Will dead seeds split open in water?

Buba Blend said:

I have seeds that I fear are dead. They were a gift and after a couple of attempts to germinate I found out they were sitting in a very hot garage last summer. I have been germinating seeds for many years with a high rate of success.
2 out of 12 on average will split open just enough to see the white inside and then that's it, whether left in the water or moved to a paper towel the only sign of possible life is the initial split.
My question is: If I have a bunch of dead seeds and put them in a glass of water, will a few of the dead seeds crack open from the moisture or is there a moment of life causing the split? Only about 2 out of 12 seeds would split open and then nothing more would happen.

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bf80255 said:

some will split just because the shell is soaked and is designed to open, even if they are dead. do you see the little tap root starting?

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Buba Blend said:

Thanks! No growth at all just enough split in the seed to see the white of the tap root on 2 out of 12 and then nothing. I've tried about 25 seeds with the paper towel method and then two groups with the glass of water method and had no luck. I never used the glass of water method so I tried about ten of my seeds that I knew were good and all of them germinated using the glass of water method. I guess their dead.

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Gquebed said:

Dead seeds dont pop. Thats how you know they are dead.lol

However, some live ones dont have the gumption to pop through thick husks either. So.... thats how it goes.

Only way to find out is try. I had some seed from the 80s. 50% of them actually did pop. 20% of them actually grew to be robust bud producers.

Like most organic things that swell when soaked in water... the seed in the husk soaks up the moisture that seeps through the husk and it expands, cracking open the husk. Then the tap root goes in search of more moisture. If conditions are right then the magic starts to happen...

Cant recall where i read that...

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Buba Blend said:

Ok Thanks. So yes I agree dead seeds don't pop. What I wanted to know is if dead seeds will still crack open from expansion and I think you are saying yes they will still expand and crack open while dead, at least that is what I think the case was with those seeds. Normally I'll have a 90%+ success rate with healthy seeds. With those seeds I tried 3 times with a total of about 40 seeds and had 0%. 1 in 10 would crack open just enough to see the white inside. I've moved on, no big loss, they were a free indica strain and I'm a sativa smoker.

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