No show various seeds again

[Marb67]

Even more Wilko seeds in date have failed. Terrible quality!

[Penellype]

This is what I mean about the peas:



Both lots of peas were put to soak on 3rd May at the same time. They were drained yesterday morning and put on damp kitchen paper in my kitchen which is at about 18 degrees.

On the left, 100 Hurst Greenshaft from a packet purchased last month, sow by 2028. On the right, 44 saved Hurst Greenshaft seeds, all I have left. You can quite clearly see the difference in colour. The saved seeds have no smell, the bought ones are already starting to smell "off". Several of the saved seeds are starting to produce roots, the tell-tale sign is cracking just below the tip of the bulge where the root is, and I will plant these in modules today. None of the bought seeds are looking like producing roots yet, although they may do so in the next few days.

This is categorically not due to temperature, soaking, compost or anything else I have done.

[Andraste]

That's really interesting - & so reassuring to know there's a good chance it's the seed & nothing I could have done differently!

[ameno]

@Penellype That's exactly the experience I have with saved beans seeds compared to shop-bought, so I always save my own now.

I have similar issues with shop-bought peas, and have been considering saving my own, but I had been slightly reluctant as peas crop far more lightly than beans, and yet you need so many more seeds (20 bean seeds is plenty, but I would need at least 50 pea seeds), so it would eat into the crop rather to save seeds...

[Mark_Riga]

I always save at least 600 pea seeds, they were hurst Greenshaft but have mutated somewhat as now grow to about 4' but are still quite sweet and the pods look like Hurst. Never have a problem with germination. These sow a 50' row and generally get about 8kg of fresh peas to eat and freeze. I leave about 3' unpicked to save seeds and also any pods missed in rest of row. Save seeds out of pods with at least 10 seeds in.

[ameno]

I grow exclusively sugar snap peas, which don't crop quite that heavily. I think I shall bite the bullet and save some of my own this year, though. I'm sick of only half the packet sprouting, and of the sprouted ones only half again actually emerging after planting...

[Penellype]

This is what I mean about the peas:



Both lots of peas were put to soak on 3rd May at the same time. They were drained yesterday morning and put on damp kitchen paper in my kitchen which is at about 18 degrees.

On the left, 100 Hurst Greenshaft from a packet purchased last month, sow by 2028. On the right, 44 saved Hurst Greenshaft seeds, all I have left. You can quite clearly see the difference in colour. The saved seeds have no smell, the bought ones are already starting to smell "off". Several of the saved seeds are starting to produce roots, the tell-tale sign is cracking just below the tip of the bulge where the root is, and I will plant these in modules today. None of the bought seeds are looking like producing roots yet, although they may do so in the next few days.

This is categorically not due to temperature, soaking, compost or anything else I have done.

This morning I have potted up 40 of the bought seeds that have either developed a root or look like doing so. Whether the remainder will germinate remains to be seen, but at least I know that the whole packet are not completely dead.

[Penellype]

Another 30 or so seeds germinated, so about 70% overall. The remainder look really horrible and have been thrown away.

[Penellype]

Question for the mods - I have done an analysis of various seeds that I have sown that are in date, looking specifically at the seed merchant. The results are interesting. Am I allowed to mention seed merchants by name here if I am going to say that their seeds are generally poor, or is that not allowed?

[Snoop Puss]

^Will consult with Nicos, Penellype, and get back to you. We might need to consult the publishers' admin about this.

[Penellype]

^Will consult with Nicos, Penellype, and get back to you. We might need to consult the publishers' admin about this.

Thanks Snoop Puss - I didn't want to get anyone into trouble. My results are in any case only a very small sample and wouldn't stand up to scientific scrutiny.

[Peanut]

Hi Penellype if you're not allowed to post publically, I'd still be really interested in seeing your results, would you be able to pm me instead?

[Penellype]

Hi Penellype if you're not allowed to post publically, I'd still be really interested in seeing your results, would you be able to pm me instead?

I will wait to see what the mods say before doing anything.

[Marb67]

Surely you can post an opinion on results. It's not as if it's slander. It's based on your own experience. That's why we have reviews on Amazon, Trust pilot etc. I have found Johnson's, Wilko the most unreliable.

[Snoop Puss]

Throwing in my penny's worth in a personal capacity, and not as a mod, there are so many factors relating to seeds - among them storage by suppliers, especially those bought in shops and garden centres, seeds on special offer perhaps not being at their freshest and even variability from one year to the next, as well as our own growing practices - it's hard to generalise about one entire brand being worse than another in all cases.

For example, I've got a tray of brassica seedlings, seven rows of which all germinated a while back. The other row, not a one of the twenty or so seeds I sowed from a brand new packet (summer purple sprouting). If that was the only packet of seeds I'd bought from that supplier, it would have looked like the brand was rubbish, something other rows suggest is not the case across their entire range.

And there used to be complaints here from time to time about one very cheap seed vendor on eBay, yet I only once had a problem with their seeds (mislabelled packet), despite buying lots from them at one stage (I still would, but seed exports between the EU and Britain are no longer permitted for people like me). At this kind of level, my experience and that of other members also happy to recommend this seller is only anecdotal and it does not match that of the people who had complaints, which is also only anecdotal.

The other thing I've noticed - or think I've noticed - is that a number of seemingly different brands in the UK are owned by the same owner. Do they all get their seeds from the same sources? Probably.

Seeds are expensive, especially in the amounts we tend to buy, so of course we want value for money. But more expensive still is the amount of effort we put into growing them, plus what we spend on compost, fertiliser, raised bed materials, tools, pots, even water. My biggest growing-related beef isn't over seeds but the quality of seed compost. But that's a subject we've discussed at length elsewhere, so no point raising it here.