On Wednesday, September 11, 2013 6:50:04 PM UTC-4, David Hare-Scott wrote:
wrote:

Pepper seeds in particular. I harvest my own seeds from grocery store

peppers and the ones I grow. Are the seeds from 2011 still going to

be viable in January when I start my plants? I will have some from

this years crop but I think I may have waited too long and will not

have all the varieties.

Thanks

MJ



You can find tables of expected viability by specie on the web. This is

probably a maximum and doesn't take into account if all the seeds were ripe

when you picked them or if your storage conditions were appropriate. Also

the expected lifetime is not a sudden end, the proportion of germination

will decline with age progressively. If you have a hundred seeds you have a

better chance of getting 5 to grow after 3 years than if you have only have

ten. In any event there isn't much you can do about it now.



As for this year's crop, in what way are you too late? Even a stunted late

season fruit on a dying frost-struck plant that you wouldn't eat may yield

viable seeds provided it reached maturity.



David

Too late in that I wasn't paying close enough attention and that I think some of the plants I need seeds from are all done producing.
MJ