Poor germination on my cucumbers this year.

[belinda_mayer]

I had to buy nursery cucumbers this year as my indoor seeds didn't sprout. I'm going to try the ziploc bag method next year for all my seeds.

[B_BQ]

I put seeds into ziploc bags as suggested by Donna. Not one has shown any signs of germination in over a week. It's official - the seeds were dead!
~BBQ

[Dumbo]

I had seeds from last year that I planted indoors. Not one germinated. But I had fresh seeds that I ordered anyhow and started them inside... all germinated/sprouted and are planted.

[DonnaZn2SK]

I put seeds into ziploc bags as suggested by Donna. Not one has shown any signs of germination in over a week. It's official - the seeds were dead!
~BBQ

How old were the seeds, Brenda? I find that the individual seeds have their own timing when germinating. I had a bunch in the ziploc and I was surprised at the length of time it took for all of them to germinate. If the towel looked a bit dry, I would add a bit more water to it...it should be fairly moist. I also put it near the coffee maker, where it gets a bit of residual heat (I don't have a heating mat).

The cucumbers did really well with the pre-sprouting. If you want to do that next year, make sure to start them about a week before they would normally be emerging from the soil. You don't want to plant them too early and have them get frosted.

My peas are the best they've been for years. I used innoculant this year - haven't bought that in a while, but I thought it was worth a shot because I've had such horrible peas lately.

[B_BQ]

How old were the seeds, Brenda?

Bought last year, so should still have been okay. I checked them again this morning, diddly-squat. Kitchen towel is still quite damp. That's fine - confirmation that they are no longer viable, so I'll toss them all out.

I don't grow peas, but wondering what you did to 'innoculate' them.

~BBQ

[DonnaZn2SK]

Brenda,
If they were from last year, they should still be good. I would give them more time...zucchini seeds have a really hard seed coat and will take more time than other seeds. Did they grow last year? You never know how a store takes care of their seeds, my local big box store has a display of their seeds in the hot sun all day.

It's funny, I planted two varieties of zucchini this year and placed two of each seed in two spots - only one of each came up (which is good because I was planning to thin one out anyway). I have the regular variety and the striped one. The regular one was from last year or the year before, so old seeds.

This garden innoculant is made by McKenzie's...it looks like soot. It is beneficial bacteria that helps legume-type plants, apparently. I used it many years ago when I grew a lot more peas. It was around $5 for the pouch and you need to use it up within nine months or so.

[Eeyore]

I started the Lemon Cukes Brenda sent me and no joy at all. Not a single one germinated. I also had problems with packaged seeds for some other cukes I bought. Next time I will try the pre sprouting method but I'm disappointed not to have any lemon cukes this year.