Hi, I've enjoyed the discussions on seed collecting. I try to stay away from plastic due to the high humidity this area--but will use anything in an emergency. I often fold bits of muslin around stems and secure with a twist tie. I really like the idea of the tea bags. But, I wonder how folks store their seeds. Some bulb seeds are not orthodox, and so long-term storage is out of the question. But, most bulb species have orthodox seeds and, in theory, should behave according to the various equations describing seed life vs. varying moisture contents and storage temperatures. I like to dry orthodox seeds indoors, in an air conditioned room for as long as they need, a week or 4 weeks. I never dry them outdoors because they might not dry, and because I don't want them getting warmer than about 80-85 F while they are drying. Then, I put them into paper envelopes and label them and put the envelopes into airtight plastic food containers with Drierite (color indicating type). I put in about an inch of Drierite in a 6 x 6 inch plastic container, anywhere from 2 to 5 inches tall. I leave the seeds (in their envelopes inside the plastic box) at room temperature for a week or so; if the Drierite changes to pink I replace the Drierite. I like the color indicating Drierite, blue = good and pink = "time to change." You can use white Drierite too and it is less expensive. Once the Drierite seems to have taken up all the water it can, I transfer the seed envelopes to a new plastic container with more Drierite and put them in the kitchen refrigerator. In theory I could freeze them for even better longevity. But, by drying them well and cooling them to about 38 F (3-4 C) they should last a lot of years--I'm guessing 10-20 years easily. In theory, for every 1% of moisture content that you can remove from a seed (say from 11% water to 10% water), you can double their storage life. Also, for each 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees F) that you lower the storage temperature, you can double their life in storage. The effect is multiplicative so if you can take seeds from 15% moisture content (5 doublings) and store them at 38 F instead of room temperature (about 4 doublings), you can increase their storage live by 20-fold. If you freeze them, it should be all the better as long as they are dry enough. Of course, if seeds are going to last a year or two anyway, is there any need to store them so they might last 10 or 20 (or 40 years)? I guess that depends upon you. I'm forever gathering way too many seeds and drying them and storing them. Then, I have some on hand when a trade comes up. Similarly, sometimes I like to collect native shrub seeds and send them out to all who want them in exchange for SASE---you meet a lot of nice folks that way. If I run out of refrigerator space, I'll just keep them at room temperature--they still should last a number of years as long as they are dry. Cordially, Conroe Joe