Author Topic: Covid-19 Seed requests  (Read 8039 times)

galina

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Covid-19 Seed requests
« on: April 26, 2020, 16:29:07 »
I have taken the idea of a Covid-19 seed request from another group.  This year is difficult for many with seed companies working slower than usual and people panic buying seeds, so many have run out.  Others find that prices have really gone up with the crisis too.

So here is a suggestion.  The main sowing time is here.  We know that a lot of old seed has still miraculously germinated for many this year, but there may be a gap or two.  How about this: members list on here what they just could not get hold of and hopefully somebody else on A4A has seeds for it and can help out.  Not intended for a complete 2020 seed list request obviously, but for one or two gaps. 

If you can help, please personal message the requester and take it from there.  The problem with lockdown and self isolation is that some may not be able to go out and post an SAE and would need a present of the postage as well.  A public 'thank you' after seeds were received would be nice though.   
Hope we can all grow a good garden this year despite the difficulties.   :wave:


Jeannine

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2020, 22:37:03 »
Galina that is a great idea, I do have spare seeds and am willing to chip in if I have what anyone wants , postage is not a problem  but the postal service is, Canada post is always slow and is slower still right now so if that is Ok with A4Aers I will help where I can..just wanted this upfront before folks start sending requests..

XX Jeannine
When God blesses you with a multitude of seeds double  the blessing by sharing your  seeds with other folks.

Silverleaf

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2021, 04:48:02 »
I really wanted to try Double Red sweetcorn this year, but I'm struggling to find it anywhere as Realseeds have sold out. Anything su in a colour other than plain white or yellow would be amazing - I'm drooling over the huge variety available in the US! Happy to pay for seeds/postage if anyone has anything suitable. :)

JanG

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2021, 07:08:31 »
Hi Silverleaf. I think I can find you some coloured corn seeds. I’ll pm you a bit later this morning when I’ve sorted out exactly what I’ve got.

Obelixx

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2021, 10:27:55 »
Sorry, but I have to remind you all it is illegal to send seeds into or out of the UK or to the USA or Canada without a phytosanitary certificate and it's foolhardy to try it ion the grounds that it's for personal use.  All sorts of microbes and pathogens can travel with them and cause a plant pandemic.

On the bright side, I have had an email from Premier Seeds to say they have now more or less solved their supply line problems and will have seeds available for the UK market but not, unfortunately, available to customers abroad.  Luckily, thanks to EU based posters here and on the GW forum, we have uncovered a whole plethora of companies selling interesting seeds on the continent.
Obxx - Vendée France

JanG

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2021, 18:15:01 »
Quite a lot of us live in UK though and can happily exchange seeds!

Premier Seeds seem to have kept a huge range of seeds going in the last few months even though they've apparently had difficulty resourcing a few. I've bought quite a lot from them recently and nothing I've wanted has been unavailable.

Obelixx

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2021, 20:25:37 »
Exactly - and long may such friendly seed exchanges continue.

We do it here in the garden club and plant swaps between members and friends too.   All perfectly normal and legal.

However, it is neither legal, nor safe nor clever to risk spreading pathogens between countries, regions and continents.   Just look at what box blight has done to classic UK gardens, or what phytopthora is doing to rhodos and azaleas or xylella is doing to millions of hectares of olive groves in Europe....

Why would any intelligent, moral person risk those or any other pathogens spreading to other countries and eco systems?   

 
Obxx - Vendée France

JanG

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2021, 06:55:22 »
I guess it depends upon how wide a community you feel yourself to belong to. Seeds as far as I know can be exchanged freely between different countries in Europe which are somewhat further apart than say England and France. Personally I like to feel part of a European community in spite of new restrictions against activities and exchanges which were deemed perfectly acceptable a few months ago.

As far as I’m aware plant diseases which have had such regrettable effects have rarely been transmitted by seeds. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

If the great Victorian plant hunters had been unprepared to collect seeds from other places, our gardens would certainly not be the glorious places they can be now!

Paulh

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2021, 09:01:56 »
The RHS sets out the present position in the UK here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/importing-plants-fruit-vegetables-or-plant-material-to-the-uk#contents.

This has a link through to the DEFRA website where you will see that just about every seed is regulated on import and some (like True Seed of Potato) are prohibited.

Obelixx

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2021, 11:24:57 »
Jan G.  It's law, like it or not. 

The EU countries are in a single market and can exchange seeds and plants between them.  When I buy plants at the GC or in a supermarket the label always has a phytosanitary certificate reference no so I know the supplier has been following the rules.

The UK has voted to leave that single market and not being able to exchange seeds commercially or individually is one of the consequences.

It has been illegal to send or receive unregulated seeds to/from the USA and Canada for years.   

Obxx - Vendée France

JanG

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2021, 18:15:08 »
Sure it's the law. I was simply addressing the "intelligent, moral" part of your argument. There is another point of view on that and I simply wanted it represented. That part is debatable; the fact that it's law isn't - unfortunately to my mind.

Obelixx

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2021, 18:42:16 »
The law in question is designed to protect flora and fauna in the receiving country form rogue elements in seeds and plants arriving untested and from all sorts of different growing conditions.

I don't see anything unintelligent or immoral in that, but plenty of stupidity and selfishness in deciding to flout the law because you find it inconvenient.

It's not as tho the UK or the USA or Canada are short of legally distributed seed sources.
Obxx - Vendée France

Vetivert

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2021, 19:19:49 »
I really wanted to try Double Red sweetcorn this year, but I'm struggling to find it anywhere as Realseeds have sold out. Anything su in a colour other than plain white or yellow would be amazing - I'm drooling over the huge variety available in the US! Happy to pay for seeds/postage if anyone has anything suitable. :)

Silverleaf, I can provide Double Red if JanG hasn't already got you covered. And Hooker's Sweet Indian, which is blue and quite tasty. Breeding project?

Though I'm sorry I have to remind you that it is ILLEGAL to admire foreign seed catalogues. There are plenty of British catalogues and their pictures are quite satisfactory thank you very much.

Obelixx

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2021, 12:45:52 »
Premier Seeds have sent me this info which is no use to me now but may be of interest to some of you -

https://mailchi.mp/27a32f7d8cb5/items-back-in-stock-10135486?e=7f9954918f
Obxx - Vendée France

chriscross1966

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #14 on: April 21, 2021, 13:54:55 »
I really wanted to try Double Red sweetcorn this year, but I'm struggling to find it anywhere as Realseeds have sold out. Anything su in a colour other than plain white or yellow would be amazing - I'm drooling over the huge variety available in the US! Happy to pay for seeds/postage if anyone has anything suitable. :)

Remember that pretty much any open-pollinated sweetcorn on a site will ruin F1 varieties downwind.... I found out that the hard way when growing BLue Hopi upwind of my main sweecorn  that year turend about half the cobs into basically maize rather than sweetcorn...... subsequent experiments were done with the F1's on the plot (where everyone else is growing F1's and the open pollinated one9s) at home ...

BarriedaleNick

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2021, 18:54:51 »
Hello chriscross1966!
It's been a while..
Moved to Portugal - ain't going back!

JanG

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #16 on: April 22, 2021, 06:59:53 »
I’m not sure in the case of Blue Hopi whether the effect on other corns would be because it’s open pollinated or because it’s apparently Sh2 - supersweet. Sh2 corns need to be kept apart from other types.
I find it surprising that Hopi Blue is supersweet but a couple of sites say it is (https://www.gardeningchores.com/best-sweet-corn-varieties/).  If anyone can confirm or knows otherwise, I’d be delighted.

Silverleaf

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #17 on: April 23, 2021, 01:49:00 »
Just wanted to say a big thank you to Vertivert and JanG for the corn. You’re awesome!

I think you’re right about sh2 JanG, but apparently su and se are fine together.

I’m growing Fiesta in the greenhouse, Magic Manna in the poly, and a mixture of Hookers (su), Double Ref (su) and Ambrosia (se) in a raised bed for breeding. It shouldn’t matter the three types cross a little bit - “contamination” of the sweet mix won’t be noticed on the cons I eat fresh, and the kernels that were sired by the milkman should be obvious in the seeds for saving. Any sweet kernels in the flour and dent corns should also be obvious.

JanG

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Re: Covid-19 Seed requests
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2021, 06:26:38 »
I guess the big advantage of corn, complicated as its different types are, is that as soon as you let the seeds dry for saving you can tell a lot of what’s gone on. And the difference between the flour and the dent is also quite visible I think?
So Hopi Blue, as Sh2, is the one which really complicates matters and creates less visible problems at an earlier stage. I’m especially interested in this as I’m trying to juggle a few different varieties, including Hopi Blue, and haven’t yet got a planting plan which might work. I have two separate areas, separated by about 100 metres and quite a lot of trees so perhaps Hopi Blue is the one I need to keep separate from the rest - or freeze the seeds and grow another year.

 

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