Pulsegleaner
Garden Master
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2014
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- Location
- Lower Hudson Valley, New York
Hi all, quick question.
Over the last week or so, I have been running germination tests on some of my old (going on 20 yrs.) corn, to determine what percentage of it is actually going to grow (and hence, how much I have to sow to get a decent number of healthy plants)
Last night was the check time and the results are a little confusing. If I define "germinate" as simply beginning to sprout, the rate is a little over 50% (not great, but plenty good for leaving some seed over)
However most of those are literally just starting, and seem malformed (they look like their radicles were broken, but with one exception, I found no radicle fragments, so that can't be it). It seems to me that such seeds should probably not be counted as having germinated well and so the actual germination rate is something like 10-20% (in which case I need to sow ALL of it to get a decent shot at healthy plants.)
What do you think?
Over the last week or so, I have been running germination tests on some of my old (going on 20 yrs.) corn, to determine what percentage of it is actually going to grow (and hence, how much I have to sow to get a decent number of healthy plants)
Last night was the check time and the results are a little confusing. If I define "germinate" as simply beginning to sprout, the rate is a little over 50% (not great, but plenty good for leaving some seed over)
However most of those are literally just starting, and seem malformed (they look like their radicles were broken, but with one exception, I found no radicle fragments, so that can't be it). It seems to me that such seeds should probably not be counted as having germinated well and so the actual germination rate is something like 10-20% (in which case I need to sow ALL of it to get a decent shot at healthy plants.)
What do you think?
