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#1
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Two seed-starting questions
Two seed-starting questions... 1. How do you put small seeds in the little six-cell packs (or whatever else you use)? Do you use a gadget for placing seeds? I shake the right number of seeds into a little glass custard cup. Then I wet a pencil (ordinary pencil) and the wet pencil point will pick up one small seed at a time. I bought a little plastic gadget, but can't get the hang of it. 2. How do you keep seeds? I'm keeping them in their packets, but this isn't really a terrific system - in the case of succession plantings, I'm cutting a bit more off the packet each time (and scotch-taping it together). Some of the packets will be totally gone before very the end of the season! At present, I'm keeping the packets in photo-pages in an album - the pages into which you slip a 4'x6' photo. This works fairly well. But I'd welcome other ideas. Pat |
#2
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Two seed-starting questions
Pat Meadows wrote:
Two seed-starting questions... 1. How do you put small seeds in the little six-cell packs (or whatever else you use)? Do you use a gadget for placing seeds? I shake the right number of seeds into a little glass custard cup. Then I wet a pencil (ordinary pencil) and the wet pencil point will pick up one small seed at a time. I bought a little plastic gadget, but can't get the hang of it. I just shake a number of seeds out of the packets onto the palm of my left hand and then put two each into each starting pot. You can always pinch one off but two gives better odds of good germination. I have one of those little plastic gadgets too. You just tap it with one finger and guide the seeds out into the pots. Too clumsy for me so I do the palm and finger thing. 2. How do you keep seeds? I'm keeping them in their packets, but this isn't really a terrific system - in the case of succession plantings, I'm cutting a bit more off the packet each time (and scotch-taping it together). Some of the packets will be totally gone before very the end of the season! At present, I'm keeping the packets in photo-pages in an album - the pages into which you slip a 4'x6' photo. This works fairly well. But I'd welcome other ideas. Pat I keep some in their packets and some in paper coin envelopes. You can get about a zillion coin envelopes for a couple of bucks at an office supply store. I don't cut the packets down, I scotch tape the opening shut, that way I have all the data on hand. The coin envelopes can be written on on both sides. I also ship seeds to friends in coin envelopes, don't weigh much and ship easily. All seeds are kept in a plastic one-gallon container that sits on the bottom shelf of our refrigerator. To keep from pawing through the whole thing to find specific seeds I use those cheap storage boxes like Gladware. One for ordinary veggies, one for chiles, one for flowers, etc. Those fit inside my gallon container and the lid fits on top of that. Seeds stay cool, dry, and easy to get too. It may be a little anal retentive but it works for me. HTH George |
#3
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Two seed-starting questions
On Sat, 05 Apr 2003 13:48:57 -0600, George Shirley
wrote: I keep some in their packets and some in paper coin envelopes. You can get about a zillion coin envelopes for a couple of bucks at an office supply store. I don't cut the packets down, I scotch tape the opening shut, that way I have all the data on hand. The coin envelopes can be written on on both sides. I also ship seeds to friends in coin envelopes, don't weigh much and ship easily. All seeds are kept in a plastic one-gallon container that sits on the bottom shelf of our refrigerator. To keep from pawing through the whole thing to find specific seeds I use those cheap storage boxes like Gladware. One for ordinary veggies, one for chiles, one for flowers, etc. Those fit inside my gallon container and the lid fits on top of that. Seeds stay cool, dry, and easy to get too. It may be a little anal retentive but it works for me. HTH The coin envelopes are a really good idea! Thanks. I plan on putting the seeds in the freezer - after the spring flurry of activity is over. I'd be getting them out every day at present. We have enough freezer space. Pat |
#4
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Two seed-starting questions
Pat Meadows wrote:
On Sat, 05 Apr 2003 13:48:57 -0600, George Shirley wrote: I keep some in their packets and some in paper coin envelopes. You can get about a zillion coin envelopes for a couple of bucks at an office supply store. I don't cut the packets down, I scotch tape the opening shut, that way I have all the data on hand. The coin envelopes can be written on on both sides. I also ship seeds to friends in coin envelopes, don't weigh much and ship easily. All seeds are kept in a plastic one-gallon container that sits on the bottom shelf of our refrigerator. To keep from pawing through the whole thing to find specific seeds I use those cheap storage boxes like Gladware. One for ordinary veggies, one for chiles, one for flowers, etc. Those fit inside my gallon container and the lid fits on top of that. Seeds stay cool, dry, and easy to get too. It may be a little anal retentive but it works for me. HTH The coin envelopes are a really good idea! Thanks. I plan on putting the seeds in the freezer - after the spring flurry of activity is over. I'd be getting them out every day at present. We have enough freezer space. Pat That works too, I've frozen pea and bean seeds for several years and they were still viable. George |
#5
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Two seed-starting questions
Pat Meadows wrote:
Two seed-starting questions... 1. How do you put small seeds in the little six-cell packs (or whatever else you use)? Do you use a gadget for placing seeds? I shake the right number of seeds into a little glass custard cup. Then I wet a pencil (ordinary pencil) and the wet pencil point will pick up one small seed at a time. I bought a little plastic gadget, but can't get the hang of it. 2. How do you keep seeds? I'm keeping them in their packets, but this isn't really a terrific system - in the case of succession plantings, I'm cutting a bit more off the packet each time (and scotch-taping it together). Some of the packets will be totally gone before very the end of the season! At present, I'm keeping the packets in photo-pages in an album - the pages into which you slip a 4'x6' photo. This works fairly well. But I'd welcome other ideas. Pat I use long-handled tweezers to place seeds. Minteeleaf |
#6
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Two seed-starting questions
1)I use wet tooth picks to place seeds.
2)to store my seeds,I save old glass spice jars and spice racks and store them in the unfinished part of my basement. the glass jars are moisture proof, and the seeds stay cool. Pat Meadows wrote: Two seed-starting questions... 1. How do you put small seeds in the little six-cell packs (or whatever else you use)? Do you use a gadget for placing seeds? I shake the right number of seeds into a little glass custard cup. Then I wet a pencil (ordinary pencil) and the wet pencil point will pick up one small seed at a time. I bought a little plastic gadget, but can't get the hang of it. 2. How do you keep seeds? I'm keeping them in their packets, but this isn't really a terrific system - in the case of succession plantings, I'm cutting a bit more off the packet each time (and scotch-taping it together). Some of the packets will be totally gone before very the end of the season! At present, I'm keeping the packets in photo-pages in an album - the pages into which you slip a 4'x6' photo. This works fairly well. But I'd welcome other ideas. Pat |
#7
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Two seed-starting questions
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#8
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Two seed-starting questions
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#9
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Two seed-starting questions
On Sat, 05 Apr 2003 22:55:15 GMT, Pat Meadows
wrote: (whoever wrote this) I also ship seeds to friends in coin envelopes, don't weigh much and ship easily. [...] The sainted Helen Foss of Canada, who has sent many of us seeds at her own expense, uses tiny plastic "tubs" that she says are from craft work. They are lightweight; great containers, because you don't have to use all the seeds at once, and still have a stable, easily-stored, reusable container. -- Polar |
#10
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Two seed-starting questions
I store my seeds in their original envelopes in a surplus ammo box. The
thing has a rubber gasket in the lid which keeps moisture out and the box takes abuse like nothing else I can think of. I made a tray for the top to hold bags of silica gel (for keeping it dry inside). Some of the envelopes come with reusable stickum, but if not I use magic tape or other resealable tape. When I plant out a flat I put the envelopes for the seeds I used together in a separate envelope and label with the date planted: that way, if any of the seeds shows poor germination I know where to find it to get rid of. (It's also info backup if the flat marker gets lost or unreadable.) |
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