Seed sorting for 2024

@Adam I I can sort you out with Rosella Cherry, Latah and some micro dwarves. PM me. K

 

New arrivals yesterday. Plus a bonus freebie pack of a fancy schmancy named Cosmic Eclipse.

 

10% off vegetable seeds at Premier Seeds. Last day today. Code VEG10 .

Vegetables Seeds - All Varieties - Premier Seeds Direct

 

My seeds arrived from the USA, in just over a week. Very compact/minimalist on packaging and the seeds will need to be cut out and re-bagged. The seller is called A Delectation of Tomatoes and is based in Utah.

 

Hi @eatenbyweasels did they actually say 'seeds' on the customs declaration on the packet? If so, it would suggest that the small package rules I've seen mentioned on US sites applies even to export to UK

 

Nope. Nothing declared on the envelope.

 

Ah so it looks like packaging them in that minimal way allows it to go as a letter, and probably less subject to scrutiny. I wonder if other sellers use the same technique?

 

I've heard that some international sellers declare their seeds as crafting items, particularly beans. Or they'll pack them in a greeting card which is thick enough to disguise the seeds taped inside.

 

Just dont try getting seed potatoes into an envelope.

 

You can always do potatoes from true seed like tomatoes

Here is a list of up to date regulations:
Import plants and plant products from non-EU countries to Great Britain

Perhaps skip to the "unregulated" bit.

Im unsure why some plants arent on there, I think there is a more full list but its less up to date, might be the 2023 one. Others are confusing: Avocados are regulated, perhaps there is some common pest on them that affects other crops. That said, the obvious ones ARE on there: Its illegal to import all commercial nightshades without a certificate...
But that only matters if you get caught
Imo if you are careful its fine. If you are growing a large number it may be worth while acid treating seeds for some virii which are going about, such as brown rugose virus. RealSeeds has a method you can do at home on their side bar. I think you can also use bleach.

 

I tried potatoes from seed a long time ago, waste of time.

 

Blame the weather not the spud

 

I seem to remember one small tuber per plant.

 

You should get more than that but the first year would be a bit less than if you started with tubers, the idea is you then use the tubers from the best plants the previous year for year 2. If you only got one spud though that seems like a bad cultivar to begin with.

Its not as productive, you need some space set aside for breeding, but if people did this from day 1 europe wouldnt be in a permanent blight apocalypse turns out cloning plants indefinitely for hundreds of years makes them rather fragile to disease: cavendish bananas and the previous cultivars that went commercially down the drain are currently having this problem. Garlic is biennial so people clone that too, most cultivars are so inbred the seeds are only 1% fertile, but this rapidly recovers in subsequent generations. Difficult for gardeners without space though

In some other crops theyve actually been, accidentally, selecting for a gene called Cytoplasmic Male Sterility, which stops them from being able to reliably breed at all: extremely short sighted. Many hybrid crops are genetic deadends for this reason.

 

Nothing new to be honest, but growing everything from seed each year is not viable, we have certain varieties for reasons, they crop uniformly and better and you know what you will get.

Seed growing is never going to replace some plants/crops which are traditionally grown from clones.
F1 seed is very expensive and open pollinated seed is unreliable.
Lots of research going on all the time to produce new varieties via seed.
But when it comes to growing on it has to be cloning.