Q: I bought your seeds in the past but have problems with the germination. How do I know your seeds are good?
A: All our seed is stored in a climate controlled environment, and regularly tested for germination rate. Our long term seed storage room is controlled to 60°F (15°C) and 50% RH, and much of the seed is in hermetically sealed packages from our suppliers. All of our retail seed packs are labeled for lot and packaging year as required by the department of agriculture (USDA), and we follow strict “first in first out” (FIFO) handling when stocking our shelves and filling orders. We typically do not pre-pack more than what we will sell in any given quarter, so that all the seed packs on our shelves stay fresh. Any seeds that do not pass our germination rate tests are removed from inventory and are taken off the website.
Q: Some of the seeds I bought germinated well, but others did not, why?
A: Germinating seeds can sometimes be tricky, and not all seeds are the same. Please pay close attention to the recommended temperature range for germination and growing, and your specific growing zone. We often find that our customers in the northern climates try to start their seeds too early, when the night time temperatures fall below what the seeds & plant type can accept, which will often increase germination time and greatly reduce germination rate.
Q: I planted all of the sees in the pack, and they germinated well, but then the weather changed and all the plants died, what should I do?
A: There will always be fluctuations in the weather, especially in recent history and likely more so in the future. We generally recommend that you don’t germinate all your seeds at one time, but instead break then into 2-3 groups and start them 1-2 weeks apart. This will increase your chances of success and will provide fresh veggies over a longer period of time as each batch reaches maturity. This is especially true for leafy greens and long beans that have shorter life cycles and fruiting duration.
Q: Why are your seed packs so much cheaper than the other brand seeds?
A: We are able to keep our prices low because we deal directly with the seed growers, import the seeds ourselves, and maintain our own small packaging and order fulfillment facility on our little farm here in Florida. We perform all our own seed pack printing and packaging right on site, and maintain a small in-process inventory to pick from when we receive your order. Because of how we run our small family business, we don’t spend a lot of money paying other people to print, pack, store and distribute our products, and unlike the big brands (like Kitazawa which is now True Leaf) we don’t have a huge advertising budget. We prefer to keep our prices low, increasing our customer base organically through word of mouth, and passing our savings onto our customers, so they can buy more varieties of vegetables to try in their garden, and hopefully will in turn come back to us the next time they need seeds for their garden.
Q: Your inventory is low, how do I know I will get the seeds I ordered, or that they are fresh?
A: We use the online inventory to track the number of seed packs we currently have available for shipping. Most of our inventory is stored in bulk containers in climate controlled environment to protect the seeds. When our seed pack inventory runs low, we simply create more packs and adjust our inventory. This ensures that you will receive fresh seed in good condition for your growing season, and that the packs you order are on our shelf ready to ship!