SRGC Seed Exchange 2016-17 No. 70

[Vincent]

Dear Maggi,
Thank you for your quick answer. I should've known please excuse my impatience. It's just that I am often surprised at how quick things arrive from various parts of europe, so kind of got used to not having to be patient

[johnw]

Exactly fours days in the post from Scotland to Halifax.  Not bad considering most post flies into Toronto and is then trucked to Halifax, a good 17 hour drive in good weather.


While it might be mild in Toronto and Halifax in winter one must always consider what weather that truck will be driving through in between - Z5 to Z3 - when sending tender plants!


john

[GordonT]

Seeds arrived in today's post. Thank you to the volunteers, and an appreciative shout out, to VH, for sending "Best wishes to Nova Scotia" along with the seeds, an unexpected kindness!

[Lesley Cox]

I know Vincent, that it's hard to wait when so much treasure is expected but think about what it's like here. Fermi in Oz had his yesterday so mine in NZ will probably be another week, having been diverted to inspectors at the border, when they arrived which I'm sure they will have by now. The seed pots are lined up and ready to receive the seeds, a bunch of labels and a pen ready to have the names written, my notebook ready on a new page to record what was sown. And today at last, a fortnight of appalling weather has come to an end. The window blew out of my potting shed and even with a temporary plastic sheet over the hole, it's too cold and windy in there to work - in mid summer! Little wind today and also some sun so when the seeds arrive they'll be sown right away.

[Gabriela]

Seeds arrived here today as well; many thanks to all involved!

[Leena]

Surplus seeds are here, for some reason several days faster than the first letter.
Thank you so much!! Now there is a lot to wait for this spring, it helps through the winter.

[joost]

Seeds arrived today, thanks a lot to all involved!

[Cfred72]

Ours have also arrived today. All labels are ready. I started to rehydrate what it takes. Thank you.

[Vincent]

My seeds have arrived, thank you very much to everybody involved!

[Parsla]

An emphatic thank you to Carolyn and all the seed volunteers. My little brown paper envelope arrived last night, and some lovely treasures within.
Jacqui.

[Lesley Cox]

My seeds have arrived today too, in spite of having been to MPI and passed inspection.I think the fact of their being named on the packets has made a difference to the time taken for inspection and I too appreciate this naming especially as I almost always mislay my seedlist.

I didn't donate seed in 2016 yet still received all but 2 of my 16 first choices and an extra as well. Warm thanks to donors, packers and distributers and everyone else involved. Will definitely donate this coming season and in fact I already have some seeds cleaned and packaged and stored in the fridge.

[Cfred72]

Lesley,
It is a good initiative to collect for the next donation. This year I sent too. It was the first time that I participated in a seed exchange of "my story in the garden". This year, I will do it sooner to collect. There are always seeds that seem too simple for us, which for others, in other countries or continents, have an attraction.
I also did not receive all the choices I had requested. However, I was filled in the amount of others that arrived. The demand was stronger than the initial donation. Less, that's what I imagine. Hence the importance of sending enough seeds when participating in the donation of seeds.

[Carolyn]

Good idea to think about collecting seeds from early in the season. When we were sending the seeds out to the packers, I was quite shocked by the large numbers of seeds represented by just one donation. This means that if, for example, the person who was the sole donor for several narcissus did not donate, then we would not be able to offer those seeds at all. I noticed this particularly for narcissus, iris and crocus. I'm sure it was also the case for many other seeds. So the message to everyone should be to collect seeds all season, don't just think "oh, someone else will have donated that".

[Leena]

Carolyn, what do you think should be done with seeds like Corydalis (and some others like that), which ripen early in the summer. If they are kept dry until January, the germination will be very poor, but if I pack them with vermiculite, how will it be for packers over there? Too difficult to pack again in smaller bags, and also the paper bag is not good for moist vermiculite.

[Carolyn]

Leena,
We have found that we cannot deal with damp-packed seeds, unfortunately. It's just too complicated.
I don't know whether dried corydalis seeds would respond to GA3? In Deno's seed book, he states that most eranthis seed from seedexes is already dead. I got some from last year's seedex because a friend gave me some GA3 to try. I have had a good germination from this. Perhaps corydalis, being another woodland ephemeral, would respond in the same way? Maybe there is someone out there with some stored corydalis seeds and some GA3 who would like to experiment for us? (Unfortunately I have neither corydalis seeds nor GA3 at the moment) Has anyone else tried this?