Germinating super old seeds

[Jeremy Weiss]

The question is how to germinate really old bean seeds that don't like to absorb water. Maybe the alcohol treatment would help?

Have you tried simply scraping some of the seed coat off to make a "window" for moisture to get in? That's what I usually do with seed that doesn't want to imbibe. Granted, you have to take a little extra care (since you are also making an opening for soil borne pathogens, and, in the case of some beans (like soy) they can over-imbibe and start to rot/ferment. But it usually works.