The 2011 NARGS Seed Exchange

[Beatty]

I wondered too about versions of adobe and downloaded the latest greatest from their site but nothing seemed to work.  Then I upgraded my elements 7 to 10 and on there it said to click here for adobe 10.1 and despite downloading from the adobe site I clicked it.  You got it - the seed list finally worked for me!!!  Of course I have already ordered my seed on that oh so slick system.  That worked really well and I think everything one could think of was thought of - it was amazing.  I honestly think this team put a lot of thought into it to make it a great experience but the truth is everyone has a different system and versions and............  Thank you all so much for all you did and the fact that you stuck with it until it worked.  I appreciated the timing of it too - just before Christmas when you have so many personal commitments.  Hope you're all enjoying it :-) 

[Hugh MacMillan]

I had the opportunity to beta test this ordering system and must say I love the elegance of the process.  My hat off to Chris.  As an IT professional and past web master, it is a huge relief to see that our web is in capable hands.

[Lori S.]

I just got my seeds today and I'm rubbing my hands in glee!  Tibetia tongolensis, Pulsatilla aurea, Allium cratericola, Penstemon nanus, Callianthemum anemonoides, Onosma albo-roseum, Thalictrum tuberosum... yahoo!!

[IMYoung]

Excitement in Aberdeen today as my NARGS seed arrived..... posted  in Pipersville PA on January 25th... delivered in N.E. Scotland on 3rd February... pretty good, huh!??

This is my first NARGS seed in a long time .... don't know how long you folks have been putting those great printed labels on the seed packets, but they are really smart.  No struggling with smudged stamped numbers or awful handwriting... all crystal clear and so much easier to prepare for labelling the seed pots when sowing.
There is resistence to providing these for the SRGC exchange and I cannot understand why.    Seems a no-brainer to me! So much simpler for the folks with import regs to get the packets named properly too.

Well done NARGS!! 

[Booker]

Ditto Maggi,
My superb selection arrived this morning.  Many, many, MANY thanks to all concerned.

[Lori S.]

Oops, in my excitement, I forgot to give thanks to all who make the seedex possible!  Thank you all for your tremendous efforts at collecting a virtual mountain of seed donations, then all the checking, repackaging, labelling, sorting, juggling first and second choices, mailing, and the hundred other steps I don't even know about  - I can't even imagine how it all comes together!  It is so wonderful that membership gives one access to such an absolutely tremendous benefit!  

[RickR]

As a seed packer for many years, with both the old stamp method and the new labels, I have to say unequivocally, that labels make the process faster, more accurate and more efficient.

A predetermined number of labels for each offering is printed in advance, before the actual seed packing is done.  I can't tell you what the actual methodology is, but that number is (mostly?) based on the number of requests for each particular offering in the past.  This is absolutely wonderful!  No more guessing how many packets to make: if there are only 10 labels, there is no need to make 25 packets.  

And this way, excess seed is not automatically wasted.  If there are lots of seeds for a 10 label item, I might still make 12 packets.  (We can always hand write more, at our discretion.)  The twelve packets then get the seed divided up, lets say 30 seeds per packet.  This, as opposed to the old method, where we would have made many more packets with far less number of seeds per packet, and many of those would have gone unused!  Multiply all that extra, unnecessary time and work by....100?....1000?  You get the picture.  Members are happier when they get more seed in their orders, too.  

On the other hand, when there is relatively little seed of an offering, the labeling system still works in our best interest.  It will tell us (by how many labels are printed for the offering) how best to divide the available seed.  The minimum number of seeds per packet is five.  So, by knowing the number of packets that need to be made, we can adjust the number of seeds per packet to meet the demand.  That can mean that a packet only gets five seeds, but more people get their first choices!  (I will say that when I package seeds such as this, and some individual seed's viability is questionable, I don't count them as part of the "five", but I do include them in the packet.)

Parenthetically, this is the first year that we are not keeping an "overage" packet, where excess seed is kept separately, in case there is a miscalculation that underestimated the number of prospective requests.  With that overage packet, we could then make more packets to fill orders when the labeled packages run out.  I am guessing that by now we have enough past data that makes the need for an overage packet unnecessary.   NARGS has used the printed labeling system since at least 2004.

It's win-win, all the way!  And a special thank you to everyone involved in making and tweaking the program that does all this. Your angels!

[IMYoung]

Rick, your comments are most interesting...... might I ask if you would be so kind as to repeat them in the SRGC Forum in reply to my post there? http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8102.msg229595#msg229595

 Thanks!
 
M

edited later to thank Rick for his post across in SRGC forum..   And to Laura S for her email.
Cheers!
M

[Hoy]

I have never been a seedpacker (just a backbacker ) but intuitively I assume that Rick is right!

However, my intention was to tell I got the seeds the other day and I am very satisfied! Thank you to everybody involved

(BTW, I got the SRGC seeds today )

[Lockwood]

My seed from the exchange arrived yesterday.

Thank you so very much to all involved.  Hope to be posting some photos of the offspring in the near future.

Julie

[Beatty]

Oh what an exciting day!  My husband checked the mailbox and we had naught.  A few hours later our neighbor came with an envelope - the mailman had put it in the wrong box :-)  Yes, my eagerly awaited seeds are here.  I'm just a beginner at seeds or any other form of propagation to be honest but my friend Valerie Melanson who's a nargs member has coached me along.  I'm going to have fun researching how to do the seeds and hopefully may have pictures of some in the future. 

I did get some from the SRGC and I'm proud to say I got two to germinate - a draba breweri and aster stracheyi.  I'm hoping a few more will co operate and encourage me :-)

Thank you to the Seed Team - I felt badly you had a rough start but you truly did an awesome job.

[Fermi]

Our seeds arrived on Friday  - after a short visit to AQIS (Aust Quarantine Insopection Service) 
3 withheld but 2 are now being released under their "old names" which are on the "accepted" list  ; Astragalus loanus unfortunately isn't
cheers
fermi

[Vaxvick]

Thank you to the seed packers!  I received my seeds today -- even more than I asked for!   Now to decide which of the three alternate germination procedures to try for the Erigeron Aureus!   May we all have such luck with our seeds as these researchers in Russia, who have grown a plant from a 30,000 year old seed! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/ice-age-plant-regenerated-after-30000-years-in-fossilized-squirrel-burrow/article2344028/

Linda in Calgary

[RickR]

Now to decide which of the three alternate germination procedures to try for the Erigeron Aureus!

Linda in Calgary

Lori grew this from seed last year.  See here for info:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=71.msg530#msg530

[Lori S.]

Great news, Linda, and welcome to the site!  I love seeing Erigeron aureus in the wild, definitely one of my favourites!
That's an amazing news story!