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[feelotraveller]

In my experience the 'each seed gets its own bag' behaviour is (mainly) seen when there is not yet a bag (or bags) established for that type of seed.

Usually at the start of a fort I wait for while and let the seeds get all mixed up and once there are a decent number of each seed I do a logical reorganisation by dumping all but one type of seed out of each bag, also emptying bags that have seed x where another bag(s) contain seed x.  That generally sorts it out for a while - with the dumped seeds usually ending up combined into pre-existing seed x bags - at least until seeds of a particular type run low...  It does generally get more manageable the longer the fort goes on.

[anewaname]

There are observations which should be added to this discussion.

There is some loop that creates jobs. When a put-item-in-container job is created, it has one item to be added to the container. Each time the loop cycles, if the job has not been assigned, another item will be added to the job list.

So, in a fort with a "normal" work load, the put-item-in-container jobs, which are low priority, will not be assigned immediately and will accumulate a list of items to be added to the container until it accumulates enough to fill the container. Eventually, one dwarf will gather all of those items and put them in the container.

In a fort with no work load, where dwarfs are waiting at the wagon, the put-item-in-container jobs are assigned immediately. This is why you can have a dozen bags each with one seed. The job-creation loop created a job to put one item in the bag, a dwarf was assigned, and then it repeats.

This is observation, not certainty. I know the cycle of actions will vary some, but this is the essence of what happens in forts with few jobs and in forts with many jobs. It also applies to other container jobs.

[coalboat]

Very interesting discovery!

[feelotraveller]

That makes sense.

One thing that I have observed making the situation worse is when all (or a number) of bags are located in the same tile, presumably because the distance between seed and bags is equal.  I often run into this with bags left in the dyers workshop but presumably a quantum stockpile or empty bags in the wagon would display the same behaviour.

[coalboat]

you can finagle your dwarves into storing all the useless seeds in a single bag. Dump all the junk seeds into a pile, forbid all but one empty bag, then reclaim the junk seeds.

Amazing! This works!

Usually at the start of a fort I wait for while and let the seeds get all mixed up and once there are a decent number of each seed I do a logical reorganisation by dumping all but one type of seed out of each bag, also emptying bags that have seed x where another bag(s) contain seed x.  That generally sorts it out for a while - with the dumped seeds usually ending up combined into pre-existing seed x bags - at least until seeds of a particular type run low...  It does generally get more manageable the longer the fort goes on.

This also works to some extent.

[Taras]

Mod game to make all tree seeds edible.

[coalboat]

Edible seeds would still take bag and dwarfs might not prioritizing eating them. Maybe it's better to make fruit not produce seed.

[coalboat]

I discover a few things.

1. A seed bag is named after the first seed in the bag. If a bag contains, for example, 3 plump helme spawns, 1 blackberry seed, 2 garden cress seeds, the bag is a "plump helmet spawn bag".
2. If a dwarf finds a seed, he will look for a corresponding bag for this type of seed. If there is, he puts the seed in the bag. If there isn't, he tries to find an empty bag and put the seed in there. And this happens regardless of whether there is a stockpile for seed.
3. In 2, if a dwarf targets one bag, another dwarf can't use it. While a dwarf is bringing some seeds from dining room or brewery to the bag, any new seeds generated in the meantime will need to use another bag. This can cause several plump helmet spawns being in one bag and several being in another.

Hence, to make dwarf use bag most efficiently, ideally there should be a couple of seed bags for each type of seed. If, for example, your fortress usually consumes plump helmet, pig tail, cave wheat, sweet pod, whip vine, red spinach, bayberry, and apricot, that is 8 different types, you'd need 24 bags, and if any single type occupies more than 3 bags, you need to dump the seed from the extra bags.

edit:
In other words, dig out a 11x11 room and produce 121 bags and you should be fine. I now have raised individual seed cap to 100.

[FantasticDorf]

If you have enough non masterwork cloth bags from a textile or leather industry, you can let them pool up inside barrels then dump the entire bag into the crusher as a way to dispose of them short-term without drawing away 20 citizens to carry one seed each. Or i just sell the spare bags wholesale to traders after pumping up the value of my bags with decoration & dyes.

[coalboat]

What you said is definitely true but I don't follow how this solves the seed-taking-up-bag problem?

[FantasticDorf]

What you said is definitely true but I don't follow how this solves the seed-taking-up-bag problem?

Put one stockpile set to one barrel/stone pot that can hold two bags of stockpile set seeds (or do your advised action and funnel all seeds into one max value bag) tailored to the food you know is currently in circulation so that the seeds always end up back there specifically and congratulations you have just made a lot of dwarf-bucks.

I never usually let dwarves gather themselves unless i've mapped out every possible plant that can grow on this biome and made some space for it by keeping tight control & cross-referencing the RAWS or my own knowledge, which thanfully the gathering controls can also be edited to also be limited.

[anewaname]

...
1. A seed bag is named after the first seed in the bag. If a bag contains, for example, 3 plump helme spawns, 1 blackberry seed, 2 garden cress seeds, the bag is a "plump helmet spawn bag".
...

I believe if you have one stockpile for each type of seed, these "multiple seed types in one bag" problems will sort themselves out. The bag on the blackberry seed stockpile should create a job that takes the blackberry seeds out of the bag of mixed seeds. I am not certain of this, but I have no mixed seed bags, so something fixed it. Stockpile jobs that are putting items into a container will take items out of other containers if the other container is not on a stockpile that accepts those items. I suspect you only get mixed seed bags when you have a stockpile that accepts multiple seed types, or no seed stockpiles.

...
3. In 2, if a dwarf targets one bag, another dwarf can't use it. While a dwarf is bringing some seeds from dining room or brewery to the bag, any new seeds generated in the meantime will need to use another bag. This can cause several plump helmet spawns being in one bag and several being in another.
...

This is why I use a 2 tile stockpile even though I expect there to only be one bag in the stockpile. It allows the stockpile to create a "bring item to stockpile tile" job.

[Bumber]

The standing order for mixing food also applies to mixing seed bags, IIRC.

[Libash_Thunderhead]

At first I dumped useless pits and cores, but in the end I just built more bags and ignored them.

[coalboat]

I believe if you have one stockpile for each type of seed, these "multiple seed types in one bag" problems will sort themselves out. The bag on the blackberry seed stockpile should create a job that takes the blackberry seeds out of the bag of mixed seeds. I am not certain of this, but I have no mixed seed bags, so something fixed it.

That's good to know. I'll probababy start from making dedicated stockpile for crop seeds.

The standing order for mixing food also applies to mixing seed bags, IIRC.

I always set mix food in barrel to No. This doesn't seem to affect bagging.