3 Easy Methods To Test Seed Germination (And Why It Matters)

Know before your grow

Whether you have your own saved seed, or picked up some last-year leftover seeds cheaply at the store, knowing how to test the viability of the seed can be a real money and time saver. 

Seed germination rates refer to how many seeds sprout as a function of how many seeds were planted.   If you plant 100 seeds and 95 sprout, that is a 95% germination rate, and it’s good.  But if you plant 100 seeds and only 50 sprout, that is a 50% germination rate and that is generally considered poor.

Seed germination tests are designed to calculate the rate at which seeds are sprouting. These germination rates let you plan and plant your garden more effectively.

Just because you have a poor germination rate doesn’t mean that you should throw out the seed (more on this later).  It does mean that you have adjust your seed starting plans, and maybe even your garden design.

Here is the Catch-22 with seeds germination rates:  Overplanting and Underplanting

Overplanting wastes a LOT of seed:  If you have great germination rates, let’s call that over 90% germination, but you plant 3 or 4 seeds in every hole thinking “just in case they don’t sprout”, then you’ve just wasted a LOT of seed.    That seed could have been more food later at no further cost.

Underplanting wastes a LOT of time:  If you have terrible germination rates, let’s call that under 50%, and you plant one seed per spot thinking “these are great seeds”, then you discover less than half of your bed has grown.  Now you will have a very patchy harvest and room for a lot of weeds.  If you have a rotation schedule for your small space garden, now  you are behind and cannot easily catch up that time. And you may end up needing to interplant with something else w-hen you didn’t expect to do that.