Seeds

[Jeremy DeCoudres]

Hello all I'm new to having a garden. I went all out this year and have a big garden. I went to Walmart to buy my seeds but after doing some reading is there anything wrong with seeds from Walmart or should I be purchasing them from somewhere else?

 

[frontiergirl53]

Welcome! In answer to your question, probably not. Look at the brand on the seed packet itself, like Stover, Burpee, Seeds of change, ect, any well known seed co. and they should be good. I have mainly bought seeds from online seed companies or lowes, garden stores, ect. If you are suspicious, you can do a simple seed viability test. For me, I would buy seeds from there but not plants. Happy gardening!

 

[so lucky]

Lots of people who have been gardening for a while start wanting to try different varieties from the well known ones that Walmart carries. There are so many kinds of tomatoes, for example, and Burpee only puts maybe half a dozen different ones in their retail racks. So I think Walmart is fine till you start wanting to branch out a bit.
The plants, as frontiergirl53 refers to, are probably not hardened off, nor specifically for your area. They are also force fed so they will be at their best when delivered to the store, then they are immediately put under stress due to the bad growing conditions in the Walmart parking lot. If you have the means to grow your own, they will probably be better acclimated to your area.

 

[digitS']

I wish I hadn't missed this. First of all, Welcome Jeremy!

Hybrid seeds? The owners are usually the wholesale outfits. Those seeds may all come from just a few acres (or, square yards), from somewhere in the world. The fact that they are sold by a catalog company in Oregon or Florida, may have no significance at all!

About the best we can hope for with hybrid seed, and I grow plenty of those varieties, is that it is fresh, well packaged, priced fairly, and that the retailer has the gardener's success in mind in offering the variety.

Steve

 

[dickiebird]

I've never found seeds from ANY source that some didn't grow. One year Horrible Freight sold seeds and after the growing season they put out a table that had at least 1000 pkgs. of seeds for ten cents a pkg.
I must have bought 50 of these packs and used some of them the following spring. They sprouted just as good as the dollar packs I've used!!!
Dollar packs of seeds reminds me that I've also used lots of seeds from Dollar General Store with good results.

THANX RICH

 

[catjac1975]

A lot of the big chain stores carry Burpee which are good seed.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

no problem with getting locally sold seeds. the only issue i have with those seed racks at local stores is they don't give much of a selection. and sometimes those are prepacked with seeds that do better in southern states and not in the north. that's why i now use online ordering for things that are different but do better here, or are from seed suppliers closer to home that know the area better.

also, don't worry about if it is a hybrid. it doesn't mean it is GMO. it just means you shouldn't save the seeds because those seeds won't be true growing like the parent plant they came from.

 

[catjac1975]

Some one here posted last year that you needed a special license to grow GMO and that there are not in common homeowner markets. So chances slim that we would buy that seed. Organic are preferred buy more expensive. However as backyards most of us do not need great quantities. Remember you can save leftover seed from year to year with little effort.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know where you heard that, but for their own personal political reasons some people don't like to buy anything from Walmart or maybe other big box stores. There is nothing wrong with the seeds, but as someone mentioned, you may not get a good selection in variety and the varieties they offer are not necessarily varieties that do well where you are. On the other hand, they may be great for you. There is a lot of trial and error, success and failure, associated with gardening. One of the trial and error things is trying different varieties so you can find one you like.

 

[jasonvivier]

Hello all I'm new to having a garden. I went all out this year and have a big garden. I went to Walmart to buy my seeds but after doing some reading is there anything wrong with seeds from Walmart or should I be purchasing them from somewhere else?

They will grow however I ALWAYS recommend Heirloom seeds though, as they are usually very old tested varieties that you can save seed from forever and are for the most part untreated. Generally speaking buy them once and never again if you learn how to save seed, which isn't that difficult.

I buy mine, when I test a new variety from http://www.rareseeds.com/ or get them for free at http://heirloomseedsaving.com/ from other seed savers. Having said that, anything that gets you growing in the garden is the right way to go. Chances are you will do more good than bad gardening in anyway.Good luck!

P.S. I grow hybrids from time to time, and the ones at Territorial Seeds are pretty great.

The only thing that concerns me are Neonicotinoid treated seeds as they have the potential to kill large colonies of beneficial insects. If you are interested in learning about that please see http://www.extension.iastate.edu/CropNews/2012/0406hodgson.htm