Is it technique, the mail, both or neither?

[coronabarb]

"...other than sending seeds using expensive bubble wrap mailers, what are some good options we should try?"

I save the small cell bubblewrap from packages I receive (that makes it free!) and cut out a piece to fit up one side and down the other of the small seed envelope. It doesn't make the outer standard envelope too thick to need extra postage.

None of the dwarf seeds I planted 12 days ago have sprouted. All the other varieties of my seeds (including some from 2001) have sprouted. Some of those were sent to me a few years ago. So, what does this all mean?

[Lee]

None of the dwarf seeds I planted 12 days ago have sprouted. All the other varieties of my seeds (including some from 2001) have sprouted. Some of those were sent to me a few years ago. So, what does this all mean?

I'm guessing the automated sorting machines are becoming more commonplace
now than they were a few or even a couple of years ago....

I wonder if something as simple as a couple paper towels wrapped around the
seed envelope would do as well as the buble wrap in protection.....

Lee

[Ruth_10]

My DH suggests gouging out a hole in a piece of corrugated cardboard, putting the seeds in the resulting "well", then taping a piece of paper over the well.

Anyone know just how thick a letter-sized envelope can be before it requires more postage?

[bcday]

Originally Posted by Ruth_10

Anyone know just how thick a letter-sized envelope can be before it requires more postage?

Over 1/4" thick needs more postage. The post office has a template that they can use if you're not sure if your envelope is too thick. A bigger problem is the stiffness of cardboard. The envelope has to be flexible and bendable enough to go through the post office sorting machinery or they might make you pay postage for a package instead of a letter (more postage). But I've had one clerk at the post office here charge letter-rate postage and a different clerk at the same office charge the package rate for an identical envelope. So sometimes it depends on who you talk to!

[Suze]

Some thoughts/observations. First off, most zip codes do not generally have the mail x-rayed (as others [including Carolyn] have noted before). I don't think the mail system per se is the problem in most cases, but the way folks pack up seeds might very well be.

I've sent seed many a time during winter to folks who live in cold climates and they have never reported any germination problems of note. I do ask occasionally, just for my own edification. I dry down my saved seeds for at least two weeks on paper plates, and it is usually longer before I manage to get around to putting them up.

Extreme heat may be another issue, though. I do not like to send out seeds in the middle of summer, especially when we are having a heatwave here with temps in the range of 106-110F or higher, which does happen occasionally. If it is that hot outside, I figure it may very well be much hotter inside a mailbox or in transit. Re heat, I've also found doing fermentations at high heat can affect viability of seeds, which is one reason I normally chemically process my seeds anymore. The alternative in my hot climate is to ferment inside, and that is not practical because of the smell.

I don't feel a bubble mailer is usually necessary unless one is sending several packages of seeds, but again, I do feel packing technique can matter. What I have found over the years is that when folks just throw those little ziplock bags of seeds in an envelope and send them to me, I will occasionally see faint indentations/impressions in the plastic indicating that the seeds were at some point subjected to pressure by being bunched up together. I have found (in general) when the little plastic baggies look like that, germination may not always be great. It stands to reason that the same thing could be happening with multiple coin envelopes just thrown in an envelope and not secured to make sure they don't bunch up while going through the sorter.

With coin envelopes (my preferred method of sending seeds), I line them up in a neat row at the bottom of a thick bond piece of paper and use tape to secure them to the paper. Then I trifold the paper and place in the envelope. I do this for two reasons -- firstly to provide a little more rigidity to the envelope so that it is less likely to hang up in the autosorter, and secondly so that the coin envelopes can't bunch up and cause a "lump" in the envelope which could cause pressure damage to the seeds (seen or unseen) as they go through the sorter. If it's several packs of seeds (over an ounce total or so), I usually just go ahead and use a bubble mailer.

JMO, but I wish more folks would take the time to do something to make sure their seed packs don't bunch up in the envelope (or use a bubble mailer).

[gardenhappy]

I sure does matter who we get at the post office,I had a post lady tell me my tape was reg.tape (i had cut it down the middle,whish is STILL wider then reg tape) anyway she refused to send my envelope!!! Another p.m. the next day sent it out with no problems(different post office)I have gone to putting tape around my envelopes and marking please do not mash,crush,bend or smash-PLEASE HAND SORT-THANK YOU! Something is going on and mabie in single areas, it's pretty bad when i get seeds from over seas that grow fine and the ones in state are 0 germination at times.When i first started trading and did not know better I felt awful,but now that I'm seeding into large trays many varieties at once I've realized as others here it's the seed not me. I never thought of coin holders thats a good idea I have been using old stock card from buisness cards folded in half and taped and put on a postal scale it does not cost more if it's just a few They have a good thickness to them and many of us have buisness cards laying around out dated or from others. What ever it is is hope we can get it figured out !!