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How should seeds be distributed?

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FmGrowit

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You guys never cease to amaze me. great work everyone.

Leverhead, your contributions are priceless. This is a community, if everyone had expertise in the same thing, it would be a pretty boring and monotonous place around here.

jeapadrenaline, I think the other members would agree with me in that you are a contributing member and you are welcome to request any seeds you;d like for the collection.

I like the idea of the SASE with the coin envelope included, but also agree that it should be required to be a padded envelope. We should make sure the person making the request understands the cost for mailing a padded envelope.

I also agree with sending newbies a common seed and reserving the more exotic varieties for established members. There should be a benchmark of at least 100 posts that must be met before requesting seeds from the seed bank. This will give everyone a pretty good idea of that member's integrity especially when it comes to growouts, but pictures always help too.

Bob, thank you, I'll begin separating your copy of the seedbank in a few weeks.
 

johnlee1933

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I like the idea of the SASE with the coin envelope included, but also agree that it should be required to be a padded envelope. We should make sure the person making the request understands the cost for mailing a padded envelope.

Don, I've had pretty good luck by putting a couple of cig filters in the coin envelope. That way you can still USPS them.

John
 

Jitterbugdude

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And speaking of storing seeds-T.C. Tso in his book "Physiology and Biochemistry of Tobacco Plants" has this to about storing seeds: " Tobacco seeds maintain high viability under proper storage conditions. Kincaid (1958) reported tobacco seed maintained high viability for 25 years in tight containers, either refrigerated or desiccated or both. Seed stored in a paper envelope or a cloth bag in the laboratory deteriorated rapidly, while those in the refrigerator maintained high viability for 15 years but not 20 years. Free access of air appeared unfavorable to maintenance of viability for more than 15 years. It is the common practice to store tobacco seeds at low moisture content (approximately 7%) at a temperature below 21 degrees C( 70 degrees F) in an air-tight container"

Randy B
 

FmGrowit

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The seeds are currently stored in coin envelopes in a refrigerator. I suppose the envelopes can be stored in an air tight container and achieve the same thing...no?
 

Steve2md

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The seeds are currently stored in coin envelopes in a refrigerator. I suppose the envelopes can be stored in an air tight container and achieve the same thing...no?

if you have a vacuum sealer you'd be golden, but I think a tupperware would likely suffice. Better still if you had some of those desiccant packs to put in there.........
 

SmokesAhoy

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Can you get TOO dry? Will putting too many dessicant packs in say a sealed glass jar kill the seed or will the seed coat protect the embryo? Just thinking out loud
 

BarG

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One suggestion. Who so ever takes on the responsibility of distributing seeds to any seed program, the recepient should forward a self addressed stamped envelope upon request to alleviate headaches for the sender.

Edit; I would volunteer but i'm not sure i'm responsible enough or equiped to handle such a task. I also like the idea of when seeds are sent to a designated site for distribution they should be treated properly by removing any chaff and seperated properly sealed and labeled with grower and local.[any required documentation also]
 

BarG

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My cup runneth over, at the moment. The database that I've designed (and the website that is partially complete) will track individual seed batches by individual holders, and be capable of generating an email request to the collection holder when a registered user is in need of seed. Each seed batch can be individually made available for distribution, or flagged as not available. Hopefully, late in the fall, it will be up and running.

Some single site (with a duplicate) must hold clearly identifiable pure-strain seed. Otherwise, we will lose all but the "popular" varieties. There are already several on-line sources of excellent seed for those popular varieties. At $2 to $4 per pack, it's nearly free from those commercial sites (e.g. New Hope Seed), when compared to the price of power shredders and power injectors.

I will not send seed in a non-padded envelope. I've received seed crushed by postal machines. Bummer.

In comparing the storage requirements of 100 seeds vs. 10,000 seeds, the container itself is all that takes up space. In the past, I've sent tablespoon quantities of seed to the seed bank in small plastic jars. In the future, I will send 1 gram quantities (7000 to 10,000 seeds), enclosed in a tiny Zip Lock, within a paper 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" envelope.

I volunteer to maintain the second (duplicate) seed bank site, in addition to maintaining the seed bank website. I will store the seed between 35-40ºF, within several layers of vapor barrier containers. It won't require more than a large size 3" x 5" plastic card file, held within protective layers. The grow-outs of seed bank seed should be scheduled (by the software) so that each of the two seed bank sites grows-out at least 10% of its holdings each year. So, with two sites, 20% of the varieties will need grow-outs each year. That should come to fewer than 40 varieties per year--a manageable number for a forum with the present active membership.

Bob

I may have missed the post on the SASE before my last post, Internet reverting to dial up here. The us plastic strainers would be ideal to use before sending any seeds to you or FmGrowit. It would be great if you reposted your method for seed straining on this thread Bob.
 

Ishi

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I do not type very fast so do not post very often. But have 1 plant from all the varieties i grow bagged and will have them available this fall to any one that wants them. Will list when you-all have it figured out. All were from BigBonner except Lizard Tail Turtlefoot. This plant is on its 3rd year and the plant that I sent seed to Chicken from.
Dan
 

skychaser

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Don, I have a substantial amount of seed I would like to contribute to the seed bank. I am 100% behind this idea and will help out in any way I can. I have seed from about 100 varieties. ALL of my plants have been bagged before a flower opened. Anything that gets missed get snipped. I have lots of photos. My fields are inspected annually by a USDA field agent and are certified virus fee. All my seeds are germination tested by a certified WSDA testing lab. I have pdf files with test results for each variety. Bob and Larry know about what I have going here. Hopefully they will vouch for my trustworthiness. :) I will e-mail you a list of what I have soon. Sky
 

BarG

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If you're going to sell more common seed as part of your business, it's just that, part of your business. A seed bank that represents the combined efforts of it's members to locate and grow out seed that would be of interest to more serious hobbyists would be like this forum.... nowhere else to be found. Small quantities shouldn't be a problem to someone with enough real interest to get them through one or more growing seasons to end up with enough seed to plant out an entire county if that's their wish. The seed bank already exists, in a distributed form, so two centralized collections would make it in triplicate. With GRIN being of little or no interest to this hobby, it's all we have left, except for the perseverance and luck of it's members. I'm glad we have the internet, it's better than a once a month get together at the library, it's like a global club. Amateurs can bring a dedication that professionals don't need to have. I don't have much to contribute, but I wish I did.

Leverhead, great insight on the situation. All the professionals had to start somewhere.

Now a few serious hobbiest get to have some fun. That would be me and you, thanks to the professionals.
 

indianjoe

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Welcome Sky,
I have grown rustica seed from Sky and can vouch as well. The seed bank will increase dramatically with Sky's contributions. GRIN eat your heart out!
 

FmGrowit

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Welcome to the site SkyChaser. That's an incredible offer, thank you...looking forward to seeing the your list of seeds.

I very much appreciate the idea of delegating the task of distributing seed throughout the membership. To keep any one member from becoming overwhelmed with orders, I'd like to suggest each participating member limit the number of varieties they are responsible to distribute to 2 or 3 varieties. You can personally offer as many as you want but as far as the FTT seed distribution program goes, 2 or 3 would be sufficient.

I'd also like to suggest creating a list with the member's name and the varieties that member would be responsible for distributing.

We still need to figure out which seeds will be made available for general distribution. For starters, I'd recommend

YTB
TN 90
Bursa

Please add the varieties you believe would be most trouble free, high producing and easily cured. The idea is to make a first time growers experience a productive one.

With the introduction of SkyChaser's offer, there is an apparent need to modify the rule of who can request seeds not available for general distribution...maybe it will be more of a common sense call on a case by case basis, but of course...there are exceptions to every rule.
 
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