cheated

[Barbara]

an article in this mornings paper reads,*gardeners are being cheated by suppliers selling seeds online, a study carried out by witch returned shocking results and have decided to name and shame the culprits, who were selling dead seeds of peppers, salvia delphinium, pansy and parsnip, in one pack of peppers costing £2.85 all 9 seeds were dead, 80 % of seeds in a pack of parsnips were dead, marshalls, and dt brown,were found to be the worst, but dobies, and unwins, were also named, as selling packs of dead seeds.* , and how many times have i thought i must have done something wrong.

[Rosefriend]

Do you know Barbara I am not in the least surprised, annoyed and outraged, but not in the least surprised, to be honest.

What is going to be done about the situation then, I wonder??

RF

[oldmoleskins]

That's terrible... but I wonder how (or indeed if) they make a distinction between 'online' sales and 'shop' ones; they're the same packets, presumably, and so wherever you buy seed, it could be duff.

The only thing I can think of that would make this sort of thing likely is if Dobies, for instance, have been unwise enough to offload out of date packs returned at the end of the season in bulk, and they are being resold by online shops.

Did it make a distinction between shops and the actual seed suppliers, Barbara?

OM.

[Amo]

I've always classed myself as 'no good with seeds' and have done so much better with cuttings etc. Perhaps it wasn't me all along. Mined you even self collected only has so much chance, well mine does.

I've just looked on some Unwins seed packets and it says to use within 2 years, but I can't actually see a packed/sell by date on a few of them. The T&M have lot numbers, no date. Franchi has expiry date and test date (?) and Suffolk Herbs Sow by and Packed year end.

[Barbara]

OM, it says 17 leading online suppliers were tested, RF, the report says they hope suppliers will review quality control, it only says online, suppliers,.johnsons did well in the flower seed tests, named best buy with 85% of seeds being healthy, but that still means 15% were not

[JennyWrenn]

Goodness - many times I have sown seeds and they havent come up - blamed myself

Never thought they were "dead" to begin with

[Barbara]

makes you wonder, if the online ones are like that, are the shop bought ones any better.

[Spruance]

I haven't been overly impressed with T&M's young plants division this year but I usually have good results with their online seed.

As far as shop bought seed goes, I think Wilkinsons (own label) offer the best quality / value for money combination.

[Essexgirl]

Maybe the big names are best avoided. Most supermarkets have their own seeds and, in my experience they are ok. They can also be cheaper. Does it matter where we get them from so long as we get good results.

[Plocket]

I'm disgusted by the findings but I can't say I'm altogether surprised. I do wonder how much of it is done deliberately and how much is by accident though. I quite like Nicky's Seeds - I'd be interested to know how well they did, if you still have the results Barbara.

[Dutchy]

It does happen everywhere I suppose.
I had seeds for red dear tongue lettuce. No matter what I tried nothing showed.
I gave up in the end but should have complained to the supplier.
Fortunately not all is so bad.
I had Leek which makes little bulbs and now still have, as I am slowly very slowly generating my own supply of Oerprei.
These bulbs I ordered by e-mail. First batch had fungy so I called the supplier they appologised and went through their supply finding half of it rotten. They freely admitted it and send me a clean package for free. Real free as they deduced the other package from the bill.
The new ones were not very strong but once you have some going you get more every year and hopefully next year the harvest will be enough to eat more than 4 bulbs and still have bulbs for next years plants and some to finally send to RF whom I promised some last year.
An ongoing project with a good ending I hope.

Suppliers who don't make an effort to undo the "mistake" have 1 customer less.

[Cheerypeabrain]

I buy most of my seed on-line. I have to say that I've always been more than happy with my choice of suppliers. This year I used:

D T Brown's
Nicky's Seed
Marshalls
T&M
Suffolk Herbs

I haven't had any problems and will continue to use them

Oh yes...I did pay TEN POUNDS (p&p) for my 'free' RHS seed...and hardly any of them germinated...apart from the tithonia.

[Barbara]

sorry plocket i didnt have all the names, just the best and worst, i didnt have the magazine, just an article in the paper about it,.

[Plocket]

No worries Barbara - at least you brought it to our attention

[Rosefriend]

I have found the newspaper article that Barbara is referring to plus this from the Which report.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1067193/Gardeners-beware-Why-packets-seeds-sold-web-dead-loss.html

www.which.co.uk/press/press_topics/product_news/gardening_which_magazine/seeds_571_122779.jsp

T & M seems to be the best all rounder.

RF

EDIT: Having just looked again at the link to the Which report I see that the date is 2007. Perhaps someone else could look for the link - I get German links first. Thanks.

[Spruance]

RF, for me the Daliy Mail website article was last updated on 3rd October 2008, but I agree that the Which article dates from 28th September 2007. I wonder why that is?

[Tig]

I think they have done this twice

If you subscribe to Which? Gardening magazine - you will find that the results are on page 24 of this months issue.

www.trygardeningwhich.co.uk/thismonth.php?jlnk=lsl9020