Using Old Seeds with Low Germination %

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Using Old Seeds with Low Germination %
Most seed dry enough to pass the snap & crush tests will be viable for many years when stored under cool and dry conditions.  Depending on the particular vegetable, that may be from 1 to 10 years. As a rule, the seeds losing greater and greater % of their sprouting viability as they age so old seed should be tested before sowing. This year, I tested some Dwarf Grey snow pea grown in 2009. I like them because they can be used in salads (tender 2 to 3 inches of vine, leaf & treadle), as snow pea pods and as starchy dry soup pea. The “Out Date” on viability of peas is generally given as 3 years but I was very pleased to find that a 97% germination rate.   
Peppers are generally given a viability of 3 years and I tested 3 lots of Pimiento seed grown in 2010, 2009, and 2008 rather than throw them out.   I did not expect much and my germination rates where 35%, 33% and 10%, respectively.  Even if only 10% of the seeds sprout, there are strategies for dealing with old, low sprouting lots of seeds. 
1. Sow the old seed extra heavily when planting; 20% viability means you need to plant 5 seeds to get 1 plant. There are problems with space and seed utilization; there are spots that need thinning (which wastes seeds) and there are bare spots which wastes garden space. 
2. Sow the sprouted old seed (from sprouting testing or special sprouting flats) and transplant only the sprouted seeds into your regular seed starting flats or directly in to the garden, as appropriate. In this case, it gave me 20 sprouted Pimiento seeds which would otherwise have been wasted. 
Under EOTWAWKI conditions, garden seeds may well be scarce and precious; you will want to extend your planting or save the newer seed for next year.  It is a lot of extra hand labor but that must be weighed relative to how scarce seeds are and how much you need the extra food production from each and every plant. In the Orient, many plants, even rice and wheat, are traditionally transplanted this way enabling optimal seed utilization, plant spacing and giving the crop a very significant head start on competing weeds which might otherwise overwhelm the sprouting seedlings.