The Seed Pool - CLOSED

[Chris43]

I have looked after the Seed Pool for many years, and have always kept the seed in a spare fridge, located for most of its time in my garage. However I have to report that the fridge has come to the end of its life. We do have fridge in the kitchen, but there is no home for the boxes of seed there, even though they aren't huge.

It is worth saying, however, that it is over 5 months now since I last had a request from a forum member for seed from the pool. It is all ageing, and with the lack of interest, I do wonder if it has come to the end of its life.

It would be great if there is another member who would like to take it over and somehow re-invigorate demand. Just drop me a pm or email, and I'll be happy to post him/her the box of seed currently held. It has no formal status within our Society, it came from a donation of seed, and a good idea many years ago.

There's not a lot involved. It uses some space on a web server, so that members can download the list from it. I have used a free FTP program to refresh the list as it is changed. Recently I have provided at very little personal cost the seed packets that I send the seed out in, although in the early days some members kindly sent me empty seed packets to use. Then, having dispensed a sensible amount of seed, you'd make a trip to the Post Office or pillar box, once the cost of postage has been received by post or by Paypal F&F.

My thanks to those who have donated seed, and to those members who have grown plants from the seed.

[DanielAdkins]

I was very sad to read this as I was only looking at the list a couple of days ago, putting together my wish list. I would just like to say thank you to Chris for his time and to the members that have donated seeds and taken the time to pollinate their plants to produce seed for the seed pool. The seed pool has certainly given me a new interest.

Regards Dan.

[tonyironscacti]

Sorry to hear the end of the brilliant work you put in, in running voluntarily the seed pool. It was a good way of encouraging people to try and raise new stock through seed raising, especially as now it is a lot harder getting hold of plants.

I think seed raising nowadays has gradually fallen out of favour in some quarters, but I still believe it is an essential part of the hobby.

Cheers

Tony.

[TomInTucson]

Sorry to hear the end of the brilliant work you put in, in running voluntarily the seed pool. It was a good way of encouraging people to try and raise new stock through seed raising, especially as now it is a lot harder getting hold of plants.

I think seed raising nowadays has gradually fallen out of favour in some quarters, but I still believe it is an essential part of the hobby.

Cheers

Tony.

As with other pastimes in life, trends tend to change over time. When I first started growing C&S (as a kid), I wanted instant gratification by only acquiring plants, but as my tastes matured, I soon found that the most desirable species could only be found on seed lists. Once I found some methods to improve my success ratio, the best part of this hobby soon became apparent: growing your own plants from seed.
As I started this message concerning trend changes, unfortunately patience with most people (regardless of age) has not gotten any better over the last couple decades. To put it bluntly: most people not only want instant gratification, and don't want to wait for anything (like a well aged single malt scotch whiskey). I hope trends will change some day ... we need to take the time "to smell the roses". So needless to say, I'm glad I started acquiring around 98% of my collection by growing my own (from seed), and I don't see my trend changing anytime soon.

[Herts Mike]

Agree with you 100% Tom.

[el48tel]

Tom .... you have summarised it perfectly. I wish I was more successful with seed raising, but then there'd be no challenge and certainly no satisfaction.

[MaciejW]

Agree with you Tom and now grow majority of my collection from seed. One thing worth noting is space restrictions when it comes to raising from seed. First year or two are fine, then it changes and buying a grown plant is easier. I found that it is not always easy to dispose of surplus of plants you are interested in!

[habanerocat]

I would have imagined after Brexit there would have been a bigger market for home grown seed?
But I suppose the society seed sales list caters for that.

[Aiko]

Agree with you Tom and now grow majority of my collection from seed. One thing worth noting is space restrictions when it comes to raising from seed. First year or two are fine, then it changes and buying a grown plant is easier. I found that it is not always easy to dispose of surplus of plants you are interested in!

I am all in favour of sowing. Indeed the way to obtain the most hard to get species.
But space restriction is another thing. I am currently busy repotting all my 2020 to 2022 seedlings, which needs about four times as much space and bigger pots I am running out of. And then I have the 2023 seedlings that will need a repotting in two years' time...

[TomInTucson]

Agree with you Tom and now grow majority of my collection from seed. One thing worth noting is space restrictions when it comes to raising from seed. First year or two are fine, then it changes and buying a grown plant is easier. I found that it is not always easy to dispose of surplus of plants you are interested in!

I am all in favour of sowing. Indeed the way to obtain the most hard to get species.
But space restriction is another thing. I am currently busy repotting all my 2020 to 2022 seedlings, which needs about four times as much space and bigger pots I am running out of. And then I have the 2023 seedlings that will need a repotting in two years' time...

As I tried to male clear in my post on trends, the current one of instant gratification should work in your favor. I'm almost certain if you make your surplus seedlings (of sale-able size) available to the masses, you won't have to worry about space restrictions for very long.