed does not improve sitting on a self. What it grows in year one is the same in year four, the only difference if you could plant the same seed twice would be weather, soil condition and grower experience.

The only thing that would change in a seed without any variables like above would be seed viability, and depending on storage methods on how fast it would deteriate.

Hoped this helped,
TTYL
Ernie
Giant Veggies

11/1/2004 8:26:59 PM

Liverpool , England

Eddy...Ernie,
I grew a marrow..weighed in at 84lbs or so, had good genetics so I kept the seed to grow for the next few years. I grew about 10 plants each year. Plants are vines similar to Pumpkins.First year all the plants grew well, all had vines and side vines.Second year al the plants exceopt for one grew well..the odd one just grew as a bush instead.Third year two plants grew as a bush..the other 8 were fine.This steadily got worse each year with more plants growing as a bush instead of a vine.After 10 years I was down to just 11 seeds...10 germinated and everyone ended up growing as a bush instead of a vine. Go figure that.

Alun

11/1/2004 8:34:58 PM

Rhode Island

alun

those marrow seeds must be a lot like us old farts
the older they get the sperm count goes limp l o l

ps alun we enjoyed your company in rhode island and hope to see you guys again some day

if you want our seeds fire me off an email

dick

11/1/2004 8:46:01 PM

Leamington, Ont.

I think I see where your going with this... Now that you mention it, sort of does seem like a pattern. It might just be a coincidence but most (not all) big pumpkins appear to be grown from a two year old seed.
I don't think there's a difference, but it is odd!

11/1/2004 10:41:03 PM

Follansbee, Wv

I grow a lot of tomatoes, and I don't know if the situation is the same, but I believe the older a seed is, the less likely it is to produce. Seeds must age like everything else. I think the reason a lot of big pumpkins are grown from 2+ year old seeds is that they were not proven seeds until the first big one was grown. Then, after the first year, the seeds became popular. So, many more were grown in the second year. Does this make sense? If not, just disregard. I'm only a newb...lol

11/1/2004 11:02:01 PM

[email protected]

As a general rule, the larger a seed is the shorter it's life span. Big seeds store plenty of moisture but are also subject to greater moisture loss. Of course Mother makes up the rules as she goes along so this doesn't hold in all cases.

For sure the genetic potential of a seed cannot change with time. But the germination rate can & does decrease with time.

11/1/2004 11:24:12 PM

On the website pumpkinnook.com on the links on this site there is an article there that a guy grew a pumpkin out of 50 year old seeds or something like that. They were really old. and they produced, but I don't think they were Atlantic Giant

11/2/2004 6:57:56 PM

Oz

is there a seed bank for ags?

11/3/2004 8:00:33 AM