Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello

It's a long time since my last post here but I'm back!

I saw in my daily paper that garden Which? have tested the quality of seeds from a load of the big firms.

I've looked at the Which? website but you have to be a subscriber to see the results so if anyone here has a sub could they let us know at least the best and worst.

PM me if think that Which? will be after you for repeting their results.

Thanks if anyone can help -- seed germination is something I've wandered about for some time now.

Will

Hi

Read the article from the Daily Mail. It lists some at the end.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -loss.html

Cheers

Thanks, Richard

That article has more detail than the Daily Telegaph where I first saw this highlighted.

Thanks for the trouble
Will

I had been wondering about this with a packet of Purple Haze carrots I bought this year as none of them germinated. Every other kind did.

I have found that Real Seeds sell very fresh seed and it is noticeable how vigorous and quick to germinate they almost always are. They supply a generous amount too.

Anyone else had problems with the germination of Purple Haze from T & M?

It would be interesting to see the full list of tests and compare them with results of people using this web-site to see if we agree with the Which findings or whether they were just isolated cases. I bet the seed companies are worried.

We are members of Which? and got the full report. As last year, I was surprised that DT Brown fared so badly in the tests because I have always found their seeds very reliable (as well as reasonably priced and with a good range).

this topic comes up every time which publish seed tests, usually theres a lot of people here who completely dissagree with their findings, i guess a lot must depend on how green fingered the which testers are personally i wouldnt even bother reading their results without a detailed description of their test procedures, even then the chances are i would do things differently to them so their results are not relevant to my conditions.

Richard

I am entirely in agreement with you. I don't think Which? gardening reports are worth the paper they're written/sold on.
I get all my seeds from Tuckers, Seeds of Italy, Real Seeds and Simpsons, and have not had any failures. In the past I have bought from Marshalls, D T Brown, Dobies, Kings, Chiltern Seeds and a few others and have never had any failures.

Hi Richard,
I too agree with you. I feel that Which rely quite heavily on condemning one company or another in order to try and make their report newsworthy and thus increase sales.
With their normal consumer product approvals they have been found in the past to be sadly lacking and I can see no reason why their report on seeds should be any different.
As Alan has said he has dealt with a great many seed companies and he has not suffered any bad experiences. I too have done just that and simply do not suffer the difficulties that Which seem to find. Their headline news last year was some Delphinium seeds sold by Tuckers, who, to me, have been wonderful over the years, which failed to germinate and for that the whole range including their vegetable seeds were very wrongly condemned.
I suspect that the Which report is a disservice rather than a service to gardeners and should be ignored.
JB.