Germination rates?

Hey all.

I've been bingeing on seed purchases lately, from a number of vendors, and I've also had occasion to speak with a number of growers about their success rates in germinating seeds from various sources.

From my own experiences, I've been wondering if there'd be any utility to the cactus/succulent community here in logging germination success - and here I am simply speaking about the proportion of seeds that successfully sprout, rather than grow to maturity, which is more a matter of the grower than the supplier. The thing is, I don't feel comfortable in publicising the identities of the vendors, as I don't think that the possibility of bad experiences with particular batches should reflect upon their selections in general, and certainly not over extended periods of time.

Nevertheless, if someone is thinking about spending three or four figure dollar sums buying various seeds of various taxa, it might be useful to know what to expect, especially if the source is overseas. So, would a thread organised to do this be useful? If so, what format would be best? A meandering series of posts might grow too cumbersome over time to search efficiently - perhaps a single large post, updated by a moderator receiving PMs, or perhaps a linked database, containing info such as species, grower, dates bought/sown, germination methods, and success rates?

Most importantly, should the vendor be in any way identified, even if it were by private message? As I said above, I personally am reluctant to provide public ID details, especially as there is no guarantee that privately shared information would not be irrevocably published outside of this forum. The one exception that I would feel comfortable with is to indicate purchases from on-line auction sites (not the dealer specifically), as the sheer number of vendors and the relative anonymity provide a degree of defense against vexatious claims. The trouble with exceptions though (even for publicising good quailty vendors), is that other vendors might unfairly suffer by omission.

Anyway, I know that for my own purposes, simply knowing what experiences other folk had with particular species would still have been useful information.

If this is all too much of a fraught idea please don't be shy in saying so. And if anyone has any ideas on how such a resource might work, please say something!

If you didn't make blanket statements (such and such a seller is krap etc..) and just related your success rates for vendors/species I don't think you'd get in trouble... But close moderation would be necessary or ACF could get itself in deep water.
The other problem is there are so many diffrerent variables when it comes to the growers conditions/methods etc that can come into play it might be hard to draw any real conclusions. Also, occasional bad batches of seed are a given now and then from any supplier unfortunately, and unless there's an alternative you just have to cop it.
This may be of interest - http://www.bcss.org.uk/forum/read.php?1,145986

I hear what your saying WoodDragon and I think that kind of info would be a useful tool for everyone. I see no problem in users giving feedback on various vendors products and services including germination rates.

However for germ rates the problem lies in individual circumstances, exprience etc and I think Navajoa is correct. One person may get poor germination while another could obtain great results using the same seed but in a vastly different climates. The same being said for levels of experience.

I also agree that some batches of seed are simply "bad", and nothing much can be done about this. I have recently become interested, and many people are aware of this, that some vendors do not sell what they claim. they sell seeds of "XXXX" but when the plants mature you end up with "X". I really hate this especially when you pay a good price for them.

i had a number of packets i purchased with damaged and or hollow seeds , i still planted the shells lol , no nothing arose...ebay may have fresher seed than some vendors :/

I agree with the comments on particular batches, and that's why I thought that including the date purchased might be useful - the closer the reporting is to someone's consideration to buy, the more likely that a batch issue is to be relevant.

I was going to start logging with seeds that I bought recently from a few different sources, just to get a handle on how to organise data, but this morning my 14 month old son put paid to that. Somehow the little bugger, who does even walk where his twin sister has been doing so for four months, managed to fight barriers and tables to reach a window sill and tip off a whole heap of containers with various species of trich, staps, lophs, notos, epilantha, arios and some others. They were all in the throes of sprouting, and sadly most of the seedlings were snapped off just at the roots...

What seeds weren't irretreivably damaged are mostly buried beyond finding in the seed mix, and I'll be lucky to get half a dozen plants from the hundreds of seeds that I planted - and in those cases I won't know which variety they are; and for the couple of staps, which species until they flower in a few years (memo to self, this is one good reason to separate species/varieties into different containers). It was a real shame because my stap seeds from Vlado were going hammer and tongs, and I was so looking forward to germinating the carallumas...

I was crushed, absolutely crushed, and it was all I could do to keep from putting said offspring into a bubbling pot with chopped vegies and herbs. The seeds were worth over a hundred dollars all up, and some of them were the last lots that the vendors had. Being a lingering PhD student I'm currently unemployed, but not claiming income support, and I literally spent my last few hundred that I earned from a casual job last year on these seeds, so I won't have another chance to grow anything for ages now - except the precious little package recently received from our esteemed host, which I am guarding with my life!

Anyway, I'm still mulling over the idea, and I'm still inclined to knock up something if no-one else wants to stick up their hands. It might be a while now, though, because my spirits are at punched-in-the-belly on the happ-o-meter.

Anybody want an overly curious and precociously destructive male toddler? Going cheap...

I'll swap you a mischevious little 5 year old boy who thought he'd help Dad water his Mam. plumosa and glassii seeds the other day by dunking the whole container in one of my aquariums (another of my obsessions is aquariums... cichlids actually), and swamping the lot... am hopeful at least one of each will manage to reach the surface again... but number three child is now aware that Dad's cactus seeds do not need watering once I put their trays under the aquarium lights

That sucks WoodDragon Sorry to hear. Drop me a PM and I will help you out with some seed.