Chin Ridge Urges Farmers to Check Germination Rates on Farm Saved Seed

"Whenever you are planning to seed your own seed, it is extremely important to do a germination test on the seed", says Kelly Barany of Chin Ridge Seeds. Barany says that this can be done by  sending a seed sample to a seed lab like 20/20 Seed Labs or Biovision for about $25 or $30. You can also do a home germination test.

Barany says that this is fairly straight forward to do. Here are her instructions: Take a paper towel and soak it in some water. It should be well damp but not dripping. Now place the towel on a plastic or styrofoam plate and lay out 100 seeds on it. Then take a second paper towel and wet it. Put this overtop of the seeds in the plate. Put the plate in a large size ziplock and seal it tight. Then put the plate in drawer or dark spot with a temperature of about 20 degrees celsius. After 8 to 12 days, count the seeds that have not sprouted. For example if you have 10 seeds out of the total that have not sprouted then you know you have a germination rate of 90 out of 100 seeds or 90%.