Thank you, everyone!
I hope a few people volunteer. It should sound good to Dr. Gashkova that we're going to divide the sample she sends us and grow them at several different sites to reduce the risk of losing it again.
I see that territorial suggests starting indoors, 2-3 seeds per 4" pot and then only keep the best seedling in each pot. And spacing transplants 3-4 feet apart in rows 5-6 feet apart. Several people suggest hills or mounded rows so the soil warms up faster, and plastic mulch for warmer soil if you're not in the South.
I'm purely guessing here: asking people to grow 4-5 plants sounds like 10-15 seeds each. That would make me nervous, to only have 15 seeds! Maybe ask for 20 seeds per volunteer, and some of the volunteers will probably save 5-10 seeds for next year "just in case".
Stacy plus 2 volunteers would be 60 seeds. Stacy plus 3 would be 80 seeds. I wouldn't want Dr. Gashkova to think we were greedy or lazy by asking for too many seeds, however many that is.
Maybe just tell her that we're splitting however many we get among N people to reduce risks of losing the whole crop from disease or insects. Can she spare 20 seeds for each site or should we only ask for 10 each?
(If they keep the 6-year interval at Vavilov, the 2008 accession will be due to be multiplied in 2014 anyway. So maybe they will be willing to give away more after they harvest their 2014 crop! We could ask for more seeds in the fall of 2014 if we don't get a crop this year.)
