Lisa via Alana -- I received my prize seeds today. Lisa, thank you so much for sharing. Alana, thank you for passing them along.

So did I thanks to both of you.

Looks like my seeds got run through the crusher.

Oh, so sorry. They must have escaped the bubble wrap. If I have anything you want I would be happy to send you a substitute. I don't remember what Lisa sent you, but I'm pretty sure it is not anything I have.
I might have something else you would like though.

Horntoad,

Send me your address and I will get another packet out to you. It was Hibiscus Acetosella right?

GM ALL I Need to ask if they have a spot here on atp to post upcomming events & if you can share the link with me .
Would like to share our Plant swap in the park for west Mich & I do not know where to do this so would love your help .

You can add here Susie: http://garden.org/apps/events/

You might also try the midwest gardening forum if you think that applies: http://garden.org/forums/view/...

You could also post under the Seed and Plant trading forum.

ishareflowers said:Horntoad,

Send me your address and I will get another packet out to you. It was Hibiscus Acetosella right?

No need to worry about replacing them. I have way more seeds than I can plant now. Save me some for the fall swap.

Today I wintersowed the not frost tender seeds I got in this swap.
One of the things I noticed is that some participants sent tiny seeds in plastic bags. Not to complain, but to teach you how to handle those seeds, I recommend to wrap those seeds first in paper, otherwise the tiny seeds will stick to the plastic and are very hard to get out. Especially if you send a small amount of tiny seeds, this is an important thing.
Please, don't feel attacked: I made the same mistake when I was a starter and I was happy someone told me how to do it better..
Anyway: I enjoyed the sowing today and I'm looking forward to the seedlings.

Thanks for the info, Jonna. I've done that without knowing.

Thanks Jonna!

For my own seeds I had bought a box of "coin envelopes" which are paper and seem to work great. There is no static electricity and seeds come out easily. I keep them in a large closed plastic box with some desiccant, which really keeps it dry in there. Right now I could get another box of $1000 for $37, and I have a 50% off coupon, so this works out to less than 2 cents each. that is cheap enough for me. For bigger seeds or many seeds, a box of 50 regular size envelopes can be bought at the $1 store, this is also 2 cents each.

This year I joined seed swaps. For these seed swaps people seem to want/require clear plastic bags. I found some that were inexpensive, although I can't recall exactly it was more than 2 cents each. I thought plastic was requested so we could see the seeds, but I was a bit worried about sealing in moisture. I was also worried about static electricity and the seeds getting stuck in there, as seems to have happened. I was super careful to dry the seeds well. I figured if I keep the seeds I receive in plastic in my dry box it should help prevent mold, although if the seeds were still damp when placed inside it might be a lost cause. The ability to open and close with the ziplock is nice, and I do like it better than the paper coin envelopes. I think some of the seeds you are talking about were mine. Sorry!

If we put our swap seeds in a fold of paper inside the plastic ziplock bag, the seeds will not be visible. so why don't we just use the little paper "coin envelopes"? I am not being snarky at all, just trying to learn why we do things, usually there are good reasons.

Really small seeds always manage to wriggle out of the paper "coin envelopes." There are always small crevices where the envelope isn't glued sufficiently, especially near the corners. I usually fold the tiny seeds into some sort of paper and then put that into a plastic baggie. This year I used tissue paper and a simple folding method. However, after seeds were sent in for this swap, I later noticed some escapees inside the plastic baggie in similar packs of seeds so I'm changing methods. I think enough seeds should have stayed inside the tissue that it should be okay but I want them ALL to stay put! Tiny seeds put inside a glassine envelope and then placed inside a plastic baggie is a good method. I've also used waxed paper folded in a particular way (origami) that seals itself and then put that inside the plastic baggie. Some people use pieces of aluminum foil and place that inside a baggie. You also want to avoid the seeds having direct contact with tape because they will adhere and be nearly impossible to remove. It's worse than static electricity. I haven't found the perfect solution that is effective, cheap and easy (not too fiddly) yet, but I keep trying new methods hoping to find the perfect balance.

Also, the little plastic baggies can be purchased 100 for $1 in Walmart's craft section, and likely even cheaper on large quantities at Amazon.

I mix it up. I use paper, plastic, and sometimes glassine envelopes. Plastic is often cheapest and the easy opening is convenient, but paper seems better for packaging recently harvested seeds even if they appear adequately dried. Glassine combines the best of both but is usually the most expensive option. Homemade origami envelopes are fine too.
If a host requires plastic that's fine but I have opted not to join a swap or two because of that requirement. Seeds around here are often cured and packed as they become available so that there is time to join several swaps without a scramble to get them sorted and packed at the last minute.

One solution is--- if you send enough seeds, you don't have to get every seed out.

Maybe, but when you are dealing with more unusual plants or pricey purchased seed and don't have lots of seed, you don't want them lost to the static! Plus, sometimes with really tiny seed, the static cling doesn't want to release ANY of them.

For things like the dust-like Sinningia sellovii , I posted 25+ seeds per pack but sent at least 40-50 seeds. It still looks like nothing, but they will almost all germinate and result in a "chia pet" if you plant them all in one pot! (Been there, done that!)



(This was even after dropping the pot and losing/burying the seeds in the right third of the pot! )

This is a very interesting discussion.
I was quite interested in how different people packaged their seeds.
Packing seeds for my box at home is different than packing for a seed swap, that box is jiggled and tossed daily for months, so any seed that can get out, will get out!
for paper, would I just fold some printer paper? How would I fold it? Would I use tape? If no tape wouldn't they get out?
Origami sounds too time consuming, but fun.
I did a 1 minute google search, I could get 1000 1 3/4" x 2 3/4 ' ( " is inches) glassine envelopes used by stamp collectors for $36 (this seems good, glassine is actually paper so moisture would not be trapped and should not get static electricity). But the glassine envelopes do not have any adhesive, would I use tape or just fold two or three times?? If I used glassine then probably I would not need the plastic?