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Seed prices

1K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  anniew 
#1 ·
I have received web notificationn from a couple catalogs this week...oh my! The price of their seeds! One hybrid beef steak tomato from Johnny's was listed at $10+ for a PACKET. I hope that packet has 200 seeds in it! Is this what we are in store for or is this just a price on new, new plants? I haven't bought seeds from a catalog in a while.
 
#3 ·
I always buy from catalog, usually Johnny' s seeds. I think it's the newly developed varieties that cost an arm and a leg, and it'll usually say how many seeds you get. I don't get the expensive varieties. I go for the attributes I'm looking for, compare price/ amount with other varieties, and then decide. I think we spent about $60 on seeds last year, our garden is appx. 2000 sq feet.
 
#4 ·
I guess there might be a shortage of Gluten-free, organic, heritage variety, non-GMO, free range, grass fed tomato seeds this year. Many folks are willing to pay extra for all that.

Years ago, I saw the huge price disparity between seeds by the pound and seed packets. I thought I saw an opportunity to get cheaper seeds to gardeners. I bought a bag of Better Boy tomato seeds and had a few hundred little envelopes printed up with variety, planting tips, etc. poured an ample amount of seeds into each packet and tried to market them through a few local garden stores, grocery stores and feed mills. Turns out, folks like the fake bright colored packets and high prices for their garden seeds.
 
#5 ·
Beefmaster Hybrid from Jungs for comparison: https://www.jungseed.com/P/00061/Beefmaster+Hybrid+Tomato

That's ten cents a seed......would you have around a dollar invested in every plant you start from seed? Flat, potting soil, containers, lighting---greenhouse capitalization, fertilizers. And what would your return profit/yield/ quarts be?

Darn, I just ate the last one a few days ago---and I'm itching to start already for next year......

I'd pay a dollar for a home grown tomato right now.... :)

geo
 
#6 ·
I've ordered seeds a very few times, only some kind of odd stuff. OR, some promotion/free shipping sort of thing. BUT, I did order seedless tomato sees the very first year they came out(Burpees) Seeds were $5 for 10 of them, only 4 germinated, and the tomatoes were just pitiful. They were good though, and definitely seedless. I think I ended up with around a $7 charge for sending 1 packet of 10 seeds!!
Mostly I grow the same old stuff as always, and save seeds from year to yer. I did enjoy Martins give-aways though, I probably planted and tried out 50 varieties of tomatoes.

I sometimes get the urge to buy seeds on EBAY, but honestly, you don't know what you're getting. The local seed&feed used to give me seeds for half price, and beans, corn, etc for a buck a pound, after the season was over. Worked for me, year old beans perform like new ones, but corn loses viability at the rate of about 33% a year, in my experience.
 
#9 ·
There are a lot of other, cheaper, heirloom places to find on "teh internets." Prices are so much lower than what you guys are saying...Just look around on these websites.
https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/tomatoes/pink/
and this one...https://www.seedsofchange.com/productcategory.aspx?c=185
or this one...https://www.botanicalinterests.com/...-heirloom-seeds/category:vegetables/filter:86
Maybe this...http://www.amishlandseeds.com/red_tomatoes.htm

I haven't used this last one but have bought from all of the other companies I listed.
 
#10 ·
There are a lot of other, cheaper, heirloom places to find on "teh internets." Prices are so much lower than what you guys are saying...Just look around on these websites.
https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/tomatoes/pink/
and this one...https://www.seedsofchange.com/productcategory.aspx?c=185
or this one...https://www.botanicalinterests.com/...-heirloom-seeds/category:vegetables/filter:86
Maybe this...http://www.amishlandseeds.com/red_tomatoes.htm

I haven't used this last one but have bought from all of the other companies I listed.
Thanks. I order a lot online so I'm well versed. I noticed that High Mowing has much cheaper seeds too. Gives me hope. I'm going to spend some time window shipping for seeds for fun today - before Thanksgiving cooking starts tomorrow.
 
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