Germination Testing

[svalli]

I wish I had known about those pinch rollers at mail sorting before mailing the seeds to Ted. I am the bad mother, who sent my poor babies out to the world without proper protection. From now on I promise to use bubble envelopes or CD cases when mailing seeds. With the all sorts of EU legislation, the EU common catalog and the new bill in U.S., traded vegetable seeds are becoming very valuable and rare resource and should be protected so that every seed will arrive viable.

If all of the Monsanto laws are going to pass, we may have to also start disguising the seed envelopes. I can already imagine myself in an airport getting checked for hidden heirloom tomato seeds...

[habitat_gardener]

For those in the U.S. urban and suburban areas, it's also possible to get free (used) bubble wrap and bubble mailers on freecycle, or from offices if you have access to one that gets some mail in bubblemedia. I volunteer at a local library that has started listing donated books online, as well as selling them on site. When they started, they got 6-8 boxes of used bubble mailers on freecycle. (Or maybe it's just California, where people save things that can't be recycled?)

[ContainerTed]

First of all, I want to thank Svalli for allowing me to put this valuable information out here for all to see. The important thing here is getting the word out. I didn't want to identify the sender, because the damage is the important thing to know, not who sent the envelope.

Svalli, as I said in the PM, there should be plenty of undamaged seeds to get a couple of plants from each and then I'll have all the seeds I'll ever need. Thank you again for the unexpected gift.

Ted

[ContainerTed]

Here's a link to a site that I use. The bubble mailers here are pretty decent in price. They run specials where you can buy quantity and make out pretty good. They also have great deals on Coin envelopes.


http://www.uline.com/BL_1257/Self-Se...Bubble-Mailers

[the999bbq]

hmm, never had those problems swapping seeds and I would never buy bubble envelopes only for the minor likelyhood of ...

I usually sow 6 to 8 seeds per variety, and most of the time I do have to throw away half of the seedlings anyway. Never had 0% germination (unless I have erased those first years of trying to sow tomatoes from my memory).

So my advice would be : even more TLC with sowing (clean soil, not too wet, enclosed and heated from beneath) and a few extra seeds to start should do the trick.
I would prefer those paper towels as lining for the envelope anyway, because you don't have to buy plastic and I don't have to trash plastic - paper towels I can make compost from them.

Pepper seeds are indeed "a different ball game" but from all the seeds I received only once have I had most seeds from one variety crushed (not all and you only need one to germinate to keep the variety).

Even when you have only one plant you can always propagate from "the suckers" if you want more than one..

I don't think they bash the envelopes to pulverise the anthrax powder (into even finer powder ??), and hey if the post office clerk accidently smashed some seeds stamping the stamp - everybody needs a bit of bad luck in his life so just think you've had your share of it then...

I'm with Carolyn that for the time being we do nothing ;-)

[amideutch]

It's not what we do as a group but what we do as individuals on how we treat, check for variety integrity, or try out of habit to get the best product possible to whomever it may be for. For me 2 out of twenty seeds germinating doesn't get it. I don't care if it's a freebee, trade or SSE order, it's all the same to me and I try to do the best I can in all phases of getting the final product.
Ted and I proved beyond a doubt that the handling by the mail carriers caused damage to the seeds I sent him causing poor to non germination. So, if you don't care how your product arrives at the destination, so be it. I put to much work into my seeds to take the cheap route at the end. Thats just the way I am, in any endeavor. Ami

[ContainerTed]

I feel like the quality of the seeds that folks receive from me have my name written on each of them. It's a part of my integrity to do what I do the best I can. I have learned over the years that shortcuts don't get the job done. Each person to their own, but for me, I want people to think well of me. Therefore, I want them to think that I have always done the very best I can to send them or give them a quality product they can count on.

For some folks, this is contrary, or naive, or just stupid. But, it's the way I am and I ain't changin'.

Ami, guess what I saw today in the Golden Cherokee cell??? Yes, another little hook trying to get up. If I get leaves, then I'll have my two plants. Today is a good day.

BTW, Spudakee is running about 60%, so the Golden Cherokee must have taken most of the damage.

Ted

[newatthiskat]

I really appreciate this thread. I have learned alot about how to send seeds. I want to have people enjoy what I have grown in the past. I realized that the first couple of people I sent seeds to were not done correctly. I hope they have germination. We get alot more info on here than just how to grow tomatoes. I just assumed since I was able to germinate my own seeds others would be able to as well. Thanks for explaining about how it can be a problem to mail seeds and ways to do it properly.
Kat

[carolyn137]

I just noticed that Suze posted in Tania's thread about germination of my seeds and she got about 75% germination with all the varieties I sent her in Jaunary, knowing she had to plant early.

So I don't think we have a complete story yet.

It would boggle my mind, truly, if all the seeds sent out by any of us who send out lots of seeds if all, or even many of them were crushed.

Suze I've known for many years and as with many who have posted in this thread and others I know, are experienced seed sowers.

So I'll keep looking at other sites where I read/post to see if any significant seed problems are mentioned, but so far, I haven't seen anything. I'll also ask Steph at SSE if she's had any feedback from all the seeds that SSE sends out, either from the Public catalog or from SSE listings in the Yearbook.

[Tania]

Ted and Ted, I admire you both, you are truly standing behind your 'product'!

Carolyn, I saw Suze's reply there too, and I was so happy that she had such a good germination. I hate to bring this up again, but as I mentioned earlier, I do see quite a bit of damaged seeds that came to me, and I suspect mail damage, and not me mishandling them and having poor germination as a result (I certainly do not crash them intentionally before sowing ).

I do see many more seeds making it safely as well. So I think some envelopes get 'lucky' and some not, or maybe it depends on the route they take...

In the past I suspected the 'bad' seeds were sent but now I know better.

I sent out quite a bit of seeds, and I hope the folks would report on the germination, as I did my germination tests and can compare 'before' and 'after' mailing, if the results are posted. I send my seeds in plastic baggies with a bit of air sealed in and with a paper towel wrapped around to cushion them. Sometimes I add 1 layer of bubble wrap to make it even safer. For large number of packets I use recycled bubble mailer. I treasure my seeds and I care a lot whether they germinate on the other end and grow true to type. I spend many hours collecting and processing seeds, starting in late July and finishing in late October, so there is lots of 'love and labour' comes in there.

The other thing to mention is that most of us are not comfortable to publicly post 'bad results', so it may explain the lack of 'bad reports'.

For me personally, I do not expect anyone to send me seeds in bubble mailers, and I would never ask anyone to do it, I believe it has to be a choice of a person who sends the seeds. If I get 12+ seeds, I usually manage to get at least one plant going and it is enough for me to save seeds for a variety, if it makes it through the growing season. In the last two year the weather in PNW became more of a factor for me: if I have 0% germination on 4-6 varieties out of 160 I start (2.5-3.75%), the weather can kill up to 40% of my plants before they ripen fruit. So germination failures are truly minor issues for me compared to other things.

Tania

[Barbee]

I'm really enjoying this thread and the pics have been very interesting. The damage appears to be hit and miss though, doesn't it?

I got seeds from Craig for his pepper project this year. 3 coin envelopes containing seed inside a normal business sized envelope. No padding or anything.
I sowed every seed in each envelope. Had 100% germination on two packets and 90% on the third packet.

So obviously, it's not a given that your seed will be damaged by the sorting machines, but there is a good possibility it can happen.

I have someone else I know who works in for the USPS, so I'm gonna pick her brain, too, and see what she says. She's a little higher up on the ladder and grows a lot of flowers from seed.

[amideutch]

Barbee, any tips or tricks on packaging or ways to get around the the roller/squeezers from your USPS friends would be much appreciated. And tell your USPS friends we know their task is huge in getting our mail in, around and out of the US and appreciate their efforts very much. Ami