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northeastern Ohio | Warm germ is really a worthless number unless you are planting in June. It tells you that 95% will sprout under IDEAL conditions, but does not give you any indication of the number of those that will be abnormal (slow to emerge, always behind)
The saturated cold germ is the number you need to look at when buying seed: https://www.indianacrop.org/Lab-Services/Seed-Quality-Purity-Testing...
Ask your seed dealer to show you the saturated cold germ test results for all the lots of seed that you receive. You have the right to refuse any that don't meet your standards. Or at least you can plan to plant the poor performers last when soil temperature is higher. If you dealer won't share this data, it might be time to look for another seed dealer.
I've seen 5 year old seed corn that still had decent cold germ and I've seen a bunch that went to the corn burner. Every seed company has it's own criteria for what leaves the warehouse. There are some out there that want to have a reputation for high quality seed,,,, and there are others that want to keep the shareholders happy.......
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