Seeds...

[Thos]

There has been so much talk about where to get good seeds, what not to buy, etc....Is there some rule against us starting our own little seed exchange within the group? I grow only non-hybrid varieties and seed that I harvest from my own garden. Any thoughts? I'm in Texas and would love to try some tomatoes from the UK, Europe, or anywhere else frankly outside the U.S.. Several years ago the wife and I brought back some roma tomato seeds from New Zealand and those babies were huge! Should have saved some of those seeds for sure. In addition, I have 3 bay trees, two of which are over 15 feet tall, and one that is about 8 feet. The largest has a base trunk caliper of well over 12 inches. HUNDREDS of bay leaves! Anyone need fresh bay leaves? Let's chat about it. I'm sure that the inevitable "seed police" will pop up and argue about some law or something that should prohibit this behavior, but really.....they're seeds, and we're gardeners. Not like we're a group of veggie te**orists!

[Billy]

Some light reading for you ;O) SUMMARY OF PLANT PROTECTION REGULATIONS. Updated January 2008. Texas Department of Agriculture. Regulatory Division. P.O. Box 12847. Austin, Texas 78711 ...

[Thos]

Somehow, from previous posts I've read from you it isn't surprising that you would prove my point in my original post regarding the "seed police". I won't waste my time reading that crap. Where there's a will, there's a way. Boy, we wouldn't want to step outside the line now would we? Some little brownshirt might be hiding in the bushes to wag their little finger and say....."that is not allowed!" get a life...

[Ernie Willson]

Try the Yahoo "Seedmessenger" groups.

EJ in NJ

[Thos]

I'll check that out.

[Billy]

Aw, come on, I was just funnin' ya, as Lyndon used to like to say. At least we are still at the "Brown Shirt" stage, and haven't matriculated up to the "Black Shirts", yet.

If you want the best selection of seed, or if you're interested in the best ways of saving seeds, you may as well check out .

[Thos]

I have been and am a member of seedsavers. That is old news. You missed the whole point, but that isn't surprising. There are many redeeming factors about exchanging seeds with individuals. Establishing networks of real individual people with like minded goals is mutually rewarding, not to mention how seeds and plant varieties can move across the planet. I can't tell you how many times I've sent a self addressed, stamped envelope along with seeds to someone who has a mutual interest, and received seeds in return. I had a wonderful friend in Russia that sent tomato seeds in return for some habanero pepper seeds. Stated quite simply, it's fun and rewarding, plus, you make a friend...someone you can compare gardening successes and failures with through online correspondence and pictures. How terrible is that? I'm sure I'm violating some "rule" or "law", but if I lived my life being concerned about that, I would never leave my house for fear my government might take me away. I choose not to live like that.

[David Hare-Scott]

There are good reasons why carrying or sending vegetable matter over some borders is prohibited. I have no interest in transmitting noxious weeds or plant diseases no matter how much I might covert certain cultivars. I have this attitude not because I am a nazi or because I am too timid to step out of line but because there are already too many imported problems to deal with without adding more.

David

[Gary Woods]

Your loss... FWIW, the Seed Saver's Exchange yearbook has pages and pages of tomatoes... that alone is worth the membership fee.

(Lots of people have exchanged seeds in envelopes from distant lands without problems, he whispered conspiratorially).

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

[Ernie Willson]

Thos,

Normally I consider "Billy" to be quite over reactive. In this case I believe that his cautions are more reasonable. Bear in mind that dandelions were brought into the country by immigrants with a few packets of seed.

I'm not trying to put a damper on your zeal , or recreational activities, but hope you will use caution when importing seeds. As a start I'd suggest only swapping seeds with other US residents. At least, in this way you'd not be responsible for another invasion of Dandelion or other invasive species.

Good luck with your growing,

EJ in NJ

[Billy]

Dandelions are "great" plants. Food, soil conditioner, and medicine all rolled into one. Often they remediate human affronts to nature, like lawns.

[kate]

Dandelions - I wish I had more of them. I look at people who have loads of dandelions in their yards and think "Hmm, I bet they need them and don't know it." Dandelion leaf is a wonderful diuretic - a great heart medicine in that it contains loads of potassium, which most commercial diuretics leach out of the body. The root helps purify the liver and gallbladder. As I have so few, I pay for dandelion leaf and root for my elderly dog.

Plantago was also introduced by Europeans, also known as white man's footprint, as everywhere the white man walked, plantain grew. Yet it's a wonderful plant for treating bee stings, mosquito bites, splinters etc - I'm grateful for the invasion in my yard.

I know there are invasives that are foreign originally to any area in the world, but we've become such a globe trotting species that there's not much to be done about it, besides weeding, imo. Seeds are transported on shoes, clothing, dogs etc - so I guess my point is individuals trading seeds doesn't sound like something to worry about at this stage of our evolution. That ship has sailed.

Kate - imo, of course

[Suzanne D.]

I think that would be a cool idea. Of course, it would mean I'd actually have to start saving some of my seeds, but that would be good motivation to do it! (Hubby has been telling me I should do this for a while now.)

--S.

[Suzanne D.]

If you were to set it up as some official seed exchange, it might be going against some legalities. If, on the other hand, you set it up as a bunch of friends sharing seeds, what could they do? Is it illegal to give my neighbor some of my seeds? Is it illegal to mail some seeds to my mom in a different state, or even my friend in a different country?

--S.

[Suzanne D.]

Well, thank you to the immigrants for providing us with a source of free, highly nutritious food that grows without any care from me, makes my yard pretty, and makes a killer wine!

--S.

[Suzanne D.]

When my husband was collecting dandelions this spring for wine production, he was tempted to snap up the biggest, yellowest flowers. Then he realized that he should leave THOSE to seed and pass their big flower genes to the next crop!

--S.

[Gary Woods]

I re-read this original post, and the truth is that we _are_! At least, many of us are directly opposing $BigBusiness that would push special purpose genetically modified seeds at us to lock growers into a specific product line. Open-pollinated seeds that anybody can save and give away to anybody else? Now, that's radical! I gotta go re-read "Fahrenheit 451."

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

[Billy]

The reg.s that I saw were for live plants, but there was no problem with cactus, which was what I was interested in :o) To make sure that you're not getting into deep doo, check with your state Ag Dept. Authority HATES to be ignored. If you're going to ignore them, make sure the benefit is worth the risk.

[Steve Peek]

The penelty for ignorance is the same as it is for blatant disobedience. Steve

[gunner]

The short story of the Texas law link: if you ain't selling, you aint dealing, so the link is a moot point. Now there are Fed laws which I strongly recommend more attention to

lots of info here on this English site( go figure)

. There are FAQs and links on importing seeds to US such as the free permit application here: are the restricted plants and seeds, the how to do it legally stuff. For small lots of seed: WA State. Looking for exotic herbs and veggies that woud/couldadapt.Real Wasabi is one that comes to mind, black cumin, the purple de milpatomatillo...got my Seed Savers Cat. too late for this year, interesting varitals butstill want more exotics.