Hello!
I was very into growing peppers a few years ago and at the time wondered how the pepper taste has changed over the years. Wondering led me to find a vintage "red crushed pepper" jar on ebay that seems to be from about 1940(?). The jar was full! And has LOTS of seeds. Due to a large life upheaval, I did not grow anything for the past 4-5 years, but found the jar in the salad crisper of my fridge and thought I'd give them a test for viability.
Now these peppers may have been kiln dried so may all be dead. However I've tried a few methods and have had what seems to me to be signs of life. But maybe they aren't?
First I simply soaked the seeds in water, and then tried the water paper towel method. No luck.
Then I soaked the seeds in weak sucrose water, washed and then onto paper towels. One out of 20 seeds poked a radicle out and then stalled and died.
I assumed the seeds were lacking in something, so I then soaked the seeds in coconut water I took from a coconut, washed and then onto paper towels. 3 out of 20 seeds poked a radicle out. Then they all stalled and died.
A long time ago, I got my PhD in novel cancer therapy treatments so decided to get a bit more sciencey. I soaked some seeds in plain water and then plated them onto agar containing half strength Murashige and Skoog medium with vitamins and sucrose. This was a couple of days ago. I've had one seed poke out a radicle, However, in 12 hours it hasn't grown in length significantly.
I know VERY little about seeds/germination etc. and I may be fooling myself. Can these radicles emerging be purely a result of the seeds taking in water and swelling, forcing the radicle out? Or would they only do that if there was, initially at least, viability?
This is the current state of the seed:
Here is the most advanced one from the coconut water soaking. Too long to be purely from swelling?:
And here is a picture of the jar of old seeds. I've only estimated the age at 80 years as I can't find any more info online about accurate age. Any suggestions would be great!
Ben.
I was very into growing peppers a few years ago and at the time wondered how the pepper taste has changed over the years. Wondering led me to find a vintage "red crushed pepper" jar on ebay that seems to be from about 1940(?). The jar was full! And has LOTS of seeds. Due to a large life upheaval, I did not grow anything for the past 4-5 years, but found the jar in the salad crisper of my fridge and thought I'd give them a test for viability.
Now these peppers may have been kiln dried so may all be dead. However I've tried a few methods and have had what seems to me to be signs of life. But maybe they aren't?
First I simply soaked the seeds in water, and then tried the water paper towel method. No luck.
Then I soaked the seeds in weak sucrose water, washed and then onto paper towels. One out of 20 seeds poked a radicle out and then stalled and died.
I assumed the seeds were lacking in something, so I then soaked the seeds in coconut water I took from a coconut, washed and then onto paper towels. 3 out of 20 seeds poked a radicle out. Then they all stalled and died.
A long time ago, I got my PhD in novel cancer therapy treatments so decided to get a bit more sciencey. I soaked some seeds in plain water and then plated them onto agar containing half strength Murashige and Skoog medium with vitamins and sucrose. This was a couple of days ago. I've had one seed poke out a radicle, However, in 12 hours it hasn't grown in length significantly.
I know VERY little about seeds/germination etc. and I may be fooling myself. Can these radicles emerging be purely a result of the seeds taking in water and swelling, forcing the radicle out? Or would they only do that if there was, initially at least, viability?
This is the current state of the seed:
Here is the most advanced one from the coconut water soaking. Too long to be purely from swelling?:
And here is a picture of the jar of old seeds. I've only estimated the age at 80 years as I can't find any more info online about accurate age. Any suggestions would be great!
Ben.
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