Are my old seeds still viable?

It happens.
Especially if you're just starting a garden, or you're trying new vegetables or herbs that you're not sure will work out for you,
You end up with so many packets of leftover seeds, or seeds you simply forgot you had in the first place.

When I was sorting out my seeds last week, I found a packet of chamomile seeds that had expired in 2008.. Oops!

But how do you know if they're still good?

If you buy seed packets from a store they will most likely have a "best by" date on them, but is this date reliable? And what if you got the seeds somewhere else and you don't have a date to go by?
You could always just plant them and hope they come to life, but if they don't you might've wasted a whole lot of time and patience.

What to do?
Test them!

Winter is the best time to do this, so you're ready to go when spring comes around.
I would recommend only doing this if you still have a good amount of seeds left, it's likely that (if they're old) some of them didn't survive their time being tucked away.

This is how to test if your old seeds are still viable..

Method 1:

What you will need:
- a container
- water
- a couple seeds

How to do it:
Put your seeds in a container that has some water in it, give them a couple minutes.
If they sink there's a good chance they're still viable, if they float they might be dried up and they are unlikely to sprout.

Method 2:

What you will need:
- a tray, container, or even a lid will do
- paper towels
- water
- about 10 seeds to sacrifice for the test (if you have less you can still do this but there's more chance of being (un)lucky)
- a warm place

How to do it:
- Place a double layer of paper towel on your tray/container/..
- Add some water, the paper towel should be soaked, there can be about 1mm of water sitting in the tray.
- Spread out your seeds in groups, label them if you'd like.
- Keep the seeds in a warm place (around 20°c - 70°f) they don't need much light.
- Now you wait. Depending on the species it can take anywhere from 5 to 20 days for the seed to sprout.
- Keep an eye on them, if most of your seeds germinate, they're good to go!
- If less than half or none at all show any sign of life, get rid of them, they're not worth the effort.

I hope this little test can be of some help, nobody likes throwing out possible crops, especially if you're trying to save as much money as possible.

- Steffi