(Nick Maclaren) wrote in
:

Subject: Ancient chilli peppers
From: (Nick Maclaren)
Newsgroups: uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
Sue & Bob Hobden wrote:

Si wrote in message
I've been given some red chillies that were dried over 40 years ago; is
there any chance the seeds will germinate if planted?

Seeing as some seeds found in a Pharaoh's Tomb were germinated ...

I thought that was a suburban myth, but I could be wrong!

As I was sure I'd been taught that as fact on a reputable museum studies
postgrad course seven years ago or so, I thought that you were wrong, so I
went off to Google and checked.

And learned yet again that you should never take info thrown in as a side
issue by a lecturer as fact (specially when you may have misheard it...)
So thanks for that!

In the process I found this very useful site:

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/SoilC.../1999/guseptOC
T99.htm#Storage

The important bit from Si's point of view is:

"However, recent studies showed extended longevity of vegetable seeds once
stored (15 to 30 years) in ambient temperatures at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and
are now stored at the National Seed Storage Laboratory at -18oC (0F). For
example, tomato seeds stored for 60 years germinated 82%, pea seeds stored
for 51 years germinated 94%, and pepper seed stored for 51 years germinated
28%. These data suggest that the longevity of seed can be extended if
proper storage conditions are utilized. "

Awesome peas!

Sounds like there is a chance of germination for the 40-year chillis,
assuming low moisture and heat for the storage. I'd guess the moisture
content must have been pretty low or they'd have disintegrated, but I guess
if they were dried somewhere quite warm chances aren't so good.

Also found:
http://newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/500-599/nb507.htm
which gives an anecdote about plants germinating from (dated) storage at
the Natural History museum after war-time bomb damage. Which may or may
not be true...

Victoria Clare