seeds How do you keep records of your seeds?

TheFanMan · Dec 20, 2012

As its not to hard to keep track of a seed collection of say 10 or 20 variaties this is mostly a question for those of you who grow lots of different peppers from lots of different sources.

how do you keep records of what seeds you have? from who? from when? how many left?

excel sheet? some form of data base? web site?

dragon49 · Dec 20, 2012

I've got a spreadsheet with my seed list. It only has the varieties.

I label my ziplocks with this information:

Type of seed
Source - Either Commercial Vendor, The name of the person I traded with, or from my Plants
Year purchased, Traded for or Picked
If Known to be open pollinated - I add "OP" to the label

I don't keep track of how many seeds of each type I have, but it is a good idea and I may implement it.

Trippa · Dec 20, 2012

Memory , original packaging and envelopes they arrive in ... that is all. I probably should start being a little more careful of seed ages but I only trade seeds from pods I have grown so I know they are fresh for others.
I don't have a huge collection though maybe 40-50-60 different kinds. Probably should have a count up

ThePepperManiac · Dec 20, 2012

i keep them all in a binder in little coiun envelopes and logged into my computer they are labeled number wise.. the envelope and in the computer say what it is, how many seeds are in the envelope, when i put them in the envelope, person traded with, and species name. i keep them all together and consider them "op" unless i bought them or know i got it from a isolated crop. then it goes into a different section of the binder.

gasificada · Dec 20, 2012

Trippa said:
Memory , original packaging and envelopes they arrive in ... that is all.

Yup, yup. With the addition of I've started writing the year I got the seeds on the envelope. Evidently we keep things simple up here.

slpknt10l03 · Dec 20, 2012

I store my seeds in these:

I label my seeds like this:

and I plan my garden in excel (openoffice) like this:

dragon49 · Dec 20, 2012

slpknt10l03 defines the word "organized!"

WOW

BadPants · Dec 20, 2012

I am keeping a spreadsheet. I just made it this fall and did not put in allot of information that I should have. This will be resolved in my next version next fall.

ajijoe · Dec 20, 2012

i have a photgraphic memory and remmeber what i have,it seems that if it something i love it becomes a part of me
also if need be i can look at my sales list

thanks your friend Joe

cmpman1974 · Dec 20, 2012

I am similar to Joe.

It's in my head.

Chris

TheFanMan · Dec 21, 2012

cmpman1974 said:
I am similar to Joe. It's in my head.

Chris

Bugger, with your massive collection i was hoping you were going to chime in with some elaborate state of the art method that made all the other methods look obsolete.
oh well, suppose you can't help it if your just that smart.

meatfreak · Dec 21, 2012

I keep them in the original zipbag and have it all written down in a spreadsheet which contains, Name, Source, Variety (Annuum, etc.), Year the seeds are from and how many seeds I still have. All the bags are in 1 big container but seperated through Variety in bigger bags. Works good enough for me. And before I start the new season I do the same thing as slpknt10l03, I draw a map of where I want the plants.

georgej · Dec 21, 2012

I like to remove the scalps of my enemies and use them like note paper by tattooing them with a safety pin and ball Point pen ink

ajijoe · Dec 21, 2012

georgej said:
I like to remove the scalps of my enemies and use them like note paper by tattooing them with a safety pin and ball Point pen ink

i try to make it a point of not telling people everything that im thinking , it works well for me LOL

georgej · Dec 21, 2012

Needless to say, it didn't go down well when I was at school

haha

PIC 1 · Dec 21, 2012

Thrown in a shoebox with my 1960's baseball cards......... :eek:

............just kiddin

I use to take advantage of 35mm film containers.........the 1st batch from Kodak were made out of metal...occasionally the threws would bind if dented. Then I switched to using Ilford film back in the 70's so I had tons of containers, they were clear plastic with pop tops and made it easy to see all kinds of goodies inside. I switched to using the black Kodak containers when a better gen of film became available but the more seeds I collected the more space they occupied. Nowadays they stay in the zippy's. I can see whats left and the white strip on the pack makes it easy to label. The packs are kept in plastic sheets used to store 3R size photos and the notebooks is kept in a cool corner of the sub-basement. In the past I'd store the gear in the fridge but the food and beer now take presidence......

Greg

Wulf · Dec 21, 2012

I have a bunch of stacked plastic cups, with the seeds in the bottom sandwiched in by the cup above it. Marker on the outside of the cup to say what it is (....or, uh, a crappily drawn picture of the pepper they came from for a few that I didn't know).

There are flaws with the method, but it's relatively space efficient. As long as you don't knock them over.

Deity help you if you knock them over.

scratchzilla · Dec 21, 2012

Paper envelopes stuffed in a large ziplock bag. I don't have much of a collection right now so I don't need much organizing.

WalkGood · Dec 21, 2012

PIC 1 said:
Thrown in a shoebox with my 1960's baseball cards......... ............just kiddin

I use to take advantage of 35mm film containers.........the 1st batch from Kodak were made out of metal...occasionally the threws would bind if dented. Then I switched to using Ilford film back in the 70's so I had tons of containers, they were clear plastic with pop tops and made it easy to see all kinds of goodies inside. I switched to using the black Kodak containers when a better gen of film became available but the more seeds I collected the more space they occupied. Nowadays they stay in the zippy's. I can see whats left and the white strip on the pack makes it easy to label. The packs are kept in plastic sheets used to store 3R size photos and the notebooks is kept in a cool corner of the sub-basement. In the past I'd store the gear in the fridge but the food and beer now take presidence......

Greg

I do the same w/film canisters and also keep an Excel inventory of seeds, seperate sheet for dates of when planted and what I do to them, memory isn't what it use to be :rolleyes:

TheFanMan · Dec 21, 2012

PIC 1 said:
Thrown in a shoebox with my 1960's baseball cards......... ............just kiddin

I use to take advantage of 35mm film containers.........the 1st batch from Kodak were made out of metal...occasionally the threws would bind if dented. Then I switched to using Ilford film back in the 70's so I had tons of containers, they were clear plastic with pop tops and made it easy to see all kinds of goodies inside. I switched to using the black Kodak containers when a better gen of film became available but the more seeds I collected the more space they occupied. Nowadays they stay in the zippy's. I can see whats left and the white strip on the pack makes it easy to label. The packs are kept in plastic sheets used to store 3R size photos and the notebooks is kept in a cool corner of the sub-basement. In the past I'd store the gear in the fridge but the food and beer now take presidence......

Greg

Wulf said:
I have a bunch of stacked plastic cups, with the seeds in the bottom sandwiched in by the cup above it. Marker on the outside of the cup to say what it is (....or, uh, a crappily drawn picture of the pepper they came from for a few that I didn't know).

There are flaws with the method, but it's relatively space efficient. As long as you don't knock them over.

Deity help you if you knock them over.

scratchzilla said:
Paper envelopes stuffed in a large ziplock bag. I don't have much of a collection right now so I don't need much organizing.

nice ideas guys but the question is how do you keep your records of what seeds you have, not how you keep the seeds.