The only one of those that I have grown is NAR. For me, it did take longer than many of my others to germinate....It was 11 days, i think, until it germinated....I was about to give up and replant! I am on about day 13 and I still have a few (Crnkovic yugoslavian, Hazel Gold, Sheyenne) that show no signs of getting ready to come up.....I am going to redo those tonight.

Thanks for the info. FWIW, I'm growing Crnkovic and it sprouted in about a week.

"Does anyone have an experience with these varieties taking an exceptionally long time to germinate?"
I've only grown Aker's and NAR. I don't recall them taking an exceptionally long time to germinate.

"I will certainly give them more time, but how long should I wait before I consider them a lost cause?"
Depending on the growing conditions (temp, soil, etc.), seed condition (age and manner stored), and other factors seed germination time can vary. Under good conditions and with good seed 5-7 or 5-10 days are the most commonly stated I've seen in my research. So, I wouldn't be overly concerned on the 11th day. After 3 weeks yeah, I'd be concerned unless I knew it was very old seed etc.

Good luck.

Randy

If No germination for problem seeds after 14 days, I'll scoop out the seed and mix then place it in an egg carton cell. Then place egg carton in a bread bag and tie. They will be placed in the oven with only the light turned on and slight crack at the door for heat to excape. Make sure to record on paper what is in each egg cell. If no germination by the time my resow germinate, I'll dump the egg carton at weeks end.

I'll also will add starter mix to my trays and resow. If both germinate fine I'll have extras. My notes indicated that NAR took 4 to 5 days to germinate.

George

Thanks for everyone's input. Just in the last day, some of the seed has sprouted--a few of each of the holdout varieties (except for Wuhib). I started new seed yesterday as a backup plan, but I haven't given up yet.

How deep do you plant your seeds ? I generally put 1/16 to no more than 1/8 of an inch (loosely) on top. With bottom heat, most of my seeds start to come up in 4 or 5 days.

IF the seeds arent bad I find two things help some seeds:

1)let the soil dry some
2)block light to them (yes this one makes some BSC but there is scientific basis light effects germination of some varieties)

After 2 weeks if i dont see germination I start a 2nd batch and I do the two things above.

Slo garden,

It just so happens that I'm growing Aker's WV this year. And yes Aker's WV was one of the last to germinate. As per usual the first was SupperSweet 100 in 3 days, the next was Cosner on the 4th day, then too many to list on the 5th day. Then on the 8th and 9th days Aker's WV germinated. I'm growing Aker's WV from seeds I saved and from seeds from a friend (comparison experiment). My seeds are from 2005 and germinated on the 8th day. Her's are from last year and germinated on the 9th day.

So, there you go more than you wanted to know about my experience with Aker's WV seed germination.

Did yours ever come up?

Good luck.

Randy

p.s. When I saw how long it took for Aker's WV to come up I remembered this thread.