So we have spent the last three weeks up at camp doing some renovations and in the craziness and cleaning I came across a bag of old buckwheat seed (maybe 1lb left) that has to be at least 8 years old, and another bag of a mixed variety from a local co-op, clover/oats/ brassicas and some others (2-3 lbs remaining). Question is. Should I bother using seed that old, should I just mix it in and see what happens, do a test plot and reseed if it doesn't grow? Just curious if it's worth putting in the dirt.
If you are going to tear the ground up I say go for it. It won't take much to return and throw down more seed if it doesn't come up.
Yeah my main plot has been sprayed since last Sunday, think I'll get the tractor and rototiller on it next weekend weather permitting. I don't even know where the buckwheat was ever planted, I've never used it! I plan on buying seed but figure this stuff is better in the dirt than in a bag at camp!
Who ever has seed left over? When it comes to seeding a little is good a lot is better, I just keep spreading seed till it's gone. Seems to work on clovers and alfalfa not so much with turnups and radishes.
Each year the germination percentage goes down. If it is 8 years old you might as well plan on doing it twice.
How much do you spend driving to deer camp and on food and beer? Seed is not expensive my time is valuable to me buy good seed and plant once.
I planned on buying seed anyway, that's not the question, I was just curious as to its viability, but I think I already knew the answer! These two bags of seed that I found were from before I started doing the plot work on our property. The buckwheat was from a guy my grandfather hired, and the mix was stuff I planted but just did what dad told me to!
Like Tom said, the germ goes down every year. If one plants soybeans a year later you need to 1.5X-2X the rate so 8 years will be a pretty good stretch I would imagine even though it's buckwheat. I'd say throw it down and then buy seed like you're going to anyways if you don't want to waste it.
Generally if the seed has been frozen it won't do very good. You can throw it out to see what happens but I'd probably prefer to go with new seed.
Hadn't thought about the frozen aspect, it's definitely froze in the Unheated camp! I'll see what it does, something is better than nothing, and nothing is expected!
I preach this every seminar i do and i hear all too many stories on failures with old seed. Here is my 2 cents. Always germ old seed before planting it. It only takes 7 days to get an answer if it's any good and i can be done in the house anytime. Why not know what your working with. Bare ground leads to wasted energy of planting plus your setting yourself up for weed pressures. Legally seed needed to be retested each year. 50% of feed mills and big box stores i walk into has illegally tagged seed. Seed never GOES UP in germination, it only gets worse.
Well I'm getting ready to put seed to dirt this weekend, we've had some great weather for growing, almost daily rain and some nice humid sunny weather. So it I'm going to get it done before I loose this weather pattern, and my next 3 weekends are tied up. I took the germination advice from the nutritionist and had some pretty surprising results with the mixed seed, photos are from day 4 and 5. The buckwheat at this point hasn't done anything, I found a tag on the bag from 2001, so it's even older than I thought. Hope everyone is having a great summer.
Tomorrow is finally going to be our "good" day. Temps have been in the upper 90's with humidity at 80%.
The layout is what dreams are made of I swear! The area just doesn't hold much for deer. I will have 6-8 doe and nearly a dozen fawns on camera all summer and likely not a single buck. By the time they get on their feet, our bow season ends and two weeks later they get pushed around for 2 week of rifle with Zero natural movement. You know how it is in this state!
