Resealable Envelopes

[OhioKate]

So I have been saving seeds for a few years now and I'm at a point where I am sharing many seeds with other local gardeners. I have been using small coin envelopes and sealing them with a small piece of tape and while that's working okay it's become sort of annoying. I was wondering if anybody had a source for small resealable envelopes or even some sort of adhesive/glue that I could put on an envelope.

I stuffed over 100 little envelopes this weekend and I feel like there has to be a better way.

[wykvlvr]

For the swap we used the little plastic envelops used to store beads and jewelry findings. They are about 1inch by 3 inch and are a lot like a zip lock bag. I got mine from Hobby Lobby but you can find them in many craft stores and on Amazon. They are often called Coin envelopes

[MissS]

Many of us use small 2x3" ziploc bags. You can often find them at Walmart in the craft section or they are sold on Amazon.

[bower]

Check out the 'repositionable' glue stick - I used this for paper envelopes one year and it seemed to work well. I believe I had Elmer's brand but they are probably similar.

Scroll down for lots of related products: there are some types of tape or repositionable glue dots that are neat but for seeds you do probably want to be able to seal the whole top so they don't dribble out through the unfastened parts.
I just went and found one of those old seed envelopes - I was still able to open the glued bit, but once I did so it didn't reseal. So there is a lifespan on the stuff - in this case marked 2016 so 4 or 5 years. I suggest to read the reviews - some brands may outlast the others.
One thing about the plastic ziplocs, they do last for a zillion open and closes, so they are great for seeds that are long lasting like tomatoes.

[Harry Cabluck]

Ohio Kate... Nice of you to do all the sharing. Coin envelopes work best hereabouts. Seal them with a small piece of painter's blue tape. Do you know anything about a tomato variety, "Limbaugh." A friend near Cleveland sent some of those seeds for a tryout here.

[Nan6b]

HC- You can find the history of Limbaugh's Legacy Potato Top (aka Potato Top or Limbaugh's Legacy" at Tatiana's or here:
http://plantswithstories.com/tomatoes/f ... potato-top
I grew it this past year, which was a very bad year weather-wise, and I liked it.

Nan

[Harry Cabluck]

Nan6b!!! Great thanks. Good reading. Wishing it were a 70-75-day plant. Hope that all is well with you and yours.

[OhioKate]

Thanks for the suggestions all! I ended up using small coin envelopes and sealing with painters tape.

[ddsack]

If I know I will be sealing a lot of envelopes, I usually pull off a longer strip and cut it in half lengthwise, then cut into approximate 2" lengths and stick them hanging from the edge of the work table, make enough so they are ready to attach to the envelopes.

I use both ziplocks and coin envelopes. I like being able to write longer notes to myself on the coin envelopes, especially for varieties, which I am not as likely to use often. But overall, I probably use more ziplocks.

[Tormahto]

I've just about seen it all. From the normal stuff, like paper coin envelopes and clear zip baggies, out to sewing machine stitched-together velum, to taped-up sugar packets that look like a paper straw covering (from Austria), to complex folded and tucked paper triangles, no tape, that an origamist might appreciate.

I like 2" X 3" clear zip baggies, with labels inside, making the baggies re-usable, and the labels non-smudgeable. Many moons ago, I started doing this, never seeing it before. I wouldn't know if I was the first, but I know I'm not the last to use that method.

And a note of caution, as there are some zip baggies with a red line across the zip area. They have very thin plastic, and can tear very easily.

[FarmerShawn]

I increasingly see praises of the little ziplock bags, and I do see some value to them, but I despise them nevertheless. My fat, clumsy fingers fiddle endlessly trying to get them open, and if there are few seeds in there you want to get out, static electricity keeps them from coming out and makes them jump all over inside the bag. Grrrrrr! Nope, I like the paper coin envelopes with blue painter's tape. Although I skip the tape for my own use, because I keep my seeds in 3-ring binders, in trading card pages with nine pockets, and have yet to have a spill.

[stone]

When I've received seeds in those coin envelopes, I've wanted to use same for sharing seed... until now, I didn't know what they were called, and Walmart never seemed to carry them. Using those bead baggies works, but plastic tends to be very bad if seed isn't thoroughly dried...

[pepperhead212]

Thanks for the suggestions all! I ended up using small coin envelopes and sealing with painters tape.

That's what I use for sealing mine, both the small gold envelopes I got for saving my seeds, plus the resealable envelopes I get some seeds in, which often quickly wears out. The painter's tape pulls of easily, without tearing the paper, but keeps its adhesive for a long time.

[habitat-gardener]

When I first started sharing seeds, before I found out where to get the small zip lock plastic bags, I went to a coin store and found small glassine paper bags. The advantage was that you could see what was inside and that it was not plastic; but it still needed tape for sealing. They felt pretty flimsy, though.

All the reclosable envelopes (except for handmade origami ones) are *much* more expensive than the little plastic bags, unfortunately, which adds up when you're sending out hundreds!

I got a bunch of seeds from a local seed library in origami envelopes. Here's how to make them.
Use any scrap paper. If it's blank on one side, you can easily write more on it. If it's decorative or a magazine page, you may need a separate label, or just write in a dark marker pen!

Make a square about 4x the size of the intended packet. Fold along a diagonal to confirm that the piece of paper is a square.
You now have a triangle in front of you, with the long side (the diagonal of the square) on the bottom.
Now label that diagonal with Point A (the tip of the triangle on the left), Point B (the tip of the triangle on the right), and Point C (the top point of the triangle). In other words, the long side of the triangle is line AB.
Fold up Point A so that it meets side BC of the triangle, such that the line segment from the tip of A to side BC is parallel to line AB.
Now fold up Point B so that it meets side AC of the triangle, keeping the line segment from the tip of B to side AC parallel to line AB.
You should now have a pentagon.
Separate the layers of Point C and place seed inside the pocket formed by the folds.
To seal it, fold down both layers of Point C into the outermost pocket.

Or just look at https://www.gardensillustrated.com/plan ... ed-packet/
for a diagram and video! I looked for this after I wrote the above.