Do you have a specific seed in mind? Try the search function at the bottom of the ws front page. Ask about specific seeds and someone will share their experiences. There is also a Seed Saving forum that you can explore. Most seeds will be ready when their pods or blossoms are brown and crisp. Some are easy to collect, poppies, dianthus, malva, and balloon flower can be held over a bag or envelope then squeezed to release the seeds. Rudbeckia and echinacea seeds are difficult to find until you have had some practice. Both hold their seeds amongst the blossoms. When the blossom is dried on the plant they can be picked. The rudbeckia seeds are tiny dark rods. After awhile you will recognize the seeds. For me it was "aha, there they are" moment. I take various sized envelopes out to the garden to put the pods or blooms in then take them inside to find the seeds. For large seeds, blossoms, or large amounts of those I use a paper lunch bag. If they are not already very dry I leave them in the bag/envelope for a few days to continue to dry. Others spread the seed pods onto a paper plate to dry. Later I open the pods and collect the seeds while watching (actually listening to) the TV. The collected seeds are then put in a 2 1/4 x 3 1/2 paper coin envelope. When I am ready to trade I use either the paper coin envelope or very small plastic bead bags. I use cut down boxes with strips of cardboard cut for dividers to store my seed coin envelopes alphabetically. There are boxes for perennials, annuals, veggies, etc. Sometimes I find myself without an envelope/bagand just stuff the seeds into a pocket. LOL, that's why I have so many mystery seeds. Others have different ways. Have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: Saving seed

Ball had coupons in the Sunday paper a couple of weeks (?) ago, $3 off 2 cases. Expiration 7/29/12. They run them quite often through the summer. You can also sign up for their newsletter at their website, though I don't recall them ever mailing or emailing me any. Made pickles last night and discovered I only had a few lids left, plus a dozen (unopened box) rings and lids I bought at Goodwill! Mostly I have WM lids - so time to hit the store to get more RM lids even if I don't buy jars (which I probably will). Too bad no coupon for lids. W@lm@rt is the best place I've found around here for jars and lids, even though their prices keep going up. May be time to hit TSC and see if they've put their stuff on sale yet - seems to me they sold out/pulled stuff from shelves well before Labor Day last year. My grandma used to have a big walkin pantry with a window on 1 side and cabinets/counter/shelves on 2. And the farmhouse used to have an even bigger one (again with a window) with just shelves. Sadly, both houses have been renovated. And I wasn't into canning when we built our new house so have to keep my stuff in basement. Though I always did like to stock up, and asked builder for walk-in pantry with shallow shelves on 3 sides. He said the pantry was too narrow, couldn't do it. But my linen closet in master bath is the same width and they made that deep (stand-in), crazy with 16" shelves, I've got over a foot of wasted space in front of them. But don't want to store jars up there - too humid ;-)

I also keep mine in Ziplock bags. I tried to string them up like Weedlady, but I've had more than a few times where the string slipped out of my hand when I was getting bands and all the bands went crashing to the ground in a huge, loud mess. Fun times! Now I have my "processing bands" and my "gifting bands". My gifting bands are new/newer which get screwed onto jars that I'm giving away. My processing bands have a little bit of rust or dings and eventually get thrown away after they get too hard to screw onto jars for processing or are too ugly.

Thanks, Fusion, for posting that link, I think it is the study that I have been searching for. Bookmarked it again... I wish I knew how to transfer bookmarks from a dead computer, I lost a lot of good references. Drloyd, after shelling, I dry nearly all of my beans on trays exposed to room light. Since I don't transfer seed into storage containers until the indoor humidity is low (below 40%), some of that seed is exposed to artificial light for 2 months or more. As reported above, I have seen no ill effects from this treatment. However, I make sure that direct sunlight from nearby windows never hits the trays. For drying pods that were not fully dry when picked, I place them under a fan. The air circulation is the most important factor for rapid drying; the use of heat runs the risk of reducing seed life. Drying pods closely under a light might be OK as long as some means of air circulation is provided. I store seeds in the dark because my initial research into seed storage said that heat, light, and humidity were the enemies of stored seed. To be honest, that was quite some time ago, and I guess I never questioned the light aspect... because dark storage has worked so well for me, and you don't mess with what works. (Additionally, as mentioned above, packing bags of seed tightly in boxes also helps me to keep air from reentering the bags, and further moderates the temperature of the seed inside.) It may be that light is inimical to stored seed because stored seed is enclosed in a container, which is most often transparent. With no air circulation inside, heat from radiant sources can penetrate & accumulate very rapidly in a transparent container. I've observed this most notably in ziplock bags, which can heat very rapidly when exposed to sunlight. For that reason, when carrying seed into the garden for planting, I use a small ice chest. Light absorption can directly induce heat into the seed; but I still wonder whether the light itself - and perhaps its spectrum - has any direct effect on seed metabolism. There is anecdotal information that it doesn't, of seed stored for years in a jar in a lighted room. Personally, I still prefer to err on the side of caution, and keep my seed in the dark.