If i had to use the Band Aid method I would probably have to be the most accident prone person on the planet to have sufficient quantities. There are ~6K iris seeds, 3K daylily seeds, 4K daffodil seeds, and ~100 stalks of Sempervivum seed I have either crossed or saved the seed. As I told Lynn and Cynda "I have enough seed to plant all of Salem, not just my 3 acres".

The glassine envelopes are cheap and can be used over if you're careful. I have been using the ungummed ones and then fold the envelope in the middle so there is no leakage and then put that in a coin envelope for more sturdy storage. You can also put multiple glassine envelopes in a coin envelope although I generally do just one seed head/ coin envelope.

Polly had one bedroom that she kept for the purpose of seed collecting and storage. Mine are sharing space with my musical instruments. Too many hobbies!

Kevin

I like the idea of the glassine envelopes. Will give them a try.
I would think it would work to put a paper clip over it once it is folded over. Then put multiple envelopes in a freezer Ziplock bag?

That is what I do with my lilium seeds. I use the freezer ziplocks to do an initial sorting of the seeds. You could use one for semps, one for jovis etc. Makes finding what you are looking for a little bit easier!

JungleShadows said:I've found that the chaff doesn't make any difference in terms of germinating the seed. If you put the whole seed stalk into a paper bag and keep it dry and cool most of the seed will come out and collect at the bottom of the bag. After I collect that very clean seed I generally put the stalk back in the bag and give the stalk a little squeeze. That releases some of the seeds that are still entrapped in the capsules. This releases the seed but also creates much more debris. However, if you dump that debris/ seed mix out on a sheet of white paper you can sort of manually separate the larger pieces of debris from the seeds.

In November I find that all the seed is ready to come out of the capsules and so I generally wait until then to do a cleaning and I store the seed in the CRISPER portion of my refrigerator in glassine envelopes. I plant the seed in late February or early March.

Kevin

OK Google to the rescue again. So I don't have to worry about cleaning up my seeds -- just put them carefully in their glassene (sp?) envelope in the fridge for a few months 'till I'm ready to plant... I think I planted in late January last year. We'll see -- sounds as if I've got time, but I do want them to have as much growth as possible before they hit our winter... MR