On 29/9/07 09:33, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:29:43 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

On 28/9/07 22:02, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:18:47 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

On 28/9/07 15:22, in article
, "Des Higgins"
wrote:

On Sep 28, 3:10 pm, Sacha wrote:
snip
For those who haven't
read the article's link that I posted, the tests on the seed viability
are
not the whole of the report. It also comments on the range offered and
the
info in the catalogues, for example and it coves 15 seedsmen.
This morning's radio feature remarked that the best way to get good,
reliable seed is to collect your own but it did not go into the F1 issue
with that.


that is all fair enough; as I said, I have bought crap seeds but the
big suppliers are usually fine.

Did you read it to see which seedsmen they reviewed? Some ARE the biggest
suppliers, such as Suttons, Mr Fothergill, Thompson & Morgan, Dobie's,
Unwin's, Chilterns and some are smaller, including what was the HDRA. I
think T&M came out on top.

Did you find it odd that the plants with poor flower seed germination
percentages were delphiniums in all four cases? It made me wonder in Which?
was
to blame, unless all four companies get their seed from the same source.
Unwins, Mr Fothergills, Simpsons and Edwin Tucker are the four poor
germination
companies.

The only poor germination seeds we have had are from the RHS annual handout
of
seeds.

I've pretty much said this in my answer to Stewart. For the tests to have
any real 'power' you'd need to know if the e.g. failed Delphiniums all came
from one source.

Yes I agree.

Of course, from the pov of the consumer that's almost
unimportant because they just buy packets of seeds and trust them to be
okay.

There needs to be a response from the seed companies.

I'll be surprised if there isn't! Suttons have a trial garden down here so
it will be interesting to hear what they have to say about failure rates
from their own experiences.


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'