radiation and seed viablity

Every so often i read a post about folks recieving seeds that never sprout or very low germination rates and i got to thinking about the long trip these packages make . As i really cant find much info on the effects of xray or gamma scanning on seeds . Thou not all packages are subjected to xray scanning and sometimes entire shipping containers are subject to gamma scanning i wondered if this maybe a reason that people get "a bad batch" .I wonder if anyone could indulge me with some knowlege the subject.

Well, simple x-ray scanning shouldn't sterilize seeds, at least not reliably with doses of radiation that "should" be used to examine packages. Gamma irradiation is ionizing, and it definitely "can" sterilize seeds, though I don't know in practice how often its done.

I do know that as a matter of course most domestic mail is NOT irradiated or scanned. Mail send to Federal facilities IS routinely irradiated specifically for the purpose of sterilization after the Anthrax scare ten years ago. I don't believe that most foreign mail is deliberately sterilized with radiation, because such irradiation can be harmful to otherwise benign package contents. It very well may be done routinely to "suspicious" packages, and it wouldn't entirely surprise me that this is a possible cause of some people's trouble in germinating seeds.

Other than that, sometimes seeds don't sprout because:

-They're just not good seeds to begin with. Not all seeds are created equal. If you're breeding seeds indoors and don't use lots of light, they can be small and have a low germination rate. This is particularly true of seeds from the bottom of the plant.

-They're old and/or weren't stored well. If you're buying seeds from a seedbank, but they're not high-turnover (ie its not a popular strain), they may have been sitting around at room temp or more for over a year, reducing germination rates. If at any point during their transport they were exposed to really high temps, again, this could reduce viability.

Im guessing you wernt about between 2007-2008 when Mr nice couldnt get one of his seeds to sprout "actualy i think 1 popped G13skunk"!
The reason Shantibaba put to this was Xray.

good stuff jo thanks for the reply just a thought rolling aroung my brain as to a possible cause as ive have not issue with germ rates myself and as vigoriously as people defend their germ techniques (and im sure some are flawed) thought maybe an alternative explanation may be at play in some cases.

canna was the sprout healhty and carried through to harvest?

VERY. its a famous clone only mrnice.nl now (it might have been nordle)

nice extra thick shell maybe thanks for the info canna

This is what the EPA says about mail irradiation:

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/sources/mail_irrad.html

Is my mail is being irradiated?

Currently only mail to the White House, Congressional offices, and federal government offices in the 202-205 Zip Code exchanges is being irradiated. Irradiation is taking place at facilities in Ohio and New Jersey.

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What technology is being used to irradiate the mail?

The Postal Service has selected electron beam technology to sterilize mail one half inch thick or less. Some powerful x-ray devices may also be used for certain types of packages.

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How does irradiation kill anthrax?

Irradiation kills anthrax by shattering its DNA and other cellular components. The process for irradiating mail is the same process used to sterilize medical equipment. During irradiation, an intense stream of electrons (or x-rays if x-ray technology is used) strikes the mail and any anthrax spores it may contain. The radiation dose is very high, about 56 kilograys of radiation, which is approximately 2 million times more than a chest x-ray.

Click to expand...

Now, I guess its still possible that customs is irradiating mail and that the EPA either doesn't know about it, or isn't disclosing it, though I kind of doubt it. I'd imagine that customs has the ability to have packages irradiated, if they feel there is a need to do so, but they probably don't do it under normal circumstances.

Note that 56,000 grays is a utterly massive dose of ionizing radiation. Total doses of under 100 grays are used to kill tumors, and even then the doses are fractionated into only a few Grays at a time. If you were to get a single dose of 100 grays to your whole body, it would kill you within a matter of weeks. That kind of dose would definitely sterilize any seeds passing through it.

Empirically, most people ordering seeds through the mail seem to have no trouble getting them to germinate, so we know that this cannot be routine practice at customs.

clearly as i said i myself have never had germ issue but god help if your beans are sitting in a questionable container again thanx jo straight from the horses mouth