You'll just have to plant them and see. Most seeds, if kept really dry, or frozen or cold can live for thousands of years.
They planted seeds found in Egyptian tombs that were over 2,000 years old and they came up just fine.

Just plant alot of your seeds, and if they come up, save seeds from the new plants.

 

Most seeds die after three years.

 

I view "heirloom seeds" with mixed feelings. Baker Seeds are about 50 miles from us. We have visited a couple of times, and purchased several varieties of seeds, with peas poor luck.
Last summer we planted tomatoes, which did terrible, as well as a couple other veggies. The only heirloom seeds that did good were the green and sweet peppers.
THIS YEAR, we are going back to the type you buy at China Mart, or your neighborhood grocery.

 

It's not the seeds being heirlooms that caused it. Sounds more like you picked varieties that don't do well in your region. Experiment some more and you'll find what grows well in your region. I had to do the same thing with my last garden. Gardening takes experience. This is why those "survival seeds kits" are a poor value.

 

I believe tomatoes did horrible last summer just about every where. Ours were from China mart and a local nursery. Nothing did well due to the early heat and later drought.

Heirloom seeds are really the only way to go. We will need open-pollinated varieties in the event of any kind of severe disruption. Seed saving is an art that I am going to have to learn.

 

I would wait until it was warmer, and then try again.

If the seeds are alive at all they will be weak: look up the ideal sprouting temperature for beans, wait until you have it, and then try again. Wheat seeds found in the pyramids DID sprout, but it was dry in the pyramids an it is not dry in Florida.

 

How were they stored for those 18 years? Temperature and humidity fluctuations? If seeds are kept in less than ideal conditions, they die.

 

They were kept in a mason jar sealed up...Im going to try a bunch of them again this spring, hopefully I can get a few to sprout.

 

I thought seeds need to "breathe"?

I keep mine in paper envelopes.

 

Heirloom seeds need to be for your climate. Our agriculture extension agency has a seed savers group which is happy to give seeds so they will be grown and saved by more people here. These seeds are already tested and grown in our area.

I feel I need to grow them every year or two to get fresh seeds. I do know that bean and corn seeds won't keep nearly as long as wheat due to wheat's hard shell and lack of oils.

Commercial seeds are too often (usually) hybrids which won't reproduce true to kind. You don't know what you'll get. Some hybrids produce sterile seeds. The same is true of getting seeds from grocery stores' or even farmer's markets' produce. They are probably hybrids because hybrids are easier to grow, may bear earlier, and look "prettier" on the shelf.

I grow heirloom watermelons because it's impossible to get a really good watermelon at a store. Farmers need melons with tough rinds for shipping, uniform look, uniform ripening, early ripening, etc. etc. None of that matters to me. Taste and texture matter to me, as does vine ripening.

Edit: One exception is that I plant garlic using mature garlic bought at the store. When I winter store it, and then break apart the cloves and plant them (top side up of course) I'm essentially cloning the plant and they work out great. Same with onions, btw.

 

Try it again in the spring, maybe even just one might sprout? Many seeds will keep for a while depending on how they are stored, but the older they are the lower the germination rate.

Heirloom seeds are great once you get use to them. They often will not produce as much fruit as hybrids, but I think the taste is usually so much better. I bought a tomato at the store a few weeks ago (a fish sandwich tastes so much better with a tomato) and it was so gross! I had the other half of it in the fridge for over a week, and it still looked as ripe as the day I sliced it - so it would keep very well but it had no taste to it! Now try that with one of my own fresh tomatoes in the summer - it won't keep for a week in the fridge, but oh the taste is so amazing!

I don't restrict myself to heirlooms, but the majority of what I plant will be heirlooms/open pollinated.

 

Just an interesting little aside: I tried several time to sprout both lentils and rice from a grocery store and got less than one percent to sprout. The idea was not to plant them, but to make them more healthy to eat. So I gave up on the idea (of doing that with foods from grocery stores).

A week or two ago I cooked some Basmati brown rice I bought at Costco and then put the left overs in the fridge. I wasn't trying to sprout it. Friday I noticed that most of that cooked rice had sprouted a little while in the fridge.

Interesting.

 

I save seeds for many years. Beans usually last quite a while. You got a part right. When you are testing to see if they are still viable do wrap them in a wet (not dripping) paper towel, then put it inside a plastic bag or container to keep it humid. Do not put it in a sunny window because you end up cooking them between the heat of the sun and the high humidity. Most seeds germinate in the dark. Wait a couple of day and them make sure to check them to see if there are signs of life. It could take more than a few days. Seed that old will not have a high germination rate but just a few days ago I got some beens to germinate after 10 years. The problem could be how they were stored. If they are kept in a location with high humidity and high heat, they usually don't make it.

 

I soak seeds in water for at least 8 hours to plump them up. Then they must be drained to get oxygen. I put them in a glass jar covered with a cloth and rinse them gently twice a day to keep them moist. They must be drained well. I store that in a warm dark place to germinate.

I do know the paper towel method works, but I find it harder to keep moist. Maybe a clean spray bottle to mist them would work. IMHO the water should be slightly warm.

 

Here's a list of info on seed storage. http://www.saveseeds.org/links_storage.html

It's a combination of factors from appropriate dryness, to proper storage temperature. But seeds properly stored can last a very long time. Though some seeds are more delicate than others and don't last as well.

 

Thanks.

Just a couple of snippets:

seedcontainers.netl

"A third factor - the presence or absence of oxygen - has been the source of a contradictory literature over the years and, perhaps for this reason, it has largely been neglected from the practical point of view. However, recent research by Ellis & Hong (2007) suggests that ultradry seeds may be sensitive to oxygen; therefore, it is a factor that, at least tentatively, should be taken into account. Perhaps, the success of the UPM bank partly resides in the fact that air was originally substituted by CO2 in the atmosphere within the containers."

"The container should be perfectly tight, preventing water vapour intake. If the container is not perfectly vapour tight, the seeds will tend to get balanced with the external air humidity."

 

Just go to the grocery store and buy a bag of 15 bean soup mix sort the beans according to kind then plant them. If you look near were the Mexican branded foods are sold you can find big bags of beans for only a few dollars. Your goal is seed so when you plant the beans do so under the worst possible conditions, do not water or weed them just let the weak die and the strong survive.

If you plant one bean and develops 4 pods with 5 beans each that will be 20 beans. If you plant those 20 beans you will get 400, then 8,000 next planting 160,000 after that 3,200,000. On the 6th year you will get 64,000,000 beans if you plant 5 deferent types of beans you will have a total of 320,000,000 beans. So if you plant beans and get 500 the first year in 6 years you could have 1,600,000,000 beans in storage.

 

C'mon. Many beans, especially some favored by Mexicans, need a hot climate. For instance, black eyed beans and pinto beans need at least zone 7 and prefer warmer.

Some beans need a 150 day growing season. You could grow navy beans in a cooler climate.

It's about choosing varieties which do well in your zone. It's also about not accidentally buying hybrids as a grocery item, which many farmers grow for their own benefit, which won't bear true to kind from seed.

With all of the work and money which goes into gardening, the seeds are the least of the cost since you can produce your own, but one of the most important choices.

 

C'mon. Many beans, especially some favored by Mexicans, need a hot climate. For instance, black eyed beans and pinto beans need at least zone 7 and prefer warmer. Some beans need a 150 day growing season. You could grow navy beans in a cooler climate. It's about choosing varieties which do well in your zone. It's also about not accidentally buying hybrids as a grocery item, which many farmers grow for their own benefit, which won't bear true to kind from seed. With all of the work and money which goes into gardening, the seeds are the least of the cost since you can produce your own, but one of the most important choices.

I live in north central IN and I have not had any problems growing any kind of bean that I have planted so far. Keep in mind that I am growing for seed not to eat so my yield is some what low.

 

http://www.ehow.com/how_5641939_preserve-green-bean-seeds.html

 

Trouble starting seeds?

If the seeds are viable, gibberellic acid will get them going. Also try bottom heat by using a heating mat. I have had good results with that.

 

If the seeds are viable, gibberellic acid will get them going.

That stuff can cause some pretty freakish plant growth too. I used to love experimenting with it as a kid.