What happens to the left over seed in the merchants. Is it blended into the fresh seed the next year. Nothing wrong as long its passes the germination test. What is the minimum germination. Is it 85%.
Would a merchant blend a ton of 50%germination seed with ten ton of 95%and still be OK.
Of course if it wasn't mixed well you could have the above problem.
I have done germination tests on my own grain for 20 years and more and never had germination less than 95% even in the very difficult years. Often treated with roundup too.
I can only speak for Goldcrop here, other seed merchants may do things differently.
We used to take cereal seed returns from retail merchants but this was stopped last year (on my suggestion). It was getting out of hand. If something was scarce, merchants might hoard it or farmers might book it in couple of places to make sure they get it. We ended up getting seed back in various conditions.
I can remember getting winter barley seed back from one co-op in the following May, ridiculous carry on and a waste of everyone's time.
The only exception is seed from Goldcrop seed growers, we do take returns of this.
It is now sold on a one way ticket. On occasion, we might facilitate a merchant who is stuck with seed by letting him know if we know of another merchant looking for the same thing.
A lot of seed was left in merchants stores last autumn. It should be fine if stored properly. It should also be tested well before it is considered for release the following year.
We do have some degree of carryover seed every year, it is the nature of the business. The minimum legal germ rate for cert seed is 85%. However, we would normally not sell seed if it were at this level as I would be wary of the vigour. We wouldn't dream of blending something at 50% or anywhere near it. It would be and should be dumped, end of.
I would need to check but I am not sure if we would even blend something below 85%.
The people operating our seed plants know themselves at this stage if something is good or not. It is just experience. Nobody is under any compulsion to put anything in a bag that they can't stand over. At the end of the day, it is not their seed.
I am hearing of a number of vigour issues in the north east relating to Costello. I can't understand it as the germinations should be good (especially so with Costello as it is very resistant to sprouting). Costello certainly isn't the most lively variety out of the blocks but it should still germinate and get up. With winter wheat, once it has germinated and is growing away even slowly, I am happy.
I planted wheat seed that was 89-90% germination this year. It was Illuminate. When Latitude was applied to it, the germination rate fell back to 86-87%. However, while it was sown in early November, it was still up in 16 days. I was expecting at least 3 weeks.
Dept of Ag germination tests aren't just a case of popping it in the hotpress under ideal conditions. The seed is chilled for a number of days to put it under a bit of pressure.
With regard to Glyphosate on seed. I wouldn't dream of doing it. The seeds will germinate but the shoots can grow abnormally.