CHAPTER 18 - GERMINATION RATE

One more detail to consider when deciding which seeds you are going to save in your emergency food storage system is the germination rate of the particular seeds you choose.  Germination rate refers to 2 characteristics of the seeds – how many of the seeds you plant are expected to germinate and start growing, and how long it takes the germination process to result in growth. 

When germination is referring to how many seeds will begin to grow it is usually expressed in terms of percentage.  For example, if the seeds you are considering have a germination rate of 90%, this means that 90 out of every 100 seeds you plant will live and begin to grow. 

If the germination rate is referring to the speed of growth, it will usually be described in terms of days – some seeds need only a couple of days to germinate before the seed opens and begins to grow while others can take many more days or even weeks before they begin to grow.

The importance of the role germination of seeds plays in survival situations was made clear in the section above on growing sprouts.  Sprouts only take a day or two at most to begin to grow so they provide food much sooner than growing traditional crops that take days and weeks to germinate before they begin to grow.  Of course the germination implications on the amounts of seeds that will survive and thrive is obvious and vital for efficiency in growing crops with the least amount of wasted effort spent  growing seeds that have little probability for success. 

Ideally, when you are choosing seeds to store for emergencies in the future, you want to choose one that have been proven to carry high germination rates both in terms of what percentage of seeds will culminate in producing plants as well as in reference of how long it will take before the seeds begin to grow.