1. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Talk about what you expect and what you want. Tell others what you are sending them. 2. Label. (Also communication.) List name of seed, year harvested, # of seeds or weight. The more information you can provide the more informed you look. You don't look like some fly-by-night ding dong that throws seeds in a baggie and floats them through the mail. 3. Send with protection. Use bubble wrap or bubble envelopes. There are FAQs on this so read it there. Don't send green bean seeds unprotected through USPS. All the person will receive is green bean dust when it goes through the sort machine. You've saved 35 cents, but you've made an enemy. 4. Use Rate and Review. It works well for Ebay and works well here, too. Find the person on Rate and Review and see what people are saying. If the posts are negative, politely decline any trades. 5. Package well. If you use plastic baggies make sure they are labeled and the seeds are dry. I have received moldy seeds. If you use things like recycled tea bags make sure the person can read it clearly when you label it. I've had too many seeds I couldn't read the label. Be careful what shortcuts you use. WBHV stumped me for w years. White bleeding heart vine. Write it out. 6. I thougth people were crazy for keeping a list of trades. It's the smartest thing I ever did. Now I can look back and see if I traded with them before, how the trade went, and what we traded. I thought I could remember...and maybe you can...but I can't. It takes a little time, but saves me frustration, postage and a lot of heartache. 7. Most of us think of our seeds as our babies. It's like finding a home for kittens. We want each home to appreciate and care for our seeds. We want the person to be happy. There's always a few 'ringers' in every circle and there are some here, too. Most are very generous, loving and caring. They want you to be happy and they want to be happy. Heidi in Nebraska Oh, and I created paper envelopes for seed saving. They are on pinterest. They are free. Just print as many as you want. I like paper because it allows the seeds to dry and not mold. Look up Seed Envelopes. There are about 8 envelopes per page.

I guess I need to clarify, the question was how many ears to save seed on corn. 200 is an acceptable standard in most publications. As Dangould stated Susan Ashworths book seed to seed is the best resource for home gardeners for saving seed. The statement on using pollen from 100 stalks and silk from another 100 is 200 different plants and this is for hand pollinating. So 200 plants wind pollinated is acceptable if no other corn within a mile tassling. On the distances I stated that for older varieties larger distances were needed. Even on hybrids which are smaller plants 2ft-3ft between rows and 1-2ft between plants is need to produce a good crop.When growing a seed crop more distance is better than when growing for home cunsumption. The intent is to provide maximum light and nutrients to each corn stalk to produce the best seed. I know because I grow heirloom corns for seed both commercially and for preservation.Bill in PA it may look as if the corn in the rows is only a 8iches apart and that is true but if you measured it is probably closer to 24inches between rows vice the 18inches. This works for modern field corns which are smaller plants have less leaf spread and produce smaller ears. For the others I am not talking about growing sweet corn in a small home garden for eating. A couple of rows of intensly planted corn will probably produce a few ears satisfactory for a home grower. I answered the question as a grower and a preservationist for someone who maybe interested in growing a corn variety for seed and preserving the genetic diversity of the corn with out having any significant affect from inbreeding. Corn and other outcrossing crops can quickly develope inbreeding problems in just a couple of generations if sufficent seed from sufficient plants are not saved. For the home gardener do as you please but if you grow and pass on to someone else grow for a seed company or are intently passionate about preserving the variety get some good reference books such as Seed to Seed. Corn is a crop that takes a lot of room to produce a good crop. And it is a fun crop to grow in a small intensive plot and can produce satisfactory ears for eating. But it cannot produce seed good enough to preserve the genetic diversity unless the 200 plant minimum population size is used and adequte spacing and nutrients are used to allow each plant to produce full size ears that are well pollinated and full. Rodger Winn

mngardener1, if you haven't already done it, it'll really help you to check out Wintersown for complete information, but in a nutshell the holes at the top are for air transpiration (so the heated air in the containers doesn't bake the seeds/seedlings), and the holes in the bottom are for drainage so any excess water has a place to drain and the seeds/seedlings don't drown. Some people put their containers in bags; I think it depends on what containers you are using. Milk jugs and things with lids - like ice cream buckets that you can poke vent holes in the tops - you don't need to put in bags IMHO. But if you have spare nursery pots or something like that where the seeds are more exposed to the elements, the bag idea is a handy one... just remember to put drainage holes at the bottom of the bag, and vent holes at the top of the bag. It worked for me last year to put several open containers in a flat of some sort, and put a large bag (with holes) over the whole thing. The whole idea is more or less copying mother nature with our little greenhouses, while simultaneously protecting the seeds from being blown away or letting "weed invader seeds" get into your soil. Re how many holes: Enough and not too many. ;-) Just look at nursery pots... they vary. I mostly use water/milk jugs and burn holes with a soldering iron so the holes are smaller, and I make more holes to make up for it, maybe 7-13 (my lucky numbers). Last year I cut holes with a knife so they were bigger, so I made fewer holes, maybe 4-5. Trudi's wintersowing page on fixing up containers will explain it in way better detail, how to tell if you made too many holes or not enough, and how to fix it if you did, but that's my take on it. Best wishes! Terri Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersown.org

Carrie ~ Yes you have cleared things up...thank you. I have familiarized myself with the winter sowing method over the last month or so. I was so exhausted after my first spring/summer/autumn out in our new "digs" that I was looking forward to the calm of winter. Wrong!!!!! Somehow I came upon "winter sowing" and so... my gardening obsession continues year round. No rest like I thought winter might afford me. lol BTW I loved reading your profile. "19 years"!!!! Now that I'm bitten I guess I'm in for the long haul. " Oh my achin' back! " PC~ I'm sorry I don't seem to let you go. lol I bookmarked Jelitto already. It's a wealth of information that gives advice on # seeds/cell on some but not all plants. Very helpful nonetheless. I'm inclined to the technical blabber so it suits me fine. Your last response touches on another topic. Cool season & warm season grasses I suppose. ( gulp ) Thanks for the follow up. It has shed light on your process. I will set some seeds aside for both winter sowing ( and I mean with snow and all ) and some for spring in case of failure. Perhaps they'll both work and I'll be up to my armpits in grasses!! YaY!! ++fingers crossed+++ I hope you'll share your pictures. I'll be looking out for them. Thanks Carrie & PC Bruce