seeds squashed in the mail

[matilda'skid]

I have received two orders of tomato seeds with no protection in the envelope. The first one showed no damage but the envelope I got today had the impressions of seeds on the outside envelope. The inside envelopes had stains the shape of tomato seeds so I think they were squashed.

Has anyone else had a problem with this.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by matilda'skid

I have received two orders of tomato seeds with no protection in the envelope. The first one showed no damage but the envelope I got today had the impressions of seeds on the outside envelope. The inside envelopes had stains the shape of tomato seeds so I think they were squashed.

Has anyone else had a problem with this.

There used to be a problem with crushed seeds after the USPS changed roller systems several years ago but I haven't heard of any problems lately.

When it first occurred I sent padded and unpadded seeds of Orange Minsk, so that would be in about 2008, to several folks in different partsof the country and then they reported back on germination, and yes, padding the seeds helped a lot.

When I have lots of seeds in individual packets to send to one place I use a padded mailer, but when sending just a few to one personI just pad the seeds with a double layer of napkins and have had no problems reported back to me.

Carolyn

[Crandrew]

havent had an issue yet. Normally they send them in envelopes lined with baby bubble.

[Tania]

The double layer of napkins works well to protect small seeds like tomato seeds. I never had germination problems with seeds that I received wrapped in a napkin. Without napkin or bubble wrap - yes, sometimes they get crushed, especially when paper coin envelopes are used to package the seeds.

I think you'll need to inform the vendors, as I am sure they will want to hear about the problem with seed crushing and will be happy to help.