Is It Worth It To Use Stored Year-Old Tomato Seeds?

Q: Is it advisable to use year-old tomato seeds that were stored in the house? Are there extra steps that should be done to ensure successful germination?

A: Unless you have a rare heirloom tomato variety, saving seed isn’t worth the bother. Vegetable seeds lose typically 10% to 50% germination ability from year-to-year depending on how they were stored. My advice is to buy new, fresh seed.