Kitchen Garden Forum

Just wondering is anyone else has had this problem. The pea seeds I got from Kings (Pilot and tons of sweet peas) have virtually all failed to germinate.I've sown three batches of Pilot and got one or two from each 32 cell rootrainer. The strange thing is all the other pea seed varieties from various other suppliers have been almost 100% successful.
They've all been grown in the same way (rootrainers in unheated greenhouse). I'm puzzled and confused to say the least. If anyone's got any ideas I'd be really greatful.
Thanks, June

Hello June
You could do a simple viability test on the peas if you still have some left. Put say 10 seeds on a wad of damp paper kitchen towel and keep this on a windowsill. If the seeds are OK they will take up water rapidly and swell then within a few days you should at least be able to see the first root, under the seed coat, about to emerge. If the seeds fail to swell then obviously they are dead!

John

Thanks for that, I'll try it out with the seeds I have left.
June