Food Plots How Long Can Seed Stay Viable?

[348Winchester]

Here's the situation, just before the first promised rain of Labor Day weekend I sowed a mixture of seeds consisting of black oats, buckwheat, radish, crimson, arrowleaf, berseem, balansa clovers, and chicory. There was just enough rain to sprout the buckwheat and radishes and they are doing fairly well. When the next round of rains were predicted 10 or so days later the plot was sown again with the same mixture but with a little rape in place of the radishes. The rape was some older seed I had in the bottom drawer of my extra refrigerator so it may or may not do anything. There was a pittance of rain but not enough to amount to anything. Yesterday, the plot was oversown again with more black oats, wheat, and rye. Hopefully, the heavy rains currently predicted will come to fruition. I plan on overseeding again in a couple of weeks with rye and again with rye in about 4-6 weeks.

What thinkest ye about the seed that I saw laying unsprouted on the ground from the second application? Is it possibly still viable? The clover seed, being small and dark is not visible. It is rather costly and is the one I'm most concerned about.

 

[megalomaniac]

We sowed 75 acres of cover crop in one of my ag fields mid Oct last year. It didn't rain until December, and by January it was sprouting and 3in tall. By April it was thick and lush.

Didn't help one bit during deer season though

 

[knightrider]

Some sseds lay in the ground for decades until the ground is disturbed and then they come up, so only time will tell

 

[JCDEERMAN]

A lot longer than you think

 

[BSK]

A lot longer than you think

Agreed.

Last year, I waited until our Crimson Clover had bloomed and died in late May before broadcasting my summer seed and mowing the dead Crimson down on top. In August, in preparation for planting my fall seed, I mowed the summer crop. However, the plentiful summer rains ceased as soon as I mowed, and didn't return until October. Yet, not long after mowing, the plots started to green-up with Crimson Clover. From where? I hadn't broadcast a single seed yet. It was all of the naturally produced seed from the seed heads I mowed in May. They had laid there on the ground all summer without germinating. Yet they still germinate once the temps started to cool.

The first picture below is one of my plots a few weeks after mowing in August. Everything green in that plot is Crimson Clover from the seed left on the ground all summer. The second picture is the instant green-up we got after the first rain in October. Every bit of the Crimson Clover is from seed that had been laying on the ground for 3 months.

 

[Ski]

I'm surprised every year by random stuff popping up at random times, seed that I had put down in previous plantings. I've seen it so often that I no longer really worry if seed will stay viable. My biggest worry is critters. When I put seed down it's a race between germination and being eaten by turkeys, chipmunks, raccoons, etc. If enough rain doesn't come soon enough to get things growing, the critters have my plot eaten before it even sprouts. I can't even plant corn anymore. Darn chipmunks & crows wait until it sprouts so they have something to pull the kernel out by.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Agreed.

Last year, I waited until our Crimson Clover had bloomed and died in late May before broadcasting my summer seed and mowing the dead Crimson down on top. In August, in preparation for planting my fall seed, I mowed the summer crop. However, the plentiful summer rains ceased as soon as I mowed, and didn't return until October. Yet, not long after mowing, the plots started to green-up with Crimson Clover. From where? I hadn't broadcast a single seed yet. It was all of the naturally produced seed from the seed heads I mowed in May. They had laid there on the ground all summer without germinating. Yet they still germinate once the temps started to cool.

The first picture below is one of my plots a few weeks after mowing in August. Everything green in that plot is Crimson Clover from the seed left on the ground all summer. The second picture is the instant green-up we got after the first rain in October. Every bit of the Crimson Clover is from seed that had been laying on the ground for 3 months.

The crimson has been relentless the last 2 years (totally ok with that). So much so, that we cut our crimson rate this fall in half. It's coming up everywhere, and very thick.

I'm fixing to head to Hickman to drill in the last remaining 4.5 acres. Good luck to all those planting and having hopes of much more rain to come. Got .25" last night with a slight drizzle at our place as I type.

 

[backyardtndeer]

I have planted old clover seed with pretty good results. It does stay viable longer than some company's want you to think.