Seeds storage and CP update

Canada Post strike update: finally good news for today!
It has been announced that the dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will be under analysis by the Canada Industrial Relations Board. Because the parts involved are still very far apart in their negotiations, the postal workers could be ordered back to work soon.

Of course, there are huge backlogs that will need to be resolved first, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel. We will know more about this next week.

Many thanks to all who have placed orders after the strike began and are waiting patiently for a resolution!

Like every year, at this time I am sorting through the fruits/seeds collections and pack them in glassine envelopes before I introduce them in cold storage (0-4C).
Even for those who do not sell seeds or engage in seeds trading – it is always a good idea to keep a few back-up seeds from your most beloved plants! How you store your seeds is very important to ensure a long/good viability.

With the exceptions of hydrophilic species-seeds (which need moist storage) and few species with short viability, all other seeds need to dry up very well to ensure good viability and germination capacity (for a few years, depending on the species).
So, as mentioned with other occasions, newly collected fruits/seeds need to be kept in large paper envelopes, coffee filters, open trays or anything similar, for quite a while after collecting. For larger quantities, paper lunch bags work quite well; all of these stored in a well aerated room.
Thermopsis villosa seeds have just been cleaned and will be packed, the lunch bag is full with Liatris ligulistylis stems with seeds that will be processed shortly; Allium thunbergii ‘Ozawa’ seeds collected only last week! will need to dry up further.

We cannot control the humidity level as good as can be done in the Seeds Banks facilities, but for our practical purpose it is good enough if you follow the procedure described.

Only after the seeds are very well dried up, they can be packed further in glassine envelopes (preferably) and introduced in cold storage.

The glassine envelopes are placed in Ziploc freezer bags (kept in alphabetical order). As another safety measure against humidity, silica gel packs are added in the Ziploc bags and periodically controlled and replaced when necessary.

This is also a good time to look in detail at smaller collections and figure out if there are enough seeds to share. Those interested will notice in the Seed List a newly added Campanula persicifolia ‘Nitida Alba’, about which I will give a few clarifications early next week.

Plus, soon to be added: wild collected seeds of Campanula alpina (another great little Campanula species) and Pulsatilla alba.

Stay tuned for more good news….