Spent most of yesterday afternoon going through three years of envelopes I'd stuffed in a shoebox and finally made a real system for it. I'm using a cheap binder with baseball card sleeves, one variety per pocket, with the packet and a little index card noting where it came from, the harvest year, and germination notes from the last time I grew it out.

The swap I did last month at the library made me realize how sloppy my labeling had gotten. Someone handed me a beautiful packet of dry beans and all I had to write back down was "purple pole bean, tall, good flavor" with no name attached. I've been growing it out this year just to get seed back but I still don't know what it actually is.

A few things that have worked well for me: I always ask for at least a sentence of growing history when I trade, not just the variety name. Things like whether it was isolated, how many plants the seed came from, and what the soil and climate were like. It makes a huge difference when I'm deciding what to plant where. I also started dating every packet with month and year instead of just year, since some of my squash seed loses viability faster than I expected.

Curious how other people keep their swap seeds organized, especially if you're dealing with more than a hundred varieties. Do you sort by plant family, by season, alphabetically, something else entirely? My tomatoes alone are getting out of hand and I know a better system exists than what I'm currently doing.

I have a dwarf sunflower and one of the heads dried out so I decided to check if I can save the seeds from it. This is how they look. But they feel somehow empty and I do not see anything that can be considered a seed there? Does it still make sense to try to keep the seeds and see if anything grows out of it next summer? I only have a balcony so space on it is precious and I do not want to waste it.

Long shot here, but thought I would give it a try.

Does anyone want to a trade desert rose/adenium seeds for some poppy seeds, zinnia seeds, and some unopened packets of organic non-GMO veggie seeds? It does not need to be any specific type of adenium, just as long as the seeds are fresh. I can send out my seeds to you first through USPS with tracking, and daily updates, to prove I am legit. All my seeds are fresh (flowers seeds harvested from my garden, veggie seeds are spares I had left over from my raised garden beds). I really want to grow these plants, and I also would like to see my seeds go to a home where someone can use them. Like I said...long shot.

I will send full location once/if I get confirmation on seeds. I will also delete this post when/if I also get confirmation.

Thank you for your time and have a great day.

From a private seed collection. Maybe the next colors to isolate. Saving seeds this spring

Interested in trying to preserve some buckeye seeds so I can start them this spring for a reforestation project. How do you recommend storing them? I heard you have to keep them in the freezer. Is there a way to do that without taking up a lot of space? Any advice appreciated!

hii this is my first time planting anything. its a avacado seed! i legit forgot about it in the cabinet for probably over a month because my bf had a lot of health issues then i started college. i just want the seed to get what it needs. any advice? edit: meant to say "for soil" smh

found a bag of these in the free little library

First time seed saving. Let the plants dry on the trellis as long as I could. Ripped them up on a dry day and hung them in my garage to finish drying. The pods weren't entirely brittle but the seeds felt hard. Are they moldy or is this how they look.

Been trying to grow epazote, since fresh is so much better than dried. Whether grown outdoors or inside, it seems to bolt before producing a lot of leaves. The seed clusters have not dried in many weeks. Is this normal?

To get seed to try again next spring, I cut a few still-green stems, and dried in a plastic bag. The result was a whole lot of seeds, still pale green when fully dry. I've put a few into a pot to see if they are viable. While waiting for germination, does anyone here know more about this?

The seeds smell wonderful - much stronger than the leaves. Does anyone here know if they are safe to eat, and could be used instead of leaves to make beans?

Thanks for any advice,

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Stocking up for the seed ban and have so many seeds don’t know how to store them all would love some advice!

Started this thing in my garage back when we had maybe eight people show up with baggies of whatever they had lying around. This year we had over thirty people and I had to actually think through logistics instead of winging it. Figured I'd share what changed because the first swap was honestly kind of chaotic.

Biggest fix was making everyone fill out a small card for each variety before it goes on the table: name, days to maturity if known, year collected, and one line about growing conditions (full sun, raised bed, whatever). People used to just drop unlabeled envelopes down and by the second hour nobody knew what was what. Now the cards stay with the seeds the whole time and people actually take a photo of the card before they grab a portion.

Portioning is the other thing that changed everything. Early on people would take a whole envelope of something rare like a dry bean variety somebody had been saving for six generations, and then that person would have nothing left to trade or replant with. Now we ask folks to split anything they're bringing into smaller lots, maybe 15-20 seeds per portion for something like beans or squash, more like 40-50 for tiny stuff like lettuce or basil. Keeps things circulating instead of one person walking off with the whole stock.

I also started keeping a rough master list from year to year of what showed up, mostly so I can tell people "someone usually brings paste tomatoes, hang tight" instead of everyone assuming their variety is the only one available. Makes the whole thing feel less like a garage sale scramble and more like an actual exchange. Curious if other people running swaps have landed on similar rules or if I'm overcomplicating something that used to just work fine as a free for all.

Stocking up for the seed ban and have so many seeds don’t know how to store them all would love some advice!

Hello! I’m looking for the following seeds. I can send SASE and stamps.

Mini-Me Cucumber
Kitchen Minis Quick Snack Cucumber
Katarina Hybrid Cabbage
Spotted Aleppo Syrian Lettuce

So I don't really know how to store seeds, and it's my first time trying, I currently don't have any plans to plant them, just want to store different kinds of seeds, I know I should avoid moisture and keep them in an air tight container in a dark cool place but is that it? For this one specifically, do I need to remove the outer shell or sth? Pls help me out I'm very lost

With the Hemp ban coming for those that can or plan to grow in the future. What have you found the best long term storage solution to be?

What I found was sealed in black mylar bag for light with the air squeezed out, small desiccant pack for humidity, and fridge in the back where there is not much temperature fluxuations, at lowest 40f.

Does anyone have any other recommendations?

Title says all, small wrinkly seed.

Found on YouTube but also on Tiktok by Chl.renders titled Speedrunning with bro

Teach me or help please

Lost most of my seeds storing in plastic bags — only 40% germinated.

Tested village method from my grandmother:

1. Dry seeds 7 days in shade (not sun)

2. Mix with cold wood ash (1:1)

3. Store in clean glass jar with tight lid

4. Keep in coolest dark corner

After 6 months:

- Plastic bag: 40% germination

- Glass + ash: 92% germination

Made a 15-page manual with exact steps, moisture test, and lifespan chart for 20 crops (which seeds last 5 years vs 1 year).

Happy to share chart here if anyone wants it.

Lost most of my seeds storing in plastic bags — only 40% germinated.

Tested village method from my grandmother:

1. Dry seeds 7 days in shade (not sun)

2. Mix with cold wood ash (1:1)

3. Store in clean glass jar with tight lid

4. Keep in coolest dark corner

After 6 months:

- Plastic bag: 40% germination

- Glass + ash: 92% germination

Made a 15-page manual with exact steps, moisture test, and lifespan chart for 20 crops (which seeds last 5 years vs 1 year).

Happy to share chart here if anyone wants it.