Germination Impatience

I have a question for any of you who may have ordered seeds from Seed Savers Exchange over the past few years - I'm starting my tomatoes right now, and while most of my seeds from Tomato Bobs and Botanical Interests have begun to sprout, not a single SSE has poked it's little white loop out of the soil, let alone straightened up - a couple of varieties from the other companies have yet to do so as well (Marmande from TB, and Roma from BI), but I'm not as worried.

So, if you've started seeds from SSE before, did you notice longer germination times? They've been 'cooking' for almost 6 days now, and I've read that some tomato seeds can take up to two or three weeks. If this is the case, I'm down, but I'd also really like to use my oven soon (more on that later). And of course I hope they take, because the lagging varieties (especially Black Plum, SSE) are the ones I'm most excited about.

And let's give a high five to Ms. Best Canadian Weblog herself, J over at Everybody Likes Sandwiches!

Comments

[kickpleat]

How could I have missed your virtual high-five? Thank you very much. Good luck with your germination...I have zero experience with that kind of thing.

[L.]

Leanne, all the information I've found places the varieties around 10 days - and that turned out to be about right. The seeds I'd planted in seed starter only turned in about a 25% germination, and took forever (Black Plum and Pink Brandywine, especially). However, I germinated some Black Plum and Pink Brandywine SS on paper towels, and those sprouted at around a 75-80% rate in under three days. I transplanted those to some soil, and we'll see if they thrive.

Still no word on Green Zebra or Marmande, so I did the paper towel germination test for them too, last night. We'll see if they sprout in a few days.

Thanks Kristi!

Coyote, Chuck's a winner.

[Coyote]

So very timely :-)
http://www.dooce.com/daily-chuck/2009/03/18/you-say-tomato

[Kristi]

While I haven't bought from SSE, I have noticed that some varieties do take longer to germinate. So don't give up hope! Most of seedlings took about 7 days but one variety took 2 weeks.

[leanne]

What does the seed packet say the germination period is? I've found that my seeds have been varying greatly, and they're all from the same source. So, if the germination period says 6-10 days, some will pop up right at 6 and others will take 10+ days to poke out of the soil. The time varies between varieties, even if it's all the same vegetable. I would give the tomatoes to the end of the germination range and if they haven't shown up by then, separate them and place them in a warm spot somewhere else. Just make sure you keep them moist. I swear, even when I thought my seeds were duds, after a long enough wait they typically show up.