How to germinate old seeds

Unfortunately the current Covid19 situation has resulted in a lack of available vegetable seeds and seedlings, but don’t despair if you still have some seeds from last year or even the year before hidden in the back of your laundry cupboard. In many cases these seeds can still be viable if treated correctly.

Seeds have a date that is essentially a best before date, after which the seed viability drops off markedly. Seeds such as chilli, capsicum and even corn have a short shelf life, but now is not the time to plant these anyway. Unfortunately onion seeds fall into this group as well.  Other seeds such as beans, peas and the brassicas are often good for up to 3 years, and others such as lettuce and radish are good for 5 to 6 years.

Seeds lose their viability for a number of reasons…some simply don’t survive for very long, for others it is due to incorrect storage. I keep mine in the laundry cupboard where it’s dark, dry and never gets too hot. After time, the outer coating on the seeds gets harder as it dries out, which means the seeds don’t germinate because it takes too long for that coating to break down in the soil. During this time, fungi, bacteria and even various insects attack the seeds and they die.

So, the best way to get some old seeds going is put them on some paper towel and add a dilution of 1:10 of GOGO Juice. You don’t need much, as they don’t need to be swimming in it. The microbes in GOGO Juice are designed to degrade organic matter, so they will start to work on the seed coating after a day or so, which means the coating softens ready for planting.

Once your seeds have been treated with GOGO Juice, put them into the ground and water in with GOGO Juice (here we dilute it to 1:250). GOGO Juice not only contains microbes to aid in nutrient cycling, but also contains Triacontanol, which is a natural plant growth hormone that will give your plants a boost. If you already have some seedlings planted, a good drink of GOGO Juice together with an organic based fertiliser will certainly help them as well.

So don’t despair if you only have some old seeds…simply pre-treat with GOGO Juice, plant out and then follow up every 2 weeks with a good soaking of GOGO Juice. Before you know it your vegetables are up and running.

About GOGO Juice – literally teeming with beneficial micro-biology and essentially a pro-biotic for your soil and plants, GOGO Juice combines the “catalystic” power of providing a wide diversity of beneficial bacteria and fungi with the well documented benefits of applying kelp and humates.

Applications of GOGO Juice provide a huge boost of the living micro-biology necessary for your soil and plants to perform at their optimum level, increasing their ability to resist pest and disease and to withstand &/or recover from, heat stress and frost.

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