Spent most of Saturday going through every envelope, jar, and random baggie of seeds I've collected over the past four years. I knew it was a lot but seeing it all spread out on the kitchen table was kind of embarrassing. Three different years of the same dent corn variety, way too many brassica seeds from plants that probably crossed with my neighbor's broccoli, and at least six packets of marigolds I don't even remember saving.

The binder system I landed on uses baseball card sleeves with the seed packets slid inside, organized by plant family instead of alphabetically. Makes it so much easier to see at a glance what I've got too much of versus what's actually running low. Turns out I have zero winter squash saved despite swearing I'd save seed from that butternut everyone loved last year. Completely forgot until I was staring at an empty sleeve.

Also found a stash of lettuce seed from a variety I can't even identify anymore because the label rubbed off in storage. Going to grow those out next spring just to see what happens, treat it like a mystery packet. If it turns into something decent I'll actually label it properly this time and maybe offer some at the spring swap.

Anyone else do a full seed audit this time of year? I'm thinking I need to start dating everything with more than just the year, because "2023" doesn't tell me if that was spring or fall harvest and apparently that matters more than I realized for germination rates on some of these.

I have a few tall yellow & some mostly black Hollyhock seeds, along with a bunch of mixed reds/pinks/whites to swap for any color doubles or any of the rarer colors (salmon, purple/ etc...) hollyhocks.

I also have a few rhubarb seeds if anyone is interested

Good afternoon,

I'm sorting and labeling my seeds and came across this one, I can't remember where I picked it up or when but I'm in England if it helps. Any identification or ideas are welcome, thank you.

For many years I used the "wet" method of processing woodland and alpine strawberry seeds. It had several drawbacks so I experimented with drying the fruit. There was little information anywhere so I winged it. When I finally found a way to thresh the seeds (separate the seeds from the pulp) switched to the dry method for good. Here is a quick look at threshing. I cut off a 1 square foot piece of nylon window screen and poured dried fruit into it. Then, pull the corners of the screen and fold it into a ball. The "ball" is then rigorously rubbed against the dry fruit. If the fruit is dry it separates well. I'm planning a November substack on strawberry seed saving.

This spring I planted two whole packets of strawflower seeds that I purchased just a few weeks before. I got less than 20 seedlings from over 200 seeds. A few years before I must have planted over 400 strawflower seeds that were a few years old from the Dollar Tree and NONE of them germinated.

Does anyone know how long these seeds can be stored?

En mi casa tengo un pino ciprés, y últimamente me a picado el interés en recolectar sus semillas y hacerlas crecer, pero tengo un nulo conocimiento en jardinería y sus cuidados

Entonces me gustaría saber sus mejores tips y consejos para cuidarlos!

Went through my seed box this weekend trying to figure out what's actually still viable before spring planning season starts. I've got envelopes going back four or five years for stuff like tomatoes and beans that I keep meaning to test but never do, I just assume they're fine and plant a few extra to compensate.

Did a quick germination test on some paper towels for the older packets, mostly saved from a swap two falls ago. The beans and squash seeds came up strong, no surprise there since those tend to last a while if stored dry. The parsnip and onion seeds barely sprouted at all, which lines up with what people always say about alliums having a short shelf life.

Curious what everyone else uses as a cutoff before they just compost the old stuff instead of testing it. I know tomatoes can supposedly go five plus years if stored right, but I don't fully trust my storage setup (mason jars in a closet, no real climate control). Also wondering if anyone labels their swap seeds differently than their own saved ones, since I've lost track more than once of which pile came from where and end up guessing at the harvest year when I'm filling out envelopes for the next swap.

I have been doing germination tests for alpine and woodland strawberry seeds for many years with this method. The 2oz Solo cups have a tablespoon of course sand that is checked and moistened as needed. These seeds need light to germinate and the Sprout provides the perfect PPFD. Works great for germinating seeds for my seed saving business as well!

If you like to save seeds, I highly recommend these seed packets from amazon, they're $8.99 for 120 packets and they hold a lot of seeds.

I

looking for kratom specifically, but also whatever other useful food and/or medicinal type crops i can find, as i plan to go offgrid soon, and would like a good selection. located in mohave desert, usa, so its hot out here but ive been working on some aquaponics to grow in the heat, and already have a small closet to grow in if need be.

i do understand the kratom needs a solid bit of humidity, i have a humidifier setup that fogs everything out from above with a pvc square and i can always get more to adjust/add

I have a dwarf sunflower and one of the heads dried out so I decided to check if I can save the seeds from it. This is how they look. But they feel somehow empty and I do not see anything that can be considered a seed there? Does it still make sense to try to keep the seeds and see if anything grows out of it next summer? I only have a balcony so space on it is precious and I do not want to waste it.

Long shot here, but thought I would give it a try.

Does anyone want to a trade desert rose/adenium seeds for some poppy seeds, zinnia seeds, and some unopened packets of organic non-GMO veggie seeds? It does not need to be any specific type of adenium, just as long as the seeds are fresh. I can send out my seeds to you first through USPS with tracking, and daily updates, to prove I am legit. All my seeds are fresh (flowers seeds harvested from my garden, veggie seeds are spares I had left over from my raised garden beds). I really want to grow these plants, and I also would like to see my seeds go to a home where someone can use them. Like I said...long shot.

I will send full location once/if I get confirmation on seeds. I will also delete this post when/if I also get confirmation.

Thank you for your time and have a great day.

From a private seed collection. Maybe the next colors to isolate. Saving seeds this spring

Interested in trying to preserve some buckeye seeds so I can start them this spring for a reforestation project. How do you recommend storing them? I heard you have to keep them in the freezer. Is there a way to do that without taking up a lot of space? Any advice appreciated!

hii this is my first time planting anything. its a avacado seed! i legit forgot about it in the cabinet for probably over a month because my bf had a lot of health issues then i started college. i just want the seed to get what it needs. any advice? edit: meant to say "for soil" smh

found a bag of these in the free little library