AFAIK elmers is water soluble and biodegradable.

I have no doubt the glue will dissolve with watering once, planted. :) Hubby's concern is that if I make up all these seed tapes now, while the snow is still on the ground and we're not so busy, will the seeds die in the next two months?

So you're deliberately misleading members with your first post? No comprendo.

I don't know what taz6122 is talking about, but I will relate my own experience with homemade seed tapes. When I first read about this technique, I thought what a great idea. I tried it with Beet seeds since I always seem to get them too thickly planted. The Forums are talking about using toilet paper, but I thought, well, go big or go home, so I bought a roll of single ply paper towel. How clever I thought I was.

Just a drop of glue and then one seed, placed at the proper spacing, maybe a month in advance of planting. Properly prepared soil bed, soil removed to the proper depth, paper towel rolled out and covered to correct depth. Watered and waited. And waited and waited. I think of the hundred or so seeds I planted 5 came up. It was fresh seed so I can't fault that.

The method seems foolproof, but it sure wasn't for me. Anyone have any thoughts? TYIA.

Steve

Now I see more clearly what your concern is. I wouldn't worry about suffocation. The seeds are dormant and I know people sometimes vacuum pack, so no exposure to air should not be a problem. I might be more concerned about the multiple month's exposure to glue and decreased germination from that. Hopefully, someone else who makes seed tapes ahead of time can chime in. I can understand wanting to make them *now* before the spring rush hits.

Bellatrix

PS. I hope Taz was joking and his post came across wrong, because I don't see any deliberate misleading of your part at all.

Based on no experience doing this I guess it would be important to not dampen the seeds too much, which would start the germination process after which they would dry out and die. if I were doing this I would maybe use a glue stick or smear a thin coating of white glue on the paper. I would hope the tape would dry quickly in a warm, dry place.

I tried pelletizing parsnip seeds by rolling each seed in a dab of pottery clay and drying them. Success was mediocre. Anyone else tried this? I thought it would give me better germination, which has been a problem with parsnips.

Jim

Good grief. Snow doesn't factor into this as no one I know plants carrots in snow. I said I'd tried making the seed tape the other day and my zone is right there beside my username, so use some common sense there as to how long it's going to be before I can see the ground, never mind plant anything. It was a simple question, taz, so your belligerent reply was completely out of line. If I neglected to give all the information you wanted, it was accidental, not intentional (that makes no sense at all). And that's the last bit of attention you're going to get from me. Now, back to the real world...

Thank you to the rest for your replies. :) I find it quite interesting that two of you who tried methods that completely encased the seed for a short time (sealing it from the air), had poor germination results. I've never encountered seeds that have been vacuum sealed. Is that only possible with certain seeds (perhaps that I don't grow)? I'm curious to see further posts from people who've tried making tapes significantly ahead of planting.

Sorry, I missed something here and it was my fault. Now I understand perfectly! DOH!

I made seed tape in Dec of 2009 to see how it would work for spring planting in 2010. I made some using school glue and some with a thin mixture of flour and water.
I used both mixtures on kleenex (hypo-allergenic), paper towels, 1" newspaper strips and toilet tissue.

The seeds used were carrots, radish and spinach.

Carrots didn't work well with any combination (I think this was my fault, should not have planted so deep).
Spinach worked with all combinations of paper and seeds germinated 4 days earlier with the flour mixture as oppossed to the glue.
Radishes worked also. I had faster sprouting with the flour mixture also.
All of the seed tape I made was stored in ziploc sandwich bags for approx. 3-4 months before use in the spring of 2010.

I had hoped that I would improve my spacing and reduce having to thin the plants.
Nothing like a little gardening project during winter while waiting for Spring. I hope you get great results.

I have used a cornstarch mixture, at one tablespoon cornstarch to one cup of water brought to a boil and then cooled to room temperature.

With a fair amount of ground to put in carrots, I tired of making seed tapes with this cornstarch gel. However, very porous soil, poor seed germination usually and limited pelleted seed choices gave me motivation to just try the cornstarch gel in the soil, without a paper tape. Besides, "liquid seeding" of alfalfa and, perhaps other crops, seems common in this part of the world.

I wasn't making tapes or anything ahead of time so this doesn't quite bear on your question Macky77 but I found that carrot seed germination was good just sprinkling the seed directly on a "bead" of the cornstarch gel in a furrow.

What Elmer's school glue is made out of, I'm not sure, but you can probably see how a gel made out of cornstarch & water would be fairly benign. It probably holds together for a few days in the soil but since carrot seed takes more than a few days to germinate.

I used the same gel with lettuce seed once - that worked just fine also. However, lettuce sprouts quickly and has never given me any problem with germination.

Mixing up a quart of the gel at a time and carrying it out in a ziplock bag provides me with enough to work with in the garden. That's only 4 tablespoons of cornstarch so it doesn't amount to much in cost.

Somewhat unrelated but I thought that I would share . . .

Steve

Most of the white and yellow formulations of glue sold as School, Carpenters, Craft etc. are PVA compositions, Polyvinyl Acetate.
From a woodworker's perspective, whites differ from yellows in open time, tack, sandability of glueline blah blah.

I use the yellow for seedtape, and had similar questions akin to the OP. After a few successful seasons it's no longer a concern.

Those who fear "chemicals" might object to polyvinyl acetate. There are other glues that would no doubt suffice. My entire large garden uses less than 1 tsp.total. MSDS indicates a largely benign product.

Nanagarden, posts like yours are gold to INTJ personalities like me, LOL. We love hard data! :)

Alphonse, I do have yellow wood glue in the shop that I could try. Thank you for that differentiation... very interesting. I'm not one that fears chemicals; I believe they have their place when used properly and discriminately. I think my attraction to the glue over the flour/water paste was that of ease of application. I could just run along with the bottle instead of dipping a brush repeatedly. (I was using a ruler to hold the toilet paper securely in place and to keep me in a rough line.) I suppose, though, that I could buy a small bottle of glue, empty it into our daughter's bottle, wash it up well and then use it to apply a homemade paste.

Steve, gel seeding was another option I was considering. The precise nature of the seed tapes appeals to my personality more, though. Thinning is one of my most hated tasks.

I'm thinking now that I might abandon the glue and do the flour/water or cornstarch/water "glue" instead. When it dries, it's conceivable to me that the seed could then respirate through the powder, be it flour or starch. I have no reservations about the safety of the glue, but it does seal the seed more thoroughly I believe, by whatever mechanism or ingredient that may be.

Using the flour/water or cornstarch/water mixture, does anyone find that the seed falls away from the tissue once it's dry and a bit of time has passed? Once the water is gone, what's holding the seed to the toilet paper? Also, are you dabbing spots or brushing the whole strip?

"I have no reservations about the safety of the glue, but it does seal the seed more thoroughly I believe..."

For the INTJ, I use TP and put a tiny spot of glue at the desired spacing, then dribble seed 'tween thumb and finger onto the glue. After brief drying, excess seed is tipped off to be used again. You can't put too much glue down in advance as it dries quickly on porous paper. Only the tiniest seed (like carrot) agglomerates. My soil tolerates them bunching, being well amended and somewhat sandy.

IOW, the seed isn't completely coated. They mostly stay in place when the strip is rolled up.

BTW, PVA glues will tolerate thinning with water. You're on your own for this application.

Another glue might be liquid hide glue (vs hot) but the additive that enables usage from a bottle is unknown to me, possibly objectionable.

Macky, I only used the gel for a seed tape once, about 5 or 6 years ago.

I brushed it on strips of paper (not toilet paper) and carried it out to the garden the same day. The strips were glued together so they were about 6' long.

The wind was a problem. It became awkward right off and I nearly lost control of the operation! Mostly, I had trouble knowing how much soil I was getting on the seed tape since it was blowing around . . .

The carrot seed came up just fine.

Steve