Suggestion for PDB - Dave?

To tag onto dstartz question/suggestion, what would be nice (and maybe a good compromise to the ideas proposed here) would be to have a main genus entry, developed by an "Uber" or editor. It would give general information about the entire genus and could include pictures of seeds, and perhaps other common details (leaf form, etc.) Beneath the writeup could then be links to all the species entries.

When you click on the genus (generic) name hyperlink, you would be taken to this entry and from there you could choose a specific entry or read the general description.

sounds good to me!

That would be wonderful!! Please, Dave, may we keep the idea? (How do you make puppy dog eyes on this thing?!?)

I know I'm pushing my luck here, but couldn't some general propagation info such as T. Clothier be included there?

It's not pushing if you're offering to do the work ;o)

Terry...in regards to your post Sep 27, 2004 11:22 AM

BRAVO!!! Some of the entries have so many different pages it's difficult to find ANY pictures!

~julie~

must be the time zone thing or my muscle relaxants are kicking in. I see a 9:22 from Terry.

Time is always displayed in your local time zone.

I know, I was making a joke, because their time was different, lol!

Oooops! :-)

Well..."Bravo" anyway. ;-)
~julie~

Once a decision is made, I'll be glad to help any way I can, Terry, propagation information or otherwise.

Please accept my apologies for stepping in here, but would like to express my humble opinion. I have been gardening since I was wee, and only in the past recent years have started collecting my own seeds. My largest dilemna is where to find the seeds if they are not obvious, and I have been searching for a reliable resource ever since. The seed site stopped my heart until I realized there were very few plants I needed information on.

I am an amateur web master, but I do have an appreciation for the volumes of work that would be required, regardless of how, if, where a seed data base would be added. Perhaps that is simply why it does not exist already. If Dave's Garden added this feature to its data base? Wow. Double wow. Would this be the only one in the world?

Adding another forum strictly for seed information would be simpler, while adding the photo options to the existing plant data base would be more logical and preferable. In either case, if this feature were to be added, could be added, you would receive blessings from so many gardeners, I am positive, as well as volunteers to help in ANY way. Count me as one if needed.

I am wondering if Dave would be willing to do it as one of the poll items that we are allowed to vote on to see how much interest there is in doing it.

My favorite would be to have a new database just for seeds and pods and where to find on the plant etc.

I do understand how much work this entails and am not sure there is really enough interest to make it something that Dave should give merit to.

I would be glad to volunteer to work on it even though I don't have web master experience, I do have fairly decent input skills.

I do believe other than the info that you can pick up on the state databases that show you pictures of the seed itself that it would be the one and only in existence. I have done a lot of searching and other than the uk one that is no longer updated, it is very his and miss as far as the info that can be found.

In the last few years I've become quite a seed collector... it's an addiction, you know. I'm so grateful to the friends who first showed me where to look for the seeds on some of my plants. I was so excited this year to find the seed pods for trailing lobelia! I'd be happy to share any of my information or any of my pictures, should something evolve.

Weez, I always look forward to seeing your posts. I don't know what I would do if I had not discovered DG. So much to learn, but then I hope I never stop learning!!

P.S. Where ARE lobelia seeds????

You are right! Seed saving can be addictive! I go out at least TWICE a day looking for 4 O'Clock seeds. I've probably harvested over 400 of them this year already - and they are large seeds! I can't help myself! It's fun!

The seed pod of Lobelia erinus forms behind the dead bloom. It becomes enlarged and a bit lumpy looking when still green. As it dries, it becomes papery thin and dryish. White lobelias seeds tend to be light colored. The pods are quite small, and the seeds are really tiny. I crushed the dry pods and ran them through a sieve. In warmer climes, perhaps one could just paper bag the stems and give the ripe pods a shake or two.

I do the paper bag thing alot, and have learned that from there, dumping them on a paper plate and getting the hose from a vacuum cleaner helps get out the chaff (only for certain types of hard seeds, not soft chaffy seeds like daisies or marigolds).

Yes, I saw that suggestion on another thread... probably your post. It would probably be better than the way I do it... blowing on them. I wear and eat more chaff than a hairy dog. Unfortunately, I seem to collect seeds that are little more than dust. Some have to be run through a tea ball to extract them from the chaff, and sometimes you just have to plant chaff and all and trust they are in there! Many of these seeds are best planted with a bit of medium course sand to get them evenly distributed.

Laughing here, I can just see it. After an evening of seeding I am covered with chaff. (Thank you, could not for the life of me think of that word earlier!) Vacuum??? Really? Gee. Might try that but I own a super sucker. Won't that, uh, suck up the seeds too? Start at a distance and work closer? I collected curry seeds one year, planted them the next year and got absolutely zero. Lost the plant this year, sniff. I thought I would do some checking before I spent any more time collecting plant parts that really aren't seeds after all.

Yes, I start at a distance and work my way to the plate slowly. I get what I can, jiggle the plate some more, to get the chaff to rise to the top, keep repeating until it's all seeds. I tried this with Amaranth about a week or so ago and it worked great. Amaranth are small black seeds about the same size as the chaff I was trying to sift, but since the chaff weighed less, it worked like a charm.

Maybe we should jump over to the saving seed forum. I was sorting my Aramanth and spilled everything on the rug, which led to a wonderful new way to sort seed!

Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lotta luck on that forum, getting answers, lol! Maybe not enough people know it's there???

Karrie, I'll make a point of checking there more often... especially this time of year.

yes, if you have pics/info, you could help!

Also, add them to the PDB with the other pics

Karrie

I've already added some, but will add more.

I am currently taking pictures of all the seeds I run across, as long as they aren't miniscule, as well as the pods or pod location. Maybe, until it is decided if this a separate location is a viable efffort, we could simply post pictures and seeds comments in the PDB?

Yes, I've been putting any photos of seeds, seed pods etc in the PDB ladyanne. They certainly belong there, even if at a later date there is another dedicated database, as all information helps to build up an overall picture of a plant, I think

That's my feeling, too, Phil. Once the photos are on the PDB, Admin should be able to copy them over if we do get some sort of seed I.D. thing going.

Yes, there is also the opportunity to add any comments to each plant, so seed sowing and germination details (that aren't already covered in the tick boxes) would be welcome there I imagine :)

It seems I have seen some places available in the Botany section, as well... such as types of seeds, etc.

Ah, I'll check that out, thanks

I know there are terms for different kinds of seeds, and we can post pics. That might be an option