For a two acre Deer food plot maybe, but for a 4000 acre crop no way.. I know that is a smart a.. answer but sometimes it might come up and then again about half of it and next time none of it. Really no way of knowing .
 
Since I was a kid I have sprouted seeds by putting them on a wet paper towel on a dinner plate, covered it with another wet paper towel and flipped another dinner plate over it.
 
It will be erradic with a lot of skips in the rows. Will your seed dealer buy back the unopened bags of old seed?
 
seed companies sell alot of 2-3yr old seed. I'd be more concerned about how it was stored and the price. If it's free; i'd be blending it with the rest of my seed. JMO; I'm the guy who loves signing the back of the check and not the front. Seed companies sell alot of blended seed and this is nothing but old seed that didn't sell. mother nature controls my yields, no matter what the seed corn company tell me!
 
Years ago a seed plant told me it is always the second year after harvest when any of it is sold. So fall of 17 harvest would be what is being sold now for spring of 19
 
MTC, If the seed has been stored in a dry area that is a plus. If stored in a very hot area that can hurt germination.
Count out 100 kernels, lay them on a moist paper towel, roll up towel and keep moist for a week(not soaking wet).
Unroll and count seeds that have sprouted....if over 90-95 kernels have sprouted (90-95%) you should be good to go. Seed companies most always have their germination tests labeled at 95%.
Some companies do this test at 50F, labeled a "cold test".
I plant sweet corn seed(not as hardy as field corn)that is 4-5 years old and it grows as good as newer seed. I keep it in an old fridge thru the years.
LA in WI
 
This was the manager of the seed plant on a tour through it and from a large cooperative and they explainred just why they do it that way. And to me it does make sence. As slow as they dry it and harvest in November it is impossible to get it ready for January shipment as it was still in drying stage at that time. Was lucky enough to get to go with the manager of the local elevator that was a part of the chain, was a big field day and everybody atending hear it. Took months to prosses the seed and if you believe they han have it ready to sell before it is harvested then you are the one that is having the leg pulled.
 
Do the germination test like others stated. I use left over seed from the year before for my silage corn. Years ago when we had a plate planter we would mix all sizes and left overs and plant with a BO plate which was the biggest made. Worked fine for silage as sometimes it was a little thick. Tom
 
Leroy, the firm I worked for (Pioneer Hi-Bred Int'l in the 1970s -1990s) started their seed harvest of the earliest maturing hybrids in late Sept in central Illinois, finishing harvest by late Oct. Drying was finished by early December. Treating, bagging, germ testing done by Christmas. The big seed companies have a lot of high capacity dryers to enable them to get things done in a timely manner.

In northern Illinois and central Iowa the schedule was about 2 weeks behind that.

Shipping started early January, completion to dealers early March.

Ready to sell: We started selling in early August, well before any harvest machinery moved.

There were some smaller companies that bragged about waiting to sell until after harvest. By the time they got their act together they were too late to have their sales grow higher and today they are mostly out of the business.

The most aggressive and larger farmers always wanted us to call on them by late summer so they could order the best and newest hybrids before the expected supply was sold out for the next Spring.

Now, I am not inferring that larger farmers are better or smarter than other farmers, but they were often an aggressive type of person.

Like a lot of businesses, (machinery, tractors, herbicides, etc.) seed sales are a "dog eat dog" business and is not for the faint of heart nor the slow movers. I was pretty good in sales in my day, had a sales increase every year, but I sure do not miss that part of it today! Would interfere with my fishing and going to tractor shows!
LA in WI
 
Did they put heat on in drying? This company I think only used air to dry on ear corn as picked was the only way they would do things. You had to be able to deliever 2,000 bushels of ear corn on the day they sad it had to be picked and delievered. Then shelling, hand picking out any undesireable ears before shelling. And they would not sell any seed unless they were sure they would have enough of any number or grade as only plate planters at that time. I see their point about not selling untill they knew how buch they would have. Not doing it that way and I have had it in buying seed I ordered early but when time came to pick it up it was sorry, we do not have that seed to sell. That was with both corn and beans.
 
No silage but for different grades for size I put one grade per hopper with correct plate for that grade. We usually did not plant left over seed but I got so many bags of it that one year I decided it was going to get used up and at harvest could not tell a difference in older to new seed.
 

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