What do stores (or the stores' suppliers) do with left over packaged seeds?

436 Views 14 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Orchardsmith, 4 d ago

NRA_guy

Discussion Starter · 11 d ago

My local Walmart and Home Depot and Tractor Supply stores have large displays of packaged vegetable and flower seeds on display in the spring and early summer.

Yesterday, the entire Walmart seeds display was gone off the floor. (Home Depot and Tractor Supply usually do the same thing around the same time every year.)

The packages all say something like, "Packed for 2023. Sell by 12/23"; so they can't put them back out on the floor next spring.

My question is what happens to all those seeds?

By the way, to a guy who just wants to plant a late summer or fall garden, it's VERY frustrating for them to pull all the seed displays in mid-May. And, yes, I would prefer to buy from a locally owned garden store if we had one. But the big box stores have shut them all down. The nearest one is 40 miles away.

It's also frustrating to see the bizarre selection of seeds in big box stores when they are on the floor. The choice of seeds displayed does not seem to be based upon the planting zone where the store is located. Here in zone 8, I never ever see southern crowder pea seeds (which southerners grow every year), but I see tons of things like kale, swiss chard, arugula, and kohlrabi---which no southerner I know has ever planted.

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robin416

· #2 · 10 d ago

Chances are they go in the dumpster. I worked in the office for a huge nursery. Any started plants that didn't pass muster were dumped. Some employees and many of the locals would go collect those plants and take them home to plant.

Reactions: 3

Alice In TX/MO

· #3 · 10 d ago

Yeah. I understand the frustration. Big box stores are WASTEFUL.

Ask the store manager where the seeds go

I am southern. I grow Swiss Chard. My neighbor grows and sells a LOT of arugula.

If you want seeds for your climate, look online or order local catalogs.

www.southernexposure.com

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Saving the Past for the Future

www.southernexposure.com

sowtrueseed.com

Sow True Seed - Open-Pollinated & Heirloom Seed Company, Asheville NC

Organic, heirloom and southern seeds at Sow True Seed. Our 500+ varieties of vegetable, herb, and flower seeds are all non-GMO, untreated, and open-pollinated. Order your potatoes starts, sweet potato slips, garlic and asparagus crowns with us throughout the year! Retail store in Asheville...

sowtrueseed.com

sowtrueseed.com

Reactions: 1

Alice In TX/MO

· #4 · 10 d ago

www.seedsforthesouth.com

Vegetable Seeds | Seeds for the South

Order vegetable seeds online from Seeds for the South! Buy affordable, quality seeds that thrive in the South!

www.seedsforthesouth.com

www.seedsforthesouth.com

Heirloom Vegetable Seeds| South GA Seed Co.

A grower of heirloom vegetable seeds that are NON GMO and open pollinated. Competitive prices with quality garden seeds. Georgia's original heirloom seed company.

stores.southgaseedco.com

stores.southgaseedco.com

Reactions: 1

robin416

· #5 · 10 d ago

I need to remember where these links are in case I ever want to grow anything again.

Reactions: 2

DinArizona

· #6 · 10 d ago

A little bit of good news! I used to work at a local Ace Hardware. Granted, they are not big box stores; they are each independently owned franchises. We only carried one brand of seeds, Botanical Interests. Twice a year when the entire racks were emptied and replaced they offered all of us that worked there any seeds we wanted and donated the rest to our local gardeners' seed bank.
And true enough I've been in HD several times and watched them throwing wilted plants into carts to toss in the dumpster. I always wished they would let me dumpster dive but no such luck. Happy gardening everyone.

Reactions: 2

oregon woodsmok

· #7 · 10 d ago

Guessing, but they probably get sent back to the vender and then either tossed in the dumpster or donated to some charity that can use them (but not sell them)

Reactions: 2

Riverdale

· #8 · 10 d ago

I mail order mine from MIgardener. Their seeds are heirloom, and raised in the same USDA zone as I live in (they are actually 1 1/2 hours from me if I want to take a road trip). All their seeds are raised locally, so nothing from China.

Reactions: 1

wdcutrsdaughter

· #9 · 10 d ago

ask them, maybe they will sell them to you 1/2 off ?

Reactions: 1

Danaus29

· #10 · 10 d ago

Walmart here had the seed displays under the heat ducts in the garden center right after they got them in. Menards moves the seeds into the outdoor, but covered, garden section. Lowes moves their seeds to the outdoor plant section. Home Depot usually sets them in the foyer with the shopping carts, right in the sunniest spot. They might as well throw them out. After being treated like that the seeds lose most, if not all, of their viability.

Do you have any other small, local, hardware stores? A couple of the pharmacy type stores and some grocery stores might have seed displays too.

Reactions: 1

NRA_guy

Discussion Starter · #11 · 9 d ago

DinArizona said:
And true enough I've been in HD several times and watched them throwing wilted plants into carts to toss in the dumpster. I always wished they would let me dumpster dive but no such luck. Happy gardening everyone.

Our HD store (and Walmart, too, I think) just let a nearby large nursery put out all of the live plants and manage them (watering, tossing the dead ones, and removing the left overs when cold weather gets here, etc.). The stores do not discount the plants 1 penney when the planting season nears end.

I have asked.

The store just makes a little off of the sales by providing the floor space.

Danaus29

· #12 · 9 d ago

NRA_guy said:
Our HD store (and Walmart, too, I think) just let a nearby large nursery put out all of the live plants and manage them (watering, tossing the dead ones, and removing the left overs when cold weather gets here, etc.). The stores do not discount the plants 1 penney when the planting season nears end.

I have asked.

The store just makes a little off of the sales by providing the floor space.

Home Depot worked out a bad deal in regard to their live plants. It's not just your store. There are 3 within 20 miles of me and they all have the same policy and excuse for not discounting plants.

I love/hate Lowes and their discounted plants. Love them because they have pretty good discounts. Hate them because I always end up buying more plants than I can get planted before cold weather sets in.

I may be able to leave a whole box of cookies or candy set for months but I have little self control in regard to cheap, pretty plants.

Reactions: 3

dodgesmammaw

· #13 · 6 d ago

We volunteer at the local food pantry. Our Walmart donated all their seeds to us. We have them still in displays set up. People have been thrilled. No always a Wally fan but I have to say they are very good to our pantry. On average over 500 lbs of food per week.

Reactions: 1

geo in mi

· #14 · 4 d ago

It's complicated, but the Federal Seed Law requires that all seeds be tested for germination for a limited time span life, with a label on the package. They could be sold during the next season, but they would have to be reopened and retested, then be relabeled.

geo

Reactions: 1

Orchardsmith

· #15 · 4 d ago

Geo is probably right. A few years ago I was a field rep/merchandiser for Burpee. When I started, I just took all the leftover seeds home with me and gave them to anyone I wanted. The next year we were supposed to take the displays down, bag all the leftover seeds, put water in the bags and let them set long enough to ruin them, then dispose of them in a landfill. Sorry, but that is just a very stupid thing in my book. I don't work for them any more. The bottom line/lesson is that industrialized production often produces so much product that they can afford to waste and destroy much of it because of a phony 'expiration date.' These things are now reinforced with equally mindless federal and state regulations. Save your own seeds and practice the bird salute.

Reactions: 2

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