# sprouted stored wheat berries



## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

I read someplace that seeds stored with no oxygen would not sprout.
*I unsealed the the mylar bag to get the berries out to sprout them in mason jars with cheese cloth on top of the jars.* 
the seeds (berries) have been sealed in a pail since late 2005,it's hard to tell by the pic, but the mylay bag is sucked tight,2000cc oxt absorbers in the pail. the second picture is the sprouted berries after 4 days.
everyone should do a little experment to see if theirs will sprout, they taste sweet.


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## FrostHeaves (Feb 25, 2011)

Your post is confusing.

So are you stating these sprouted inside the bag with the O2 absorbers in place ?

Or did you open the bag exposing them to oxygen and then sprout them ???


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

FrostHeaves said:


> Your post is confusing.
> 
> So are you stating these sprouted inside the bag with the O2 absorbers in place ?
> 
> Or did you open the bag exposing them to oxygen and then sprout them ???


what's confusing, i stated the the berries were in the mylar since late 05. naturaly i had to open the bag to get the berries.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Congrats! You just made Diastatic Malt. Part way to making beer!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

FrostHeaves said:


> Your post is confusing.
> 
> So are you stating these sprouted inside the bag with the O2 absorbers in place ?
> 
> Or did you open the bag exposing them to oxygen and then sprout them ???


This should clear stuff up-he could have made the thread title-can you sprout stored wheat after so many years? Why yes you can...
Some seeds do need oxygen to survive, some do not. So for now his test of his wheat is great. 6 years in mylar with O absorbers did not kill the germ.


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## BasecampUSA (Dec 26, 2010)

Wow... thank _very_ much you for that info...

End of 2006 to beginning of 2011 = 5 years -- and it looks like you have at least _much more than a 50% germination rate _from looking at the picture!

Very interesting indeed!

I'm curious to see how that wheat I planted here last September does... I got it 2 1/2 years ago out in Minnesota. It sprouted in the ground 90%+ and was healthy went it went winter-dormant.

There's 22" of snow cover now and 4" more coming tonite... don't know if there will ever be a spring here again 

One thing for sure, I ain't traipsin' through the woods on snowshoes this year to gather maple sap! - gettin to old for that stuff!


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

BasecampUSA said:


> Wow... thank _very_ much you for that info...
> 
> End of 2006 to beginning of 2011 = 5 years -- and it looks like you have at least _much more than a 50% germination rate _from looking at the picture!
> 
> !


 I just cked and it looks like 100% germination


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

That's great to know. I've read mixed reviews on srouting seed that has been stored with O2 absorbors. Nice to have some first hand results. Thanks.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

*Here is a review I found on another forum with 11 year old wheat stored with O2 absorbers. There are pics posted but I'm just copying the text. I'll post the rest when the experiment is finished.*

Day 2: 2/25 Rinsed (tap water)
Not a lot of activity going on. Some seed has the first tell tell signs of pushing out the "tail". Most of it doesn't. Some is oozing gluten. Most is intact and healthy. It does not smell like "life". It smells like soaked wheat. I sprout on a regular basis so my senses are pretty keen to what should be happening and what shouldn't.

I'll give it a full 5 days as I have had old seed that took that long to sprout. New wheat in my house takes 8 hours to soak and 1 day to sprout. But this isn't new wheat and as noted it's been without a large percentage (almost devoid)of 02 for 11 years.

I'm not calling it yet as I do see some seed starting the signs of growth. But like storing any other seed long term, I would not expect a high percentage of germination after a long period of storage regardless how it's been stored. That's based on personal experience of storing commercial sprouting seed past 5 years.

In short it's too early to say dead or alive.

Day 4: 2/28/11 (sorry I missed Day 3- was remodeling the kitchen yesterday and "lost" the sprouts!)

So here we are Day 4. We have LIFE! My educated guess to go 5 days for old wheat I think is valid. Using guestimation, I think we are looking at 1 in 15 sprouting as of today. BUT, I will go a full 7 days, because some of the seed is sticking it's "bud" out, which is the stage before the "crows feet" and finally the "furry tenticals". I'm NOT a botanist, so forgive the less than technical terms.
Just for grins, I'm going to sprout a second batch and see if I can't get the sprout ratio up. Instead of a daily log, I'll just post everything in one post a few weeks from now in this thread. 
THIS thread is a perfect example of WHY I never ever take anything I read online at face value. YOU do NOT know, unless you KNOW.

Does that mean 02 is the BEST way to store seed? I personally don't think it is. Negative 02 means DRIER seed. Great for grinding bread. Bad for making bread (takes more water and more time to absorb that water). Slow for germination as is shown above. I DO believe that seed is a living organism. I DO believe it needs oxygen. But I think this shows that .05% out of 99.5% is enough to let it live 11 years after the fact.
Way more opinion than "scientific fact", but it's learned opinion.

I'll update this thread at 7 days.


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## MrSfstk8d (Jan 20, 2011)

Good to know. Oh, and since I haven't done much research on O2 scrubbers, do the ones he's using reduce O2 content to 0.5% of total gaseous concentration or 0.5% of available O2? Seeing as O2 concentration is, typically, 23% concentration (your milage may vary), 0.5% of available O2 would be 0.115% total gas. However, once you're significantly below 1%, I'm not sure how much more it matters, lol.


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