Need seed envelopes

Many people ask me for seeds and I need a source for those envelopes or something I can put a label on.
Also as gifts

Office Depot has the paper "coin" bags.

Thanks I have one around the corner

Have you seen these? http://davesgarden.com/files/seedpackets/ You can print them on regular paper and then cut them apart and fold on the lines. Add a little tape, and you have a seed envelope!

If you want to do special gifts you can do a search for organza bags or favor bags. There are also little burlap bags. Apparently these are common as little gifts for guests at weddings but they are perfect for seeds. (I have no idea what organza is. It looks good and sounds good.) :-)

If your looking for small zip lock bags, you can purchase them for around 1.50 at Walmart in thier Craft dept. You get maybe 100 of them.

I bought little white envelopes in a small and large size from Reimer Seeds. They were $5 for fifty in each size, and are more of the dimension that regular seed packets come in, whereby the opening is on the shorter side rather than along the longer one as letter envelopes are made. They're easy to open and reclose, and you can write on them. I use the large ones for bean and pea seeds and the small ones for tomato and pepper and melon seeds and such. I see that Reimer Seeds has gotten bad reviews on Garden Watchdog, but I had a decent experience with them for the packets.

I buy rolls of craft paper and make my own 4x4 bags.

Cris316, hi, neighbor! It's just easier for me to buy the envelopes. I found a bunch of good sources for the little coin envelopes on Amazon, to my surprise.

Hi,
For some of you I'm a little late. Last year I became realy involved in saving and trading seeds. Walmart was great for the plastic reclosable bags, but I found a better place. I just got their new catalog, so they are sending them out free. It's fabulous place with great prices, plus FREE shipping no matter how little or how much you buy. Go to www.fetpak.com and request a catalog or look at their online catalog.

Oops, I forgot the price of 1000 bags: $6.70---all colors or imprinted with anything--I got flowers on mine.

Carol M.

They have such a huge assortment of bags that it's hard to tell which ones would work for seed-saving purposes. What did you order?

I ordered 1000 of the clear 2ml plastic and another 1000 with the flower design on them. I'll probably have enough for the rest of my life, but the price was right! LOL Oops, I don't have the catalog near me but I'm almost certain the sizes were 2 x 3. They have worked for me great and are the same thing you buy from Walmart.

Uh Oh! I just found a copy of the catalog down here! One is "Reclosable Polybags: 2 Mils thick, clear, Prices are per $1000- High Quality. #R23- 2x3" $8.25 per 1000. (page 38), and I bought Apple Brand Reclosable Bags--Designer Apple bags #30 Yellow flower, which I don't like because the flowers seem to run all together. Their cost was $9.95 per 1000 (Page 40). If I had to do it again I would stay with the clear bags; they are easy to write on with a permanent marker, and I open and close them often with no tears.

There are so many to choose from but I found these to be the best for the price. I just got another catalog today from another company and they wanted $22.00 for the same bags!

Carol M.

wal-mart has 1 x 2 " zip lock baggies. $1.00 .. usually found in the craft department.

I save the little clear ziploc type baggies we get jewelry in at work. LOL Very cheap!! I'd really like to find some of the coin envelopes, though. Will have to scour the office supply stores around here.

stephanie

Check with Staples, that's where I buy mine.....they come in a box of 100

Deann

Stephanie,
I found a very good source for my plastic envelopes since I use quite a few. Go to www.fetpak.com. They carry all sorts of packaging materials from plastc bags, mailing supplies, office supplies. I usually get the 2" x 3" plastic reclosable bags for $8.25 per 1000. If you buy more the price goes down. i.e. if I order 4,000 bags they cost $7.45. They hold up great, the catalog is free or you can shop online, and the postage is FREE!.

Carol M.

Macsie

The best envelopes for seeds are those made of glassine. The plastic bags from Walmart are fine but not for tiny seeds which tend to stick to plastic by static electricity. I found those envelopes used for stamps are great for seeds. I bought mine on Ebay. You can probably find them locally at a craft shop.

I use the craft ziplocs you get from Walmart... but if they are the tiny, stick to the plastic seeds... I'll make a little envie out of wax paper and then put it in the ziploc. I like those because i can put my little 'info sheet' in the baggie, and it's visible.

The glassine envelopes can usually be found anyplace that sells stamp collecting merchandise--my brother was into that back in the day and I remember buying those for him all the time. They really are great for tiny seeds.

I usually pick up my little baggies from the WM I work at but they've downsized the bead category and that was one of the items our little store doesn't have anymore...rats.

I've seen small quantities of the glassine envelopes at Diane's seeds, but they're sold out know.
http://www.dianeseeds.com/glassine-seed-envelopes.html

That page links to 2 sources for larger quantities of glassine envelopes:
Herbarium supply: http://www.herbariumsupply.com/nu_listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?idCategory=63"
Clear bags: http://www.clearbags.com/stationery/envelopes/translucent-envelopes/glassine-envelopes?p=1

Macsie

I just tried to place an order with the company you listed Fetpak

I only needed two sized 2x3 and 3x5 and I was ordering with the white but when I went to check out they were going to add a 7.00 shipping handling charge since the order was under a 100.00. Well I canceled as I don't need that many bags nor do I have 100.00 for an order right now.

Thanks for the link as I have book marked for when I can get something.

Merry Christmas Everyone... : ~ )

Janet

Janet,

I'm a little late, but all the catalogs I've received from Fetpak say"Free Shipping", so I placed an order and received it. They never asked me for shipping and handling. I filled out the order form with the total for the bags. Enclosed a check and I received them within a week. I certainly would give it a try if I was you, the prices are very good. I said I would never use all those bags but I'm packaging seeds every day and the bags are dwindeling.

A late, but Very Merry Christmas,

Carol

I had my first seed swap with garden club 4 years ago and found the same frustration. It bothered me so much I started working on a new product for gardeners. I have the first batch of my seedpacks printed. See them in the DG Marketplace here:
http://davesgarden.com/products/market/cat.php?catid=4

If you don't see them at that link search Share-Croppers. I plan to make lots more varieties and I welcome suggestions about what comes next. I also have other products in the works. Stay tuned!

I get my seed ziplocks from a company online called Lone Star Bags. They have every size you may need.

sharecroppers

nice seed package you have there.

Janet

Thanks Janet! I'm very proud of them. I have 17 different flower envelopes so far and I'm now working on some vegetables. They are all available in the Dave's Garden Marketplace here: http://davesgarden.com/products/market/cat.php?catid=4
I didn't put them in the seed category because I didn't want people to think they come with seeds inside.

I've had 2 customers so far ask for variety packs. Do you all think I should try to do a variety pack. It seems to me that I'd never guess what one gardner would choose to grow. Should I do smaller packages? I don't think $2.99 for 12 envelopes is expensive, but I'd love some input from other gardners. My sales are slow, but I realize this isn't exactly the right time of the year for collecting seeds.

Thanks for your time.

Susann

Sharecroppers

I think your price is very reasonable and even cheap for that many. The only reason I'm not ordering is because I make my own seed envelops (I do graphic design).

You might think about, and I don't know if you can do it on the market place, but a variety pack where the customer gets to choose the ones they want to make up the pack.

Did you do the drawling? If so very well done. I love pencil drawings.

Janet

Janet, Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to give it some thought.

The artist is a wonderful illustrator in Atlanta named Christina Sands. Her primary career is actually as a wedding dress designer doing one of a kind dresses made from antique and vintage lace. I searched for 2 years before I found an artist I was happy with to do the illustrations. I had a very specific vision for very Victorian looking detailed drawings. She sure fit the bill. I think her full size drawings stand alone as wonderful pieces of art.

Susann

Susann

It shows for sure that you did your homework by sticking it out to find someone to transform your vision onto paper...

Janet

http://www.fetpak.com has a great closeout special right now on 5/8" x 5/8" mini-ziplocks. $3.95 per 1,000.

Still a $7 surcharge on "small orders" under $100.

Corey

www.uline.com

2"X3" zip baggies $11.00 per 1,000

ULINE's estimated shipping to me for one carton of 1,000 3x4 Zip-locks was $11. For $22, I can buy around 2,000 from Wal-Mart.

ULINE also had big glassine envelopes, "wallet size", $59 / 1,000:
http://www.uline.com/BL_1577/Glassine-Envelopes?keywords=Glassine+Envelopes.

Carol, I'll try literal US-mail mail order from Fetpack, with a check. Thanks for that suggestion.

Corey