Do you sometimes feel your being ripped off.

I paid �£1.99 for 10 chilli seeds. Sowed them indoors, kept them warm, light and moist, and absolutely nothing! Not even one! So whether it was my own mistake or whether I was sold 10 dead seeds, I don't know - I'm holding out for the free ones Gardener's World are giving away in next month's magazine!

I have literally 100 radish seeds though for the same price... I guess crops are different?

 

Jjordie you are right about packing. I remember even as a child my dad would buy a packet of seeds and that is exactly what it was - a small envelope with seeds in it. They tell us now that we need foil (or at least double) wrapped for freshness. What do they think we are buying? Sliced bread? My dad often used to keep half his seeds for the following year with no probs.

 

Sarra
Still do keep some for the next year if we have too many,
at times even kept them two years and they are ok.


I remember a local man on Norwich market who put seeds in a small
envelope for you while you watched and you got a good amount.
Doesn't seem that long ago but I suppose it must have been 15 years ago if not more

 

David, you're right I think I will complain.

Too true about gardeners (well everyone here anyway) being very generous both with sharing seeds and information. I hope that by the end of the year I'll have accumulated my own little seed collection that I can share with everyone else

 

high kype and i share packets between us,this way we can have more choices,we find that works for us

 

Thats exacly how the seed companies make their money, in my view.
How many packets of seed have we all sown, over the years, and had nothing come up.
We all assume that we have done something wrong and carry on buying their seeds.
Maybe more of us should complain, instead of just accepting the fact and buying more.

 

How likely is it that I'd be able to grow on chillis if I bought one, say, Habanero from Tesco and picked out the seeds and stuck them in a propagator? Are most supermarket vegetables sterile?

I had a feeling most seed companies put some kind of disclaimer on saying sprouting is not guaranteed. :(

 

I grew my first chillies from parrot seed Julia.

 

Julia, I've not grown chillis that way but have always grown sweet pepper from such seed.
Germination is more rapid as the seed is still moist.

 

Well that sounds like a cheaper (not to mention tastier!) way of doing things! :D

 

Julia, same advice as for Ethansmum, complain to the seed company. They have to guarantee a minimum germination rate.

 

Sorry David. Germination rate is far more difficult to prove. They may send some more for 'good faith' but they can argue - wrong temperature, wrong water, wrong soil/compost. You try proving it. You have to be skilled at complaining like Shiney and me to get away with it. Copmplain with the details. For example, 'I tried in John Innes seed compost using rain water at a day temperature of XC and a night temp of X-YC. etc.' Then they can still ignore you. But it is worth a try. Oh and ask for your complaining costs as well. Shiney is the expert at that.

 

John, I think you will find that they have to guarantee a minimum germination rate using their sowing directions.