Sweet pea germination rates

[Deereamer]

I grew a few sweet peas last year and loved them so much, I’ve really gone to town with them this year. I have every colour you can imagine. I reckon I’ve planted about 200 so far but my germination rate has only been about 50%. The seeds that have germinated have turned into nice healthy looking plants but I’ve no idea what has happened to the rest of them? Anyone have any ideas?

No but my tomatoes are at about 50%. Sweet peas have done fine. Weird.

If you sowed them outside there is a good chance mice ate them.

Mice are very fond of sweet peas.

My sweet peas did much better than that, probably 90%? Even after DH's ferrets got into the and dug them all up!

They have all been sowed inside so I know that mice haven’t got to them - it’s very strange though. I sowed 6 seeds in one tray and only 1 came through but that single plant seems to be thriving. I’ve sowed another 6 of those to see what happens.

My tomatoes have done really well this year - almost every seed germinated.

You've done well. I haven't planted mine yet so you've still got a better germination rate than me 😳

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername oh no! I think I would have cried!

I planted mine outside about 2 months ago and there is a tiny bit of green poking through now

@LBOCS2 still plenty of time! I’m hoping to ship a batch off to my parents house and start another lot in the next week or so

I bought some 'Eleanor Udall' sweet pea seeds in a seed catalogue sale, sowed them twice and got nothing so I am guessing they weren't very fresh. The three other varieties of SP seeds I bought from other sellers came up more reliably so age of seeds might be a factor. I was a bit disappointed with them initially as they were a bit weedy and spindly but since I've pinched them out they've improved.
The Higgardy Garden chap maintains you shouldn't sow them until the Spring equinox which is interesting. He reckons you get better plants when the days are longer.

That’s an interesting point. I wonder if the ones that haven’t done as well were older seeds? One variety I bought was a turquoise one and i haven’t had a single one of those germinate. I’ll check the use by dates tomorrow morning.

I showed many sweet peas this year. Some had fungus gnat larvae eat a lot of my sweet peas before so they never germinated properly and some just never even became anything.
I have had much more success with the seeds from companies that only sell sweet peas, rather than Sarah Raven, Foxgills etc.

Were they Blue Lagoon, @Deereamer? I bought some of those from Sarah Raven in a previous year and didn't get much success. The few I got produced pretty flowers though. As a previous poster has just said, I've had better success with smaller/independent seed sellers. I bought some from ebay this year and they're great, almost all germinated (Claire Elizabeth, Bobby's Girl and Charlie's Angel if you're a variety nerd like me )

None of the white sweet pea seeds that I bought from Fotheringils germinated. They were well within date and sown in the greenhouse. A complete waste. The Wico seeds did much better.

Wilkco*

Mine were all eaten on night 1 outside by mice so I started again. They’ve all germinated - did you check the date on your packet as do dates really make a difference ? (I hope not as I get overexcited buying seeds and bought more than I can plant before their best before date I expect)

Last year mine germinated well but can anyone tell me why I only had about 6 flowers on a dozen plants all season? It was so disappointing that I haven’t bothered with them this year and I adore them.

I believe not enough flowers is either they aren’t getting enough light , or they may have had too much nitrogen?
Also my dad always told me picking them often encourages more flowers ?

Did you pinch out the top when you had 3 pairs of leaves @Lou573? I think that triggers them to flower and produce sturdier plants. I've had amazing results some years with so many flowers I have to give them away, then other times they're really disappointing and just fizzle out without doing much.

When I struggle to germinate legumes - which happens every year basically- I pre-germinate them by putting them in a Sandwich of damp kitchen paper inside a plastic bag. I'm probably keeping the soil too wet or too dry or too hot or too cold to germinate the proper way, but the pre-sprouting thing means that I don't waste anymore compost/ space/time.

I may do this tomorrow as my sweet pea germination is rubbish once again!

@CheerfulBunny yes!! They are the very ones! None of my Sarah Raven seeds seem to be doing all that well. I hope their dahlias do better - it’s my first time using them this year.

My old seed really struggled. I got about 30% germination from packets of seeds that were up to 5 years old. I was having a clear out. New packers of seed got around 80%. With hard seeds like sweet peas it is worth soaking them for 24 hours first.

As others have said pinch out the growing tip when they do get going as it gives you bushier and sturdier plants.

Depends where you are in the country, but it's been particularly cold lately. Sweet Peas need a temp of 10-15 degrees C day and night to germinate. After germination they will grow on happily at temps of 5 degrees. For this reason, I'd never sow them outside (though I know some who have success doing this but under cover only) My Dad and I have always brought the seeds indoors from the conservatory on cold evenings, to maintain the temp required for germination. Been growing for 40 yrs and it's always worked for us so far. Off to give mine their morning watering now

If you're on Instagram there's an account called Swan Cottage Flowers who sell lovely fresh seeds and do grow-alongs, where they talk you through each stage of the process. I've planted their sweet peas and got about 90% germination, really interesting to follow along with an expert as well!

Swan cottage are excellent aren't they! I do get house envy though.

Mine went all leggy this year, so i pinched them out as she told me to. She mentioned you can use the 'pinchings' as cuttings - just poke them into the pot - and they have taken! I'm amazed, as I'd never heard this before.