*sigh*
ok.. i feel really dumb now
i just took my seed box outside to do some planting
biiiiiig mistake there
i should have only taken a few packets out to the garden, the ones i was intending to plant
but i like to keep everything together so nothing gets misplaced, so i took the whoooooole box outside
can you see where this one's going? lol
anyway
i sat the box down and went to get a bucket of water and a milk crate to sit on, came back and started moistening some dirt... and my hand slipped....
and now my whole box of seeds is soaked
*whine*
can i just dry everything out again and repacket it and hope for the best?
or should i plant what i'm going to use, and toss everything else?
i hate when i do dumb stuff like this!
crossposted on the seed saving forum
disaster has struck my seed box!
I'd try drying them out. Maybe pat lightly between two paper towels, then shake off onto a third one. I think most need constant moisture to sprout, and darkness too. Some seeds require light, so i would keep those covered up after you dry them off.
Don't feel bad. Do you know what I did. I collected a whole bunch of seed that were from other peoples local gardens last year...... and guess what, I can't find them anywhere. Now is that dumb or what? I agree with newbie, dry them with paper towel and make sure they are really dry, I would let them dry for a few day just to be sure, then put them in a dark dry place until your ready to use them. Good luck.
well, it turns out that it wasnt really as disastrous as i thought it would be
i really appreciate a lot of people sending seeds in wax paper packets inside of regular paper packets!!! lol
these seeds werent even remotely moist
and a lot of other people have sent me seeds in little plastic baggies.. so those are safe, as well
i've taken all of the seed packets that were wet, cut them open, and put the seeds into baby food jars, with the lids off .. so they will dry out, then will put the lids on... i've decided that this will be my new method of seed storage... to prevent this sort of dumb thing from happening again :)
Don't think of it as 'dumb' but rather as an unplanned learning experience :-)
Oooo, rikerbear, that's a good one! We have those all the time at work when someone pushes the wrong button on one of the computers or office machines, LOL. We also get a lot of "unplanned maintenance experiences" when the touchy little devils decide to take offense.
miss_kitty, hope your seeds are o.k., they should be.
I also did a dumb thing this year. Back in January I joined the Appalachian Heirloom Seed Conservancy at which time I was sent some heirloom seed, one of which was a tomato called 'Super Choice'. I was looking forward to growing these, as they came from my area of KY.
When I started tomato plants a couple of weeks ago these seeds were nowhere to be found. I too, keep my seeds in one box so as not to lose them, so I have no idea what happened to them. :o( Maybe I shipped them out in a trade by mistake? or what?
Hopefully someone at our fall meeting will be able to replace them for me.
This message was edited Mar 9, 2004 8:15 PM
This message was edited Mar 9, 2004 8:15 PM
i'll join the list. i usually have plastic cups i collect my seeds into. well i forgot those cups were light and next windy day....cups all over the garage and driveway. lesson learned...so now i stack the cups. good idea, until my dh moved them, not having experienced the wind devastation of seeds, the yellow scabiosa seeds i had collected all season where gone.................i still have a few packets, but.......now i just have to not kick them over when i put them down while i collect.
i'm a clutz to boot, but mother nature is generous, thank goodness.