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Post by paulf on Dec 16, 2022 17:08:20 GMT -5
Cold and windy day has got me sitting and thinking...dangerous all around. My seed sorting system needs to be done differently. I have a whole bunch of tomato varieties and some peppers. My system is putting seeds into 35mm photo film containers with the variety, color, shape, source and year acquired on a label on the container. Several of those nuts, bolts, screw organizers with pull out bins contain the variety with the name of the variety written on the drawer. Right now everything is arranged alphabetically for the most part with a couple of my sons' old hot cars storage plastic things that look like a clear two sided suitcases with dividers. I began my seed saving effort with those cases but soon outgrew the thirty slots per side. They may have to be used for something besides tomato seeds. My thought while trying to drift off to sleep this afternoon was to separate varieties by round red, round pink, round yellow/orange, blacks, red hearts, pink hearts, all other hearts, cherries, and then miscellaneous. For each of the divisions alphabetize them. Somehow I need to get the year acquired or saved in there but have not figured that our yet. I do have a master list on the computer with number of seeds available for each variety and the year. That may be enough to satisfy that aspect. With ninety fewer varieties after the seed share maybe this will get easier. So how does everyone store and sort seeds and keep track of what you have for easy access? Yes, goofiness abounds for this old retired gardener when the snow flies and I wish I were outside doing something. a photo of my system
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Dec 16, 2022 19:30:43 GMT -5
Nice, paulf! I have a couple of 3" 3-ring binders with those card protectors (for trading cards) in them. Like this: www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Sleeve-Protectors-Binder-Sheet/dp/B07PD7KBN5/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=trading+card+protectors&qid=1671236031&s=office-products&sr=1-8 but mine are a different brand bought locally. Each of the 9 slots are big enough to fit paper coin envelopes and the small ziploc baggies I use for seeds. Being transparent, the labels on the seed envelopes show through. Larger commercial seed packets generally fit if folded in half or into thirds. There is nearly always some way to fold a pack so that the variety name is in front, visible through the protector. One binder has all of the solanums, with a section for each category: eggplants, peppers, tomatoes (the tomato section takes up most of the binder), and miscellaneous solanum family edibles (tomatillos, ground cherries, etc.). The other binder has most of the other veggies and fruits, as well as my small collection of herb and flower seeds. I have a separate herb section, flower section, and veggie section within the binder. Within each section, everything is organized alphabetically. I.e., broccoli before cabbage before carrots, etc. Within each vegetable (or flower or herb) type, varieties are listed alphabetically. This works fine for most veggies, since in most cases I only have a few varieties of each. But like Paul said, I have pondered breaking up the tomatoes into sub-categories. So far I haven't done that yet, partly because I haven't decided how. By color? By size/type (i.e., cherries, saladettes, pastes, hearts, beefsteaks, etc.)? What my system does not work for is veggies with bulky/round seeds - peas, beans, corn, and so forth. I keep those in a small plastic bin that is narrow and long. The bin is shaped and sized right for laying commercial seed packs down sideways, so I can flip through them like pages in a book - even if I do have to read them sideways. For the few veggies that I have a LOT of bulky seeds, I keep those in assorted jars...I really need a better system for those. The binders and bin live on a bookshelf. Since I keep my house climate controlled all year, they keep pretty well despite not being in the refrigerator or freezer.
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Post by september on Dec 17, 2022 13:49:14 GMT -5
I use shallow plastic storage bins with lids that can accommodate two rows of legal sized letter envelopes side by side. There is a strip of cardboard down the middle to keep the two sides from sliding into each other. I now have three bins worth. I have notes on the outside of the envelope indicating source and years collected. All seeds, including commercial packets are kept together in one big envelope. I often save seeds from several small batches in one season, and I do not mix them, so each batch is in a small plastic baggy or coin envelope inside the big white envelope, and batches from one year are labeled a,b,c,d,etc. When I use seeds, I try to remember to write on the envelope which batch I used from to keep track of successive F#s of the seed during my use, and also in case they do not grow true to type. Since I don't discard old seeds, some varieties have expanded into two or more envelopes. I also note on the envelope when I mail seeds to someone, and from which batch. I do have a computer database list which I print out to keep for quick reference, but have not updated information the last couple of years. The envelopes for the current planting year, are pulled and stored in a separate plastic shoe box. After the season, new dried seeds can be added and noted on the envelope before it is returned to the main file. The closed boxes are kept in my basement, usually around 65-70F year round. I have few problems germinating really old seeds, sometimes it may take 5-10 days longer than the new ones. Very often I have started another batch at 10 days only to have the oldies start popping nicely.
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