Report on Seed Companies

[SueA]

I've just been reading an article in The Times about a report in Gardening Which? on seed companies. It says that they found dead seeds in every packet tested, up to 99% in some cases so it's no wonder some of us haven't had much luck growing things this year with this on top of the weather etc.! 15 companies were tested & only 6 of them met the Vegetable Seed (England) Regulations 2002 of 75% of lettuce seed & 70% of onion seed coming up well. The top companies were Thompson & Morgan & Plants of Distinction. Apparently 400 seeds from each supplier were tested, so it's a relatively small test but a bit of an eye-opener. You can download the report from this link.
http://www.which.co.uk/gardeningwhich/

[Two_Sheds]

OMG! thanks Sue, very interesting reading. No wonder nobody got any spring onions or parsnips this year! The companies I use came out worst

[JennieAtkinson]

I went to sow some honesty seeds earlier in the year and there was nothing in the packet! I did complain to the company but never heard anything back. It was one of the poorer ones I see!
Thanks for that Sue.

[bramble]

The catalogue from Seeds of Distinction is well worth browsing. I received mine today and has a great selection of flowers and veg.

[quark1]

I saw this - can it really be THAT bad? Surely these companies would go out of business.

Not saying that I'm a great green-fingered maestro - but I always reckon if I get a 75% strike rate and perhaps half of that does 'really' well - then I'm doing well!

I'm glad to see my choice of supplier, T&M came out on top - so I don't really have any experience of the others. T&M are also quite good with replacing stuff - and if they've run out of offer packs - you can always ask to nominate another variety within the group - they can only say no and so far I've been very well looked after.

[seasprout]

Poor Seeds.

I got my copy of Gardening Which? mag today, and it makes interesting reading.

I suspect many people who receive poor seeds just think they have done something wrong in the sowing and don't associate poor results with poor seed quality.

I hope this report will result in seed companies improving their standards.

[Snadger]

The robbing b*st*rds!!!!

I remember seeing how this was done on the Victorian Kitchen Garden DVD!
Unscrupulous seed merchants tricks...............sad to see that things haven't changed!:mad

[jondanie]

SueA,
Thanks for posting that link, it certainly makes for interesting reading! I guess you get what you pay for in terms of seed quality. From the survey, looks like saving some moeney can be very costly in the long run.

[bramble]

I bought some pansy seeds from Unwins last year while passing through England. They were F1, Jolly Joker and were not inexpensive. My total germination from the packet was, Nil.

[TonyF]

If F1 seeds don't come true from seed that you gather yourself - where do they come from originally? Surely the seed companies have gathered F1 seeds themselves.

Please don't post any techy sort of answers, just a rhetorical question really.

And this is on News 24 this morning!

[Snadger]

If F1 seeds don't come true from seed that you gather yourself - where do they come from originally? Surely the seed companies have gathered F1 seeds themselves.

Please don't post any techy sort of answers, just a rhetorical question really.

And this is on News 24 this morning!

My un-techy take on it is that when you buy F1 seed it has been produced by using a male of one cultivar and a female of another.
If you keep the seed from the resultant plant and sow it it will give you a mixture of plants, each with a bit of the male or females parentage and could possibly be self sterile!

[smallblueplanet]

When I've had stuff not grow, I always write a letter or email to the company I bought it from asking what their opinion is. I emailed DT Brown about 2 JoanJ raspberry canes that didn't grow (the others did) and they refunded the cost proportionally.

I have also had some 'no grow' seeds and returned the packets to the retailer and was given a refund on one lot and another packet of seeds from another - I don't see why they shouldn't be treated in the same way as most other purchases. Oh and a while back I bought some silver birch trees one of which died over winter (I think it was d.o.a. tbh!) and took it back - stuck out the car window! - for a refund.

Don't let 'them' get away with taking your money for poor quality goods!

[Snadger]

There should be a legally enforcable watchdog for seed merchants to say the seeds have been tested and an acceptable percentage germination rate was attained!

Surely it is counter productive anyway to sell duff seeds to the consumer as if they fail, the consumer will just take his business elsewhere and rubbish the seed supplier?

Are they not breaking the law? Is there not something in law about ...."must be suitable for the purpose"?

[SueA]

I would have thought the same as you Snadger, but I suppose if the seed companies offer your money back or replacement, as a lot of them do, they probably get away with it. I suppose there must be some way of testing whether seed is viable & would expect them to test it before it was sent out, it's O.K. offering a replacement but by the time you get it it could be too late to sow. I usually get seed from Thompson & Morgan & do find them to be pretty good, but with all the money & resources they have on hand they should be!You could say we should all save our own seed but that's not always possible with things like F1 varieties & you do have to get some bought in seed to germinate in the first place.