I am going to leave this here for folks concerned about old seeds. If you are going to try and germinate old seeds PLEASE sterilize the surface first! Remember that a seed is a tiny little sterile packet. Everything INSDIE the hull is a sterile environment so you need to clean the outside of the house!
To surface sterilize seeds:
Preferably in a sterile environment:
- 90 seconds of agitation in 70% Isopropyl alcohol, DI water rinse.
- 3 minutes of agitation in 3% H2O2 DI water rinse.
- 13-15 minutes of agitation in 10% household bleach followed by 3 DI rinses
- Maintain sterility!
- 24-hour soak in DI water to soften shells.
If you want to try an “assist” then during your final soak add some GA3. I would recommend 50ppm-200ppm.
If you get tails then rinse and plant them or rinse and leave them in a wet towel. Try to get your GA3 rinsed off as the seedlings will stretch like a mofo.
If you do not get tails the seed hulls are now soft enough to crack open, peel apart, and rescue the embryo. Since they are sterile they can go right onto seed starting culture media.