old seed challenge 2025

[rxkeith]

just seeded this evening
from 2009
aunt ginnys purple
black from tula
crnkovic yugoslavian
heatherington pink
poll robeson angolan

2010
soldacki

these are all from sandhill preservation.
i way over seeded. no presoaking or blue stuff. seeds are all readily available so i did the lazy way.
i figured i need to either plant them or pitch them.
stay tuned


keith

[tyrupp]

I planted Indian stripe from victory seed 2011 and had almost 90% germination

[svalli]

I sowed my tomatoes March 8th and still today I noticed two new sprouts of the older seeds pushing up from the moler clay granules.

Sprouting rate so far is in my opinion quite good.

• Green Zebra from Heirloom Seeds in packet labeled to be packed 2004 1/6

• Lime Green Salad purchased from TGS 2007 4/6

• Jersey Devil purchased 2007 from TGS has 3/6

• Kootenai sent to me by Sue Bailey 2009 1/4

I have started to transplant the seedlings from the starting tray, but I will leave these old ones untouched at least a week more. I use mild fertilized to water the tray, so the seedlings have enough nutrients to grow before transplanting.

Sari

[habitat-gardener]

This year my old tomato seeds (defined as older than 7 years), all from swaps, are
Black Magic, 2015 5/6 and vigorous, 8 days for first one to germinate
Rose, 2016, 1/4 and slow, took 13 days. Not sure it will make it
Dixiewine, 2016, 0/4

Eggplant seeds from 2021 have all been vigorous and with good germination.

[Labradors]

My 2013 packet of Goose Creek from Heritage Tomato Seed all germinated .

[wykvlvr]

I will be attempting to germination some Urbikany from 2004... rebuilding my lost seed database has been a real eye opener. So far that is the oldest packet I have found that was dated...

[Stitchingmom]

I have Bicolor Cherry from 2012, which I have a feeling won't be worth the trouble, and Red Heart from 2014.

The Clint's Rowdy Red and Benewah from 2014 I tried to germinate last year didn't germinate, so I am not getting my hopes up.

[Jeannine Anne]

I sowed 10 different oldies a few weeks ago all from 2009..I chucked what I had left of all of them each in their own pot hoping for one plant of each. one very special one. one ID, and the others were all from Tania's site for hanging baskets, I got 8 varieties to pop..and boy did they pop, my son came and took my extrasapart from the special one. That one is a micro of my own is doing very well under lights, they even have flowers on now.. far too many to keep so will be sharing.

I love that first tiny wee bit of green.

I have also sown a winter squash which I brought into Canada, it isn't available anywhere, I did share it with Tania way back when but she is no longer into seeds so I have all my fingers and toes crossed that I get one plant it is from 2010 .....please, just one plant and I promise to be good all this
year..

Good luck to us all XX Jeannine

[Paulf]

One week ago all the seeds found in a pint jar hidden away from the rest of the seeds were planted. As yet none have sprouted. All were dated 2009 and 2010. Not hoping for much but any germination will be a bonus.

Russian Black
Indian Stripe
Eva Purple Ball
Giant Lilac Pink..lilac pink?
Sprite
Kardia Karpos
Kosovo
Slovenia Black
Orange Strawberry
Yellow 1884
Sparks Yellow
Prue
Martin's Amish Menon...couldn't find any information
Croatian Heart
Old German
Omar's Lebanese
Mexico
Monomkh's Hat
Belarusian Heart
Brandywine Big Purple...maybe just brandywine purple
Opalka
Crnkovic Yugoslavian
Nepal
Milka's Red Bulgarian
Costoluto..?

some I have grown, some I have heard of and not grown and some I have never heard of. I think they were all sent to me by a poster on one of the sites I visit or visited...thank you very much and sorry they have not been planted before this. Lost in the shuffle.

[rdback]

"Martin's Amish Menon...couldn't find any information"

@Paulf, I originally thought "Martin" just might be Martin Longseth, but I found an obscure reference (in Japanese) to Martin's Amish Mennonite. Using the translator, I think it says the original seed source was a friend of Lisa Von Saunder of Amishland Seeds. Lisa is/was located in Ephrata, PA, which is in the middle of Amish country. Just fyi.

https://www.heirloom-tomato-farm.com/items/32998309

[Paulf]

Excellent information…thank you.

[Labradors]

@Paulf I LOVE Orange Strawberry which has excellent taste. I hope it germinates for you .

[Tormato]

Ace 55, seed from 1965.

The last of them will be attempted this year (if I can find them ). These were from the original huge grow out of the (1st year?) 1964 commercially available Ace 55.

Maybe I can find the story about them, where Auburn University's seed storage freezer broke down, all seeds were quickly dispersed by workers, and I was a friend of a friend of a worker. I grew some of them years ago, when I first received them. They germinated in 3-4 days, back then.

[worth1]

I've got hundreds of old seeds of New Big Dwarf and orange Russian 117 I need to get rid of somehow.
Somewhere around 10 years old mor or less.
Plus one seed package leaked out some in my seed drawer either one of the two listed but don't know which one.

[Tormato]

I've got hundreds of old seeds of New Big Dwarf and orange Russian 117 I need to get rid of somehow.
Somewhere around 10 years old mor or less.
Plus one seed package leaked out some in my seed drawer either one of the two listed but don't know which one.

A seedling of New Big Dwarf would soon be shorter, and have a much thicker stem than OR117. The first true leaves would likely be wider, too.

[Frosti]

Ace 55, seed from 1965.

The last of them will be attempted this year (if I can find them ). These were from the original huge grow out of the (1st year?) 1964 commercially available Ace 55.

Maybe I can find the story about them, where Auburn University's seed storage freezer broke down, all seeds were quickly dispersed by workers, and I was a friend of a friend of a worker. I grew some of them years ago, when I first received them. They germinated in 3-4 days, back then.

Surely that one would have to be the oldest successfully germinated tomato seed on this forum, right? So the seeds are from the 60s and then they went into a freezer. But when did you receive the seeds? When did a seed from that batch last germinate successfully?

[Heidi C]

I just had a Spike's Red Belly Button pop up today! 2015 seeds from Gary. 11 days after planting.

[worth1]

I've got hundreds of old seeds of New Big Dwarf and orange Russian 117 I need to get rid of somehow.
Somewhere around 10 years old mor or less.
Plus one seed package leaked out some in my seed drawer either one of the two listed but don't know which one.

A seedling of New Big Dwarf would soon be shorter, and have a much thicker stem than OR117. The first true leaves would likely be wider, too.

Trust me I know, I've planted plenty of both.
It pretty obvious from start to finish.

[Jeannine Anne]

I sowed 10 different oldies a few weeks ago all from 2009..I chucked what I had left of all of them each in their own pot hoping for one plant of each. one very special one. one ID, and the others were all from Tania's site for hanging baskets, I got 8 varieties to pop..and boy did they pop, my son came and took my extrasapart from the special one. That one is a micro of my own is doing very well under lights, they even have flowers on now.. far too many to keep so will be sharing.

I love that first tiny wee bit of green.

I have also sown a winter squash which I brought into Canada, it isn't available anywhere, I did share it with Tania way back when but she is no longer into seeds so I have all my fingers and toes crossed that I get one plant it is from 2010 .....please, just one plant and I promise to be good all this
year..

Good luck to us all XX Jeannine

Just upadating...

This morning 2 of the 2010 squash popped . I just checked my notes and it was sown just short of 6 weeks ago..I sowed more than 2 but am happy to get what I have got..Very Very special. I am hoping for seeds so I can share it begore I pop off.

XX Jeannine

[peebee]

This is a great post, so many varieties from the past ahhh what memories! @Paulf I have grown many on that list you posted. And Martin Longseth, what a nice man he was. He sent me melon seeds when we were both on Garden Web (is it now Houzz?), & he was the one who told me about TVille.
When I saw Martin's Amish menon on the list I initially thought you had misspelled melon, before I realized the list was all tomatoes.