Are Your Vegetable Seeds Still Good? Check This List (2024)

FAQs

How do you know if vegetable seeds are still good? ›

One method to check for seed viability is the water test. Take the seeds and place them in a container of water. Let the seeds sit for 15 minutes. If the seeds sink, they are still viable; if they float, discard, because they probably will not sprout.

Seeds that have been stored in a cool, dry place are generally viable for at least a year past the season for which they were packaged and may be good for up to five years.

For most crops, if there's no sign of sprouting after a couple of weeks you may as well buy fresh replacements. Don't waste your sprouted seeds – eat them!

Most vegetable seeds remain good for about two to three years, but some, such as onions, deteriorate within a year. Lettuce, on the other hand, can successfully sprout after five years.

Vegetable and flower seeds may be kept for one year without appreciable decrease in germination. Storage may be extended to 10 or more years under proper conditions. Seed moisture and storage temperature are the most important factors in determining how long seed can be stored.

Nearly all seeds remain viable (able to germinate) for at least a year, and a vast majority retain the ability to germinate for at least two years. Once the two-year mark passes, though, many seed germination rates start to decline.

The truth is seeds don't expire. They lose viability if stored improperly. While most seed companies will tell you to replace seeds every 2-3 years, those seeds will keep for decades and will germinate when planted if kept in a cool, dark, and dry place.

Seeds just aren't meant to sit in a little envelope on your shelf year after year. Seeds will only go "bad"—in the way that bread gets moldy or milk curdles—if those seeds are exposed to moisture while being improperly stored and begin to develop mold or rot.

Many seeds will maintain great germination for three years even in your kitchen cupboard, though there are exceptions. Stored well, some seeds can last centuries. Reducing humidity is key to storing seed, reducing risk of mold and pre-mature sprouting. If you're saving home-grown seed, I love you!

The seed with physical quality should have uniform size, weight, and colour and should be free from stones, debris, and dust, leafs, twigs, stems, flowers, fruit well without other crop seeds and inert material. It also should be devoid of shriveled, diseased mottled, moulded, discoloured, damaged and empty seeds.

How to tell when seeds are bad? ›

Take your seeds and put them in a container of water. Let them sit for about 15 minutes. If the seeds sink, they are most likely still viable. If they float, they probably will not sprout.

To keep the seeds cool (ideally, below 50 degrees), some people store them in a jar in their refrigerator or freezer. Seeds in good condition and stored properly will last at least one year and, depending on the plant, may last two to five years.

If you still have plenty of retail seeds left over from the previous year, you might not need to buy new ones for the new growing season. It's worth saving seed packets beyond the first year because many vegetable and flower seeds can remain viable for several years if stored properly.

After seed starting, or at the end of the growing season, many gardeners find themselves with partially full seed packets. Do not throw these seeds away, as most will last more than a year after the “sell by” date. Some seeds will keep 10 years (or more!) if carefully stored.

Seeds in fact do not have an "expiration date", rather it is a sell-by-day, just like food. The dates on seed packets are guidelines to help you figure out if your seeds are getting old, but it does not mean you have to throw them away if they are past their sell-by-date. Every plant is different.

The damaged seeds are hollow or lesser in weight as compared to the healthy seeds. Hence, they float on water. Q. Floating test is a method of separating healthy seeds from the damaged ones.