Propagation: Extra seed containers, 2 by LazLo

LazLo wrote:
Hi, Bill - -

Like almost every DG member, I started out drying seeds and storing them in ziplock baggies. Several years later, I found out that was possibly the least good I could do.

Seeds are living things. Living things eventually suffocate in closed plastic bags or in tightly-covered plastic containers. Dried seeds will stay dry and yet breathe well enough if placed into either glassine (expensive & hard to find) envelopes or in "coin" envelopes that you can buy by the hundreds at office supply stores. I use N°3 coin envelopes mostly - - about the same size as a 2" x 3" zip-baggie. Unless you have a very humid environment in your home where the seeds are stored, either type of envelope will permit sufficient air to be available to your seeds while they are in their dormancy, waiting to be sown.

Coin envelopes are superior to plastic zipbags in other ways - - you can write on them with many different types of instruments, not just sharpie pens. The information is lots harder to be rubbed off if in pencil, ballpoint or gel pen ink.

Their major drawback is that they cost more than plastic baggies - - they do not come in the smaller quantities as some baggies are sold. They come in boxes of 250s and you will need to use scotch tape for closures if you do not seal their gummed flaps.

But any humidity left on the seeds will not fester and awaken possible fungi spores just waiting to kill off your seeds - - coin envelopes will help "breathe" away minute amounts of moisture still on your seeds at the time they are packed away. With sealed plastic, the moisture is trapped inside - - not only there for seeds to sprout prematurely but also for spores of fungi to be awakened. And the fungi don't care as much about the lack of air as your seeds will.

Are you afraid to sleep now? LOL. Many folks have great success using the zip bags because most of us are pretty careful to dry things out really well, even if chaff is included with seeds. And, if you are going to sow the seeds in the next season, there's a very good chance enough air was locked in the baggie. But if you are storing heirloom seeds, you may want to be keeping some of them packaged up for long periods and that is when you should give consideration to putting the seeds into paper envelopes, or coin envelopes.

Ever notice that most commercial seed packages are made of paper? The reason is mainly to keep their shelf life viable during transportation, storage, and display in the store, as well as wherever you might squirrel the packages away in your home. Notice I wrote most, not all.

Some commercial seeds come in outer envelopes made of paper and the seeds themselves are sealed inside a smaller inner envelope. I haven't got much info to lend to you, Bill, about why that is done. It's been my experience, though, that the seeds are generally quite small and perhaps the packaging is so none are lost when the outer paper is torn open.

OK - - now you have MTCW on this subject.

Welcome to the addiction . . . and

A T B T Y !           ~           £az£o    ;--)