Seed viability and 'Sow by' dates

Donalde

The following is an extract from a letter in response to the delivery of my seed order for 2021. I do not wish to identify the supplier, until they have an opportunity to respond.

I would be interested to hear any observations?


Sadly there are some issues with the age of the seeds supplied.
Like many others, I am aware of major problems with the EU edicts for seed houses, in particular the lack of a rule to let the purchaser know the age of the seed being purchased.
Your seeds are well ahead of most other suppliers in giving both the year packaged and 'sow by' dates and I appreciate this.
As usual I held back my seed order until January in the hope of getting 'this years' seed, but in a lot of cases this has not happened. In some cases the seed is quite useless by virtue of its age.

Parsnip for instance, I have always known, from 40 years experience, and study of seed saving manuals, lasts only one year. The seed you supplied is marked 'use by' 2023. The packing date isn't quoted in this case but even if it is from last year's crop (2020) the the 'sow by' date should be 2021?
Similarly with Onion, I always consider it to have a 1 year life, although the manuals suggest 2 years. The Bedfordshire Champion that you sent me is marked 'Packed in year ended May 2020' therefore it must be 2019 crop, at best, and I would not use it in 2021, not to mind the use by date on the pack - 2023!
Similarly also with the Broad Bean is marked 'Packed in year ending July 2018' therefore it must be 2017 crop, at best. I would never use bean seed (of which I save a lot) that is more than 1 year old although the manuals variously suggest 4 years and 2 years.
Celery packed in year June 2019 must be from 2018 crop, at best, and Seymour gives the 100% germination time as 3 years.
Twelve of the other seed packets were packed in year ending mid 2020, when I expected seed packed in year ending sometime in 2021?
I would be interested to hear your comments on this, and I appreciate that many seed house would not supply me with the information to make these observations - I would have to learn from a failed crop and circumstantial evidence!

Regards,
Donalde
PS my sources are 1. The Seedsavers Handbook, Jermy Cherfas, et al, 1993; The Self-Sufficient Gardiner, John Seymour, 1978.

Bill Hook

I received my seeds from Irish Seed Savers this morning and they all say "Best Sown Before: December 2022" apart from the parsnip which says December 2021.

The Continental Op

Well I know the bit about parsnips is right. Grew them for many years and often tried a row of last years seed just to see and I recon 2nd year germination of vacuum sealed packets was only about 10% of fresh seed.

Most other seed is fine 2 years later and some things I've sown from packets 5 years past their best before date (tomato, lettuce and carrot) and had good results.

Unopened seed in foil packets also seems to last much longer but not much in the case of parsnips.

Bill Hook

I have to admit that I never pay that much attention to the dates on the packs but prompted by this thread I have just had a quick rummage in my seed box.

Seedaholic don't give any date information at all. I've never had problems with their seed but another poster on Boards did have a problem IIRC.

Brown Envelope Seeds give lots of information. I have a few packs of seeds that I bought last year in front of me...

Mixed Chillies
Harvested 2016-2019
Germination tested Nov 2018 70%
Packed for 2020

Tomato Alicante
Harvested 2018
Germination tested Nov 2018 95%
Packed for 2020

Tomato Tigerella
Harvested 2014
Germination tested Nov 2017 90%
Packed for 2020

Cucumber Marketmore
Harvested 2012
Germination tested Nov 2019 75%
Packed for 2020

I didn't sow the chillis or tomatoes last year so I don't know how good the seed is. It will be interesting to see how they fare this year. I grew some of the Marketmore cucumbers and according to my note book germination was 100%.

Donalde

Full marks to Brown Envelope!

CelticRambler

Prompted by this thread, I've just had a quick look through my seed packets. Amongst a variety of (sold-in-France) brands, the only ones to have more than a sow by date are the packs I bought in Lidl, which also have a packing date on them. Of these, most are marked as having been packed in 2020 (autumn purchases), but of course that doesn't really mean they weren't sitting in a silo for three years beforehand. However, I've been really impressed with the germination rate of everything I've bought from Lidl this year (first time), and not having five years' worth of seed in a pack is a real selling point for me.