Cheap Seeds

**Old John** · 02-18-2012

FWIW Went to Freddies with the Wife... I was looking at their seed display when the wife pointed out the coupons there giving you a 40% (yes Forty) discount off of the Lily Miller and Ed Hume seeds... and although I usually go for the Denali seeds I grabbed a handfull of a couple varieties I thought I'd give a try...

**mudbuddy** · 02-19-2012

I don't think the brand matters.
40% off is a good deal.
Now it's a race to see who gets there before they're all gone

**JOAT** · 02-19-2012

Not necessarily brand matters, but the climate range might. I've not had very good luck with the Lilly Miller seed as it is generally stuff for longer, hotter growing seasons than I get around my place. So it kinda depends on what you're growing.

**Rock_skipper** · 02-19-2012

In a few years seeds are going to be like GOLD, lol.

Theres a couple of websites ( don't have them right off hand ) that sell bulk seeds in sealed buckets, ( enough to plant a thousand acres, ) for about $750.00.

Thinking about it, but just not sure if sealed or not wether the would grow after a certian amount of time.

**KelvinG** · 02-20-2012

I think brand matters a lot! We paid the most attention to tomato plants, but our experience suggests this applies to most all of our garden plants.

My wife would buy seeds from Fred Myers, Home depot, and Wal-Mart to grow from scratch. We would get tomato plants and they would produce, BUT they would be tall spindly plants that produced tomatos late in the year, and sometimes not all.

I talked her into trying heritage seeds. She didn’t want to do it because they were more expensive and we thought “Seeds are Seeds”. Boy was that wrong.

We got ours from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. We couldn’t believe the difference. These plants were thick stalked, bushy, and produced earlier. The same number of tomato plants produced two to three times the tomatoes.

Last year was the first year we tried heritage seeds so it may have been a fluke, but I don’t think so. In addition the more I read about GMO seeds and Hybrid seeds the more I don’t like them. One of the many problems with Hybrid and GMO plants is their seeds may be sterile or reproduce poorly. If you plan on collecting seeds to replant the next year that is an issue.

Kelvin

**big_dog60** · 02-21-2012

You may have some seed quality issues with cheaper seeds, but I think most of the difference is the variety of plants. You can get a couple seed catalogs and you have a wide variety of choices with good information on each.

**KelvinG** · 02-21-2012

Originally Posted by big_dog60

You may have some seed quality issues with cheaper seeds, but I think most of the difference is the variety of plants. You can get a couple seed catalogs and you have a wide variety of choices with good information on each.

That very well could be the case. When we bought from Baker Creek we specifically looked for cooler climate plants. Though they make a case for “heirloom” plants being more robust than plants being cross bred or genetically modified.

Our experience has convinced us not to buy seeds from the box stores.

Does anyone have experience with Denali Seed Co.? Their online catalogue markets their seeds as “Alaskan Tested”. It would be nice to buy from an Alaskan company.

**JOAT** · 02-21-2012

I've had good results with Denali as well as select varieties from Burpee. Being national, you have to specifically look for the cold climate stuff when you go to places like Burpee. Given the stuff they put on the shelf at Freddies from companies like Lilly Miller, I really don't think they take our climate into account when they ship up a seed display.

**Old John** · 02-21-2012

Originally Posted by KelvinG

That very well could be the case. When we bought from Baker Creek we specifically looked for cooler climate plants. Though they make a case for “heirloom” plants being more robust than plants being cross bred or genetically modified.

Our experience has convinced us not to buy seeds from the box stores.

Does anyone have experience with Denali Seed Co.? Their online catalogue markets their seeds as “Alaskan Tested”. It would be nice to buy from an Alaskan company.

I have consistently used Denali seeds for several years now. I've been satisfied with their product and had good results, except for those summers when it was predominantly wet and cool... This year I went to Burpee for some cucumber and tomatoe seeds that the others don't seem to have available.. Last year I had excellent results with some Ed Hume tomatoe seeds that I bought at Freddies...

Although Denali Seeds advertises as "Alaskan Tested" I don't think they are an Alaskan Company..