Seed Packets...what works? Sources?

[BackyardFarm]

It's mid-september and I FINALLY have enough ripening tomatoes to save saving seeds.

The question I have is, how do I store them afterwards? I bought a package of pill baggies at the local dollar store yesterday (50ct for 67 cents on clearence!) but I have a feeling that won't last super long if I want to participate in any swaps.

So, where do you all get seed packets? Mini plastic bags? Coin envelopes? Make them yourselves? Is there a difference between paper and plastic for shelf life?

[saltmarsh]

Test tubes and specimen bottles have a use by date. A friend brings me expired bottles (unused and sterile) for free. I have them coming out my ears. If you don't have a source, go to your local blood bank and ask to speak to anyone in Quality Control. Ask for expired 50ml lab bottles and rubber stoppered test tubes (both will have a label area making ID easy).



For mailing I use these. Good products at a good price. Claud

Kraft paper

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171918412338

Plastic Zip Lock

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131560107073

[carolyn137]

I have always used #1 coin envelopes (500/box) and can get them from any Staples store, or similar. I call in my order since I also buy my marking pens, my envelopes, my various sized notebooks and much more from them. Always a pleasure to deal with them and always fast shipping. Seeds don't stick to the inside, and there are several better ways of closing them other than using the glue flaps

I HATE plastic baggies of ANY size, the ones with the ziplok closures. The darn seeds get stuck to the inside of the plastic and the seeds get hung up on that ziplok when trying to tap out the seeds.

Not that you asked my opinion about ziplok plastic bags.

Carolyn

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I have always used #1 coin envelopes (500/box) and can get them from any Staples store, or similar. I call in my order since I also buy my marking pens, my envelopes, my various sized notebooks and much more from them. Always a pleasure to deal with them and always fast shipping. Seeds don't stick to the inside, and there are several better ways of closing them other than using the glue flaps

I HATE plastic baggies of ANY size, the ones with the ziplok closures. The darn seeds get stuck to the inside of the plastic and the seeds get hung up on that ziplok when trying to tap out the seeds.

Not that you asked my opinion about ziplok plastic bags.

Carolyn

I think the plastic baggies are horrible too.
I use the #1 coin envelops as well, you can get them at an office supply place.
My last box was a 500 count and I still have a ton if them.
I just looked on line and saw they are 23.49 for 500 #1 envelops.
Wall-Mart probably has them for less I think around $13.00.
There is no need to seal the seeds in anything art tight.
I have had seeds sprout this year that were saved by me back in I think 2005 stored in a drawer.
Another plus is you can write on them and you can get them in different colors.
While you are there get a little glue stick to use on them as it will allow you to open the envelope without messing it up.
I just use blue painters tape.

Worth

[bower]

I use coin envelopes or cut in half envelopes to store the seeds until the heating season kicks in. After a week or two with heat in the house, the humidity is low enough I feel certain the seeds are dry enough to store in plastic, where the moisture content will remain as it is.

I always pack in those mini plastic ziplocks to ship, and this is why.
Several times I have received some very treasured seeds in the mail that were packed in paper, but because our rural mailboxes are cr#p these envelopes were very very damp or totally wet when I got them. After they dried off and were stored for awhile, the germination wasn't so great.
So I think it is better for the seeds to be kept dry until you want to plant them.

Not a problem for shipping in bubble mailers, but for ordinary paper envelopes, have pity on us rained out, rural seed lovers..

[joseph]

I like paper seed envelopes for the nostalgia and feel. For a while I was making my own, and printing a label on them before cutting and folding. That looks great, but was tremendous effort.

I like to have a detailed label on the seeds that I share. It's easy enough to glue a label on the outside of a paper envelope with a glue stick. I did that for a while on commercially obtained coin envelopes.

For seed sharing, I finally settled on plastic bags for a couple of reasons: I think that it makes a better display: Especially with multi-colored seeds like beans and corn. It lets people see exactly what they are getting. I share generously, might as well make that immediately obvious. Plastic zip-locks are easier for me to get my hands on than paper coin envelopes. I think of plastic as somewhat more resistant to bugs than paper. Detailed labels simply go in the bags with the seeds.

For my own purposes, plastic lets me see if I have hundreds of seeds or only a few. Makes planning easier to see at a glance what I'm dealing with. I save a lot of seed as sibling groups. Plastic makes it easy to see differences between families.

I like paper envelopes for collecting seeds in the field... I can harvest somewhat damp seeds and trust them to finish drying in the paper envelopes.

[carolyn137]

I should really clarify what I said above,

I use the coin envelopes only when packing seeds for others and it was 25 seeds minimum for SSE seed requests and varied from 6 to 20 for my annual seed offers so I knew exactly how many seeds I put in a pack.

But my seeds for storage were stored quite differently/ Most of them are stored in plastic screw cap vials and some in just regular envelopes that I don't even seal and store at ambient temps and depending on the variety I can germinate tomato seeds with no problem up to maybe 10 years old but beyond that I have to use a different method.

I've not thrown out ONE saved seed since about 1988.

I went back and did this post after realizing that the original poster was referring to storing processed seeds, not sending seeds to others.

Carolyn

[ddsack]

I use both pretty much interchangeably. Like Bower said, for small trade quantities sent in letter envelopes, I like the extra protection of plastic from the elements. Also, it's nice to see how many seeds you have left or are receiving without having to rip open the envelope.

If I have a lot of comments to write about a certain seed batch, or am in a hurry to package, I use the coin envelopes.

Since I use the flat cone coffee filters to dry my seeds, I am in no hurry to repackage after drying, because they can stay in the closed filters, filed alphabetically upright, in an open box until I have time after the season is over to repackage into permanent envelopes. I normally use my laser printer to mass produce tiny labels to cut up and insert into the ziplocks - don't like writing the same info over and over.

My seeds have always been dried for many weeks before before repackaging, but if I had any doubt, I would use coin envelopes.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by BackyardFarm

It's mid-september and I FINALLY have enough ripening tomatoes to save saving seeds.

The question I have is, how do I store them afterwards? I bought a package of pill baggies at the local dollar store yesterday (50ct for 67 cents on clearence!) but I have a feeling that won't last super long if I want to participate in any swaps.

So, where do you all get seed packets? Mini plastic bags? Coin envelopes? Make them yourselves? Is there a difference between paper and plastic for shelf life?

A good choice for the plastic 2" by 3" is Walmart in their craft isle. 100 baggies for $1.
I store in those too, also ship them out because the envelope has less bulk that way. If people don't care for the baggie, they can always transfer to a coin envelope once they get them.

[k3vin]

I doubt there is any real difference in storage life between paper and plastic. The factors that affect seed storage life are temperature and humidity. I package my seeds in 2x2 2 mil plastic baggies, $10 per 1000 on ebay. I place the baggies in 2 quart wide mouth glass jars with glass bail top lids along with a large fist size package of those little round dissicant beads, also purchased on ebay. After placing the seeds in the jar I keep it in the fridge for a month or two to ensure the seeds are bone dry then I place the jar in the freezer at -20.

The critical things to consider are finding bail top jars with perfect seals and remembering to allow the jar to warm to room temp before opening it. If you take a cold jar out of the fridge or freezer and open it immediately a thick layer of condensation or frost will form on the inside of the jar.

I anticipate tomato seeds stored this way will last decades.

[heirloomtomaguy]

I have a system i do not stray from. I use 2 × 3 plastic zip lock baggies i buy on amazon. I get 1000 of them for 7 bucks. Then i put them inside 2.5 × 3.5 coin envelopes with way more info on them than i probably need. I get 500 of them on amazon also for 10 bucks. I put the seeds in the baggies and the baggies inside the envelopes that way i do not have to lick the envelope shut to keep the seeds secure. I then make cardboard sleeves similar to the coin envelope packaging only far stronger. All seed packs are in alphabetical order. I also use seperate cardboard sleeves to hold bulk seeds or lines i am working on for segregation. Perhaps a bit of over kill but when you have as many seeds as i do organization is key. I can post pics if you would like.

[KC.Sun]

I also buy plastic zip baggies from Amazon. They make shipping/trading seeds easier.

I prefer to use plastic bottles with screw caps to avoid environmental factors that alter seed shelf life. But when plastic bottles are not available, I use the zip lock bags.

[Carriehelene]

I've always saved seeds of all types in the coin envelopes. Plenty of envelopes in a package to send and store. You can buy them at Walmart cheaply enough as well.

[salix]

I save and store my seeds in the original paper envelopes or in paper coin envelopes, alphabetically in waterproof containers. However, for mailing out I use the plastic ziploc baggies for reasons well elucidated by Bower above.

[Gardeneer]

2" by 3" zip bags are both convenient and economical . @ WM, Joanne's Michael's.
Once the seeds are dried to a correct moisture level plastic bag is superior to paper as it won't allow moisture variation. Also as mentioned, it offers a visual advantage, on the quantity of the seeds without opening it.For labeling I use self sticking labels.
Once done, they go into old menu boxes.
I don't see any technical advantage between paper and plastic. ( I make that choice at the grocery sroew. hehe)
gardeneer