seed exchanges

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Mon, 28 Mar 2016 10:16:56 PDT
I've worked on every phase of the NARGS seed exchange over the years and 
was the cataloger, or intake person, for three years in the mid-1990s, 
when it was a volunteer position (it's now a paid one). The "poor 
behavior" that bothers me is donors sending inappropriate material -- 
the "big packets of fluff" David mentions. The fluff is often climbing 
Clematis species! Now we're getting masses of Agastache. The database on 
which the cataloging is based does identify officially listed noxious 
weeds, but there are plenty of non-listed ones too.

The main behavioral failing I've noticed in bulb seed is inadequate 
cleaning. The recent newsletter of the AGS Fritillaria Group shows how 
much non-viable seed could be cleaned out of a batch of Fritillaria 
seed. In some groups of plants, donors simply don't identify what part 
is the seeds (noticed, e.g., in composites and Eriogonum).

The PBS Seedex doesn't require one to donate in order to request seeds 
or to get a larger share. Seedexes that give larger shares to donors 
sometimes induce members to donate worthless seeds in order to get donor 
status.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA

On 3/28/2016 8:14 AM, David Pilling wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 28/03/2016 04:34, Kathleen Sayce wrote:
>> I’ve worked on the sales and support side of annual seed exchanges 
>> since 2009.
> > This year, we’ve had numerous instances of poor behavior on the part 
> of participants
>
> I wonder in what way their behavior has been poor.
>
> The SRGC seed lists come with a commentary by the Seed Ex manager in 
> which they *sometimes* say what they don't like (big packets of 
> fluff). You can download here (bottom of the page):
>
> http://srgc.net/site/index.php/…
>
>




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