Homework assignment from Teacher_Mike

[bully]

I recently got a very enchanting letter from none other than Teacher_Mike

I turns out that he has stumbled upon some tomato seeds...well I'll let him tell the story

I have something that I'd like to send along to you, if you are up for a challenge and have room for one or two more.

Last summer I was at an old-time country farm estate auction. The auctioneer was selling items from a row in the yard. He came to an old lard can and said it was filled with seeds. He pulled out a couple of old coffee jars to show the crowd, stuffed them back in, and asked for a dollar.

Needless to say, a few seconds later I owned that can (for $1.25...big spender here.)

The can contained a number of seeds and seed packets. There was one jar with masking tape on the outside that said "yellow tomato." I can't be sure if it is leftover seed of a hybrid or an heirloom OP variety, as I have no
other info. (For that matter, I don't even know if it will be yellow, really.) There were some beans in jars which appeared to be saved seed, as well as a lot of flower seeds that were clearly saved seed. There were also
flower seeds sent from friends, still wrapped in foil or plastic and in original mailing envelopes with little handwritten notes attached, and some seeds in commercial packets. It appeared from dates on packets and mailing dates on envelopes that most of the seeds were from the early '90s, although one seed pack was from the 70s and some were late 90s....


The rest of the letter trailed off into incoherent ramblings laced with profanity..I think he may have been grading papers

My first decision was obvious, I'll take these seeds from Teacher_Mike divvy them up into lots of 6 and sell them for $24.00 each!! 8)

But then I had the more rational, albeit less inspired, idea of sharing them with the likes of you.

I have 120 seeds and plan on keeping 20.
The rest I will divide into lots of 20 and offer them to the first 7 people that are interested.(2 of you will be receiving early girl as a placebo )
I'm kidding about the placebo but not the mystery yellow tomato seeds.

Any takers?

[WildLife]

count me as 1
Wild "i just luv yellar" Life

[SelfSufficient1]

That sounds so interesting. I wouldn't mind trying some.

[montanamato]

Pick me....I love surpises and yellow tomatoes( ok, all colors). Plus I have one more group to plant next week.
Space is not a factor.

Jeanne

[clay199]

count me in please.

[jerseyjohn61]

I'm in :wink:

[jerseyjohn61]

and will share with the needy

[angelstiger]

Just recieved Ernesto and Rinaldo today. Thank you Bully. I am always up for a challenge. I will get on the list. Thanks again.

20 minutes and already 6 takers. WOW

[bully]

I said lots of 20 but I meant lots of 5 (I'm an idiot) with each person getting 20 seeds

So we have our 5 people...send me a PM and I'll mail out the seeds tomorrow.

[bully]

Ok.. Charlie you're in I'll divide 120 by 7 instead..no big deal

[angelstiger]

Bully thanks just a few wouild be greatl, 180 plants planned. Whats a few more, LOL. "Bully's/Mike's Mystery Yellow" LOL.

I am sitting here laughing, because that was like vultures on a dead antelope. ROTFLMAO

[jerseyjohn61]

Sounds like fun Bull, I mean the mystery of it,
even if it turns out to be Lemon Boy. ....JJ61

[SelfSufficient1]

I could do with just half if anyone wants to try and didn't get on here fast enough.

[jerseyjohn61]

I'll send off a share to folks who might
want it later. Yeah we did pick the corpse
clean in a hurry Charlie :wink: ....JJ61

[carolyn137]

I'm out on this for one for several reasons, but you all know what to do with old seeds, right?

After trying all sorts of tricks this is what I've settled on.

Soak them o'n in water, poking them down so they sink, and add a few drops of fish or seaweed prep to the water or a pinch of blue stuff such as Peters, MG, or similar.

The latter adds nitrate ion which is known to be involved in seed germination.

I water the seeds with water that also has those additives.

And be prepared to wait weeks, as in up to two months or more for germination of seeds of that age, if it
s going to happen.

Sometimes one can be surprised at how well such old seeds will germinate, but since you only have a few seeds plant ****ALL**** of them when you get them.

Germination can be as low as 0 to 10% and then what are you going to do, statistically with your five or seven seeds?

Get the picture?



Carolyn