How to Store Your Autoflower Seeds: Part 2 - Organizing Your Autoflower Seed Stash

Welcome back Meph-Heads! We are here to continue our discussion on storing autoflower seeds. In PART 1 of this series, we dove into ideal conditions for seed storage and broke down 3 seed storage methods: Shelf Storage, Refrigerator Storage, and Freezer Storage. Now that we understand the ideal parameters for keeping our Mephisto seed collections safe and ready to stow, let’s talk about best practices for labelling and organizing those ever-growing caches of seed packs. And before we get into things, for you visual learners, here's a video that explains some of what's covered in this article!

Why Organization Matters

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a storage tote filled to the brim with a hodgepodge of every pack of seeds that you won. After all, there’s something novel about rifling through a mountain of mylar bags and centrifuge vials to find the pot of gold at the end of your seed selection rainbow. It’s a bit cathartic, albeit chaotic as well. Organization matters because it allows us to properly inventory and categorize what we have on hand so that when the time comes for us to grab that pack, we will know exactly where said pack is as well as how many seeds are left within. Being armed with this knowledges if nothing else, empowers us to make better decisions about our future grows and gives us the ability to plan ahead with a more complete picture of what we have in storage.

Three Methods to Organize Your Mephisto Seed Stash:

We know where to stash our seed collections, Now let's talk about how to organize them.

STASH BOXES  (MULTI-COMPARTMENT)

Stash boxes come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. They can be fashioned from an assortment of materials, contain varying compartments, and tend to make great spaces for storing smaller seed collections. Realistically, any container can be considered a stash box. Though for the sake of differentiation, we will include all multi-compartment vessels within the definition. 

The advantage of a multi-compartment vessel is that it allows for an added layer of organization in the seed categorization process. Our Mephisto Genetics lines are differentiated by collections, and this makes the process of sorting seed types relatively simple and straight forward. 

Take for example our Mephisto Anniversary Stash Boxes. The artfully crafted containers are partitioned into three compartments, perfect for divvying up Artisanals, Originals, and Reservas. Fellow meph-heads often cite using their stash boxes for seed storage, and for good reason! These drop-in extremely limited quantities, so keep an eye out on our site for future drops.

Other multi-compartment vessels that make for great seed storage containers include arts and crafts boxes, fishing tackle boxes, collectors and hobbyist totes, backpacks, and even toiletry bags. 

INDEX CARD FILE BOXES (SINGLE COMPARTMENT)

Let’s not forget about single-compartment containers for organizing and storing seed collections. One of the absolute best options for storing Mephisto packs (specifically), are index card file boxes. They are super inexpensive and readily available at almost any department store with a school or home office section. What makes them so perfect is that they tend to all fit the standard shape of a 3x5”  index card and can fit a Mephisto pack nearly perfectly. 

The advantage of using index card file boxes is that this system is fully scalable. Given that they are such an affordable solution, you can continue to add boxes as your collection continues to grow. Another plus is that you can organize each container by the appropriate Mephisto collection. 

Make sure that if you get translucent file boxes that you are storing exposed centrifuge vials containing seeds in a dark place. As we learned in PART 1 of this series, light is an enemy to long-term seed viability.

BINDERS

Seed storage binders may just be the ultimate way to properly organize your Mephisto Seed collection. This system utilizes the best of both worlds and contains advantages that you lose in larger single and multi-compartment solutions. So how do you store seeds in a binder? The answer is with Baseball card sleeves! That’s right, these 9 insert plastic sleeves are sizes in a way where you can fold your Mephisto packs to fit right in. The tension between your pack and the sleeve itself creates a firm hold, keeping everything nice and stable for long term storage.

As far as organization, binders are pre-designed with the ability to use dividers. These sheets are color coordinated and give you the option to insert custom labels. With this system, you can have a fully organized cache of Mephisto packs on hand and ready to use while not breaking the banks and with the added benefit of a sleek and minimal footprint. Binders are thin and easy to store. For an extra layer of protection, trapper keepers (like the ones we had in school) allow you to fully seal your collection away for a discreet storage experience. 

How to label your Mephisto Seed Stash

We know where to store them, and we know how to store them, now let’s talk about how to keep track of them. Our collections are growing, rapidly in some cases. Stowing them in a container isn’t always enough to keep track of what’s going on. Even dividing the packs by collection will only do so much to help us make informed decisions and plan ahead. Labelling is the secret sauce to staying on track with organization. 

Here are a few important tips for labelling your seed collections:

LABEL AND SORT BY COLLECTION

As aforementioned, one solid way to stay organized in the Mephisto Universe of varietals is to separate and label your seed stash by their designated collection listed on the pack. (I.e Artisanals, Originals, Limitieds, Illuminauto’s, Reservas, Freebies, etc…) Since the packs themselves are color coordinated, you have the advantage of organizing them as such if you decide to keep your vials inside of their original packaging. 

ALPHABETIZE YOUR PACKS

While not completely necessary, having your packs organized in alphabetical order can greatly reduce the time it takes for you to find the exact pack you are looking for. Its a good idea not only to organize your collections this way, but to go back into your notes and do the same

TAKE INVENTORY

Speaking of notes, the biggest piece of advice out there for maintaining complete organization over your seed stash is to implement some kind of inventory system. This can be as simple as a note inside your smartphone that lists each pack alongside a few important details. As far as what to include, any and every detail, or none at all. It's your choice. Many seed collectors will drop in information such as seed counts, dates of purchase, germination rates, lineage, and more. In reality, any form of inventory will do. However, the best and most comprehensive way to do it with a good ole spreadsheet.

SPREADSHEETS

Spreadsheets are the golden standard of organization when it comes to seed stash management. They are fully customizable with an infinite array of possibilities for what you can include. Furthermore, their versatility is unmatched. These days, you can start a spreadsheet on your desktop, transfer it to a laptop or tablet, or even store it on your smartphone for a quick peek whiner you need it. Depending on what software/hardware you use, editing on the go is possible as well. You can create complex functions in spreadsheets the can perform menial tasks such as keeping track of your seed counts as you use them. These functions can calculate germination rates and auto-organize your collections based on whatever parameters you set.

Another great thing about spreadsheets ins that you can print them out and keep a physical copy of them in your seed stashes. This way even if you don’t have your technology on hand, there is still an itemized list of everything you have right there in front of you like a little pocket index. 

We can do a deep dive into spreadsheets in a future article. For now, you have armed yourself with the knowledge to organize. Now go do meph-head s**t and collect!