@Saskia and @Jacek, how many seed do you plan to grow out to make the grex?
I missed your previous message, sorry. I have about 6m2 I can use for beets. So maybe 4-5 grams?
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Hi Malte, please send me 15 grams.
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Incredible work! 53 varieties! This really shows what a small group can do with focus and determination. I hope other communities are paying attention!
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Agreed! I hope this will inspire other focus crop groups to have a similar approach
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I understand that there will be seed leftover from the 53 variety grex, and also from the excess seed that you received that did not go into the grex, to avoid it being weighted towards certain varieties. Do we have a plan for where each of those will go?
I think it’s a great idea to add some to the Serendipity Seed Swap, but I also wonder if we could use some (perhaps the excess mix, and/or the full grex, depending on how much is left over) to distribute in seed swaps/community growing projects in our respective locations, to help spread the grex message? What do people think? I think people can be reluctant to buy into diverse populations, so distributing seed for free can be a great way to get people to see how fun it can be - and then they’re hooked!
My own experience has been that most people are more than willing to take free seed with no expectations on them and that it rarely has the intended effect we hope for. Once in a while you do get lucky. It helps if the context imbue the seed with some meaning and learning, like taking free seed at the end of a seminar about GTS or adaptive gardening. Just bringing the seed to a seed swap without context is different. I think of that a bit like selecting new collaborators under very harsh conditions, say direct sowing tomato seeds in my climate, where perhaps less than 1% of the seed will make it to fruit. I would distribute the 2nd selections of my squash seed from past years - which I have an abundance of and which I prioritize less. The higher chance of collaboration, I would prioritize more valuable seed.
I have three reasons I woul rather prioritize our own community (Serendipity Seed Swap) getting something as they receive the box, than giving out this special mix to seed swaps with no adaptation context:
- I would think of our beet mix here as medium value. We did put in some effort in getting all those varieties mixed together. It is unlikely to happen again with that many varieties any time soon.
- At the moment, participants in the project have asked for about 150 of the 185 grams, if we distribute the full amount people have asked for.
- The adaptation potential of the mix is not that great yet, ie. it’s more of a work-in-progress and less of showcase of adaptive gardening. That’s what we’re working on - we need to grow it out, cross them all and then mix the seed from several different places all together to get the F1s mixed.
When he have the F1 mix, we might have a big amount of seeds with more adaptation potential and that mix I think could be a great candidate to share more freely. If we decide we want to continue the project to F2, even more so!
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I’d love to get 15g if possible.
Is there a way to reimburse you for the shipping cost? Didn’t think of it early enough or I would have included some euros in the package, sorry.
Yes. By making sure to follow through on our project, ie. letting as many different roots cross with each other and sending the resulting seed back to get mixed up again. We can talk in a year if someone else will volunteer to be the coordinator at that point.
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Yes, I agree about taking seed to seed swaps without education - I think any distribution outside the network should be accompanied with education. I also hear you about waiting until F1/F2 mixes, I think that makes a lot of sense.
I’m still not totally clear on whether we are talking about seed leftover from the full grex (sounds like they may not be much), the excess seed that didn’t go into the grex, or both. My feeling was that the excess seed that didn’t go into the grex would be the candidate for sharing more broadly, amongst people who wouldn’t necessarily save seed, but could potentially be converted to diverse mixes–although I’m not sure how much there actually is in that mix?
I suppose my feeling is that anyone in the community who wanted to grow and save diverse beet seed would already be involved in this project, so any seed distributed within the network is likely just to be grown for eating by people who are already sold on the message (and if they do save seed and contribute it back into our F1 grex, it will skew our genetics in exactly the way we’re trying to avoid), whereas it could have more value converting people who have not experienced it. Just some thoughts - I’m very open to persuasion.
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Hi Malte, if you did not yet send the seeds, would it be possible for me to get a bit more than the 4-5 grams I requested? On second thought that may not be a good estimate for the 6m2 I want to plant.
I received 2 more varieties and added some seed from a local grex here, so we’re at 55 named varieties plus the grex.
I’ve divided the bags into the following and ready to send out. Please send me any correction ASAP if I’ve made a mistake. I’ll send out packages soon.
I’ve tried to follow up on all your requests and used my common sense too. I’ve left 20 grams for the Serendipity Seed Swap and written clear instructions for people to take only if they’re willing to grow out to seed (ie. participate in the project).
- Marcela 25g
- Tomas 15g + plus a small bag of monogerm mix
- Jack 45g (to redistribute in breeding network to send back seed) + 30g of unbalanced mix (to redistribute in seed swaps to promote GTS)
- Christopher 10g
- Andy 3g
- Saskia 10g
- Jacek 15g
- Malte 25g + high geosmin mix + low geosmin mix + monogerm mix
- Serendipity Seed Swap 20g + 50g unbalanced mix + high geosmin mix + low geosmin mix + monogerm mix + leftover bag of Moulin Rouge (monogerm var.)
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I agree with the distribution and also about the above mentioned things regarding sharing these types of seeds to people who don’t know the context, they don’t understand the value without the full picture, so if anyone forwards these mix make sure that the person is a passionate seedkeeper, and then familiar with adaptation principles to make sure we multiply as much as possible. And in later years, we can expand to the community.
I had 20 beets survivors in the ground over the winter so I will have some seeds already this year, but they will not be so diverse because I had only 2 or 3 varieties in the beginning.
Thank you Malte for coordinating!
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All packages have been sent
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Ufff, I’ve missed all this here, sorry… Now it’s too late to request for big beetroot mix, I guess. Nevermind, I’ll sow what I have here (I think I’ve already gathered like a dozen varieties). But to be honest, I don’t feel very optimistic with beetroot project in my garden, as I have to deal with a big army of spalacidas every year.
Enourmous job, guys. Thank you all for your efforts.
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Boryan, you might be a candidate to grow out the F1 or F2 grex if your garden seems inhospitable to beet.
Did you use tracking for the packages, Malte? Mine hasn’t arrived yet.
(maybe I’m just too impatient)
They arrived!! 
Thanks, Malte! Also for the other grexes you included. Time to get sowing!
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Arrived to me too, thank you for the carrot grex!
My beets will wait for their time, I will sow them as a following crop after pea or green favas are harvested.
I will store roots from the beet grex in cellar to be sure they will overwinter, smaller roots will be easier to store.
Some of my beets in 2025 had not enough time to build nice roots, they were really tiny, it would be pointless to harvest them. I let them under the mulch, expected they will die, but now they continue growing and look happy, maybe I will let them live to see how much seeds a plant with such a small root produces - do you have such experience?
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I also received my parcel last week thank you @malterod
Beets seem to do very well here over winter left in the ground. So, It think I will sow first batch of this master mix next week directly into the ground, and wait a bit with the second like Thomas. I should have some seeds of those beets that survived the winter in the ground this summer, but I don’t have a lot of diversity in the current population.
Happy planting to everyone!
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