Bad Seed ?

Hi, this my first post and I hope you can shed some light on this question.
Now that I have semi retired and resumed the use of my paddock after years of letting for grazing, I have dug a large veg plot in it (25ftsq). Potatoes, lettuce, beetroot all doing fine. The problems I have had are with the peas and the broad beans. In a 50ft row none of the peas have germinated. The area was netted so no birds could have taken them and there was no sign of soil disturbance from mice etc.
The beans have faired better about 17 plants out of 2 double rows. I noticed some of the beans had small holes in them and assumed this was seed beetle, although I did not notice any holes in the seed when planted. The seeds were purchased from a well known supplier. Thanks in advance.
John

 

Hi John & Welcome to Gardeners Corner,

Can't see a whole batch of seed being duff, more likely it was too dry, they may have germinated & then didn't get away.

I've had a few problems like that with the peas this year, along with neat little pits where the mouse had them all away, followed by the blackbird digging them all out

Not too late to start another batch of peas, i've got 2 pots on the car dashboard at the moment, about 1" high.

I'm between 2 plots so it depends which one i'm at when they need planting out

 

Thanks Ziggy for the reply, come to think of it we did have a very dry April even though i did spend a bit of time watering. I purchased another make and variety to try as you suggested.

 

Good evening John, and welcome to the site. The problem you have is mice. check the soil in the rows and you should find small holes where the blighters have dug down to get the seeds.:D

 

I gave up feeding the mice and now sow all my peas and beans in cell trays somewhere mouse free, then transplant.

 

Whilst i was in italy for 3 months last year, we set-up a vegetable plot. We were told by the local farmers to put sticks at the end of the rows of chillies, beans, peas etc and to put sticks here and there as well, this prevents the mice from burying underground and going along eating the seeds etc. Nothing got eaten, apart from some beans by the birds, so i presume it worked. Sticks might be worth a try.

Unfortunately, the mice concentrated on the car instead and ate the water bottle lid and a few other plastic bits.:DOH:

 

I've had similar problems with peas in past years. Given up with them now.

Never thought of that, my Fiesta'd make a lovely cold frame.

 

I think you can get bad batches of seed.

Peas are usually about the easiest thing to grow, so when I planted about 40 of them, and 6 germinated, I was somewhat disappointed. For peas started indoors, I'd normally expect close to 100% success rate, not the miserable 15% I got this year, all from the same pack.

It definitely wasn't mice to blame, as they were all in pots indoors.

 

I'll put my money on mice. They love peas, and they leave very little indication that they have dug them up. I grow peas in guttering, resting on pedestals that mice can't climb, and then slide the plants out into a flat drill when planting out.

 

Even if you successfully germinate beans indoors away from mice and then plant outdoors they're still not safe as I've had voles burrow along along an entire row of runner beans eating the remains of the seeds underground and killing the plants.

 

In my case definitely bad seeds. They few that did germinate are now outside doing well, and have been for a few weeks now.

I always do a bit of an amateur post mortem on failures, just to see if there are any bugs in the soil etc. I did this with my definitely failed peas, and found no bugs, the soil was moist but not soggy, and the peas were still in there in one piece, having showed no sign of a germination attempt.

 

If you suspect seed, and have any left, put it on some damp kitchen paper in a Indian-takeaway container, or similar. Airtight lid to prevent evaporation, or cover with Cling-film. Put at a reasonable temperature - I put mine on top of the microwave so I remember to check it! and see how many germinate.

 

Thanks for the tip. Too late for this batch, but I might do this with a few seeds out of each packet in future, as a 'control' as I believe the scientists call it.

 

Mr Jinks

Thank you all for the feed back, I have a few of the peas left over so I will try to germinate them as Kristen suggests. In the meantime I have sowed another couple of rows from another supplier, they should appear in the next week or so or will they? As Mr Jinks used to say about Pixie and Dixie "I hate meeces to pieces"