Yesterday I was grandfathered down some very old seeds that I have watched sit in a collection of cigar vial for ever since I can remember. I got two vials with 16 seeds in one and 12 in the other, one is Acapulco Gold, and the the other is Panama Red. The beans look in great shape, but will the age of these ancients effect my germinations? Any advice on some advanced methods of getting them to pop will put my mind at ease. Right now I am sitting with some vapor distilled water (>.001 PPM), and pure oxygen blackout box I fashioned up.. The temp in box remains a contant 78, too.
i believe kamelredlight had some panama red seeds just as old, and i can't remember for the life of me whether he got his to pop. maybe pm him, see what he did or didn't do.
Just try putting them in a moist paper towel. If they do grow, I would let the males pollinate the females so that way you can bring this strain back to life and have more seeds.
im gonna do a tad bit of searching quick for ya, kamelredlight has got a few 25 year old panama reds he got from an old friend. i heard something about higher pressure does something to help germination.
http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced-growing-techniques/121681-germinating-antique-seeds.html that should help you out a bit.
If you use that pressure chamber technique I suggest you add a drop of SUPERthrive, 1/4th of a crushed aspirin, and a little sprinkle of TakeRoot to the water. The combination with the pressure and if you use scarification too will definatly give you some results.
if these strains were better than the ones available today, they would still be around. now please prove me wrong, i wanna see some of these panama reds come out, idk what happened to kamelredlights panama red beans. he had a lot of trouble getting them to sprout.