You are very funny. Although the low seed count doesn't surprise me, $1.15 is not bad for Burpee this year. Do you know I saw packets in their catalog for more than $4 per packet? I too decided Burpee was probably not worth much consideration.

Oh, and there were some packets that were more costly!

Hi cottage_garden..Talk about funny, I just logged on to see if i had gotten any replies, since i had not heard anything and all of a sudden your email came in. Yes they have lost my business. On a side note, today i was thinking....(dangerous)lol If America boycotted a different oil company every week I wonder if we could force the price down:( Ok, a differnt one for a month at a time:)Somthing has to give with the gas crises! I see it destroying us if the government does not do something to those greedy bas--rds. Oh wait, the government is in cahoots with them.

I also feel cheated with very low seed counts. On the other hand with zuchinni 13 plants should be enough to feed the neighborhood. Al

I should think 13 zucchini seed for $1.15 would be considered quite reasonable.

If, strike that, when they expected me to pay several dollars shipping and handling too, that is when I went to WalMart and got the 97¢ package.

(BTW, I can walk to WalMart. If I had to buy four dollar gas to drive to WalMart then the shipping and handling might be more attractive.)

I bought seeds for 'Florian' pink-flowering strawberry from T&M for $4.95. There were supposed to be 15 seeds in the packet, which I thought was pricey, but my packet only had 6 seeds. They all germinated, but still...

I agree, 13 plants would be a plenty of veggies, "if all produced" but i still think Burpee is taking advantage of us. With all the pest and disease I get in my area it is tough to get 13 "or in my case" 18 plants to supply me with enough veggies. I would not think of driving 8 miles to my nearest walmart just for seeds. With the gas crises I have radically changed my driving habits.

zuchinni 13 plants should be enough to feed the neighborhood. Al

I'm finding that the most expensive/least # of seeds usually points to a patented plant species. Sometimes even a GMO seed. More and more, I just collect as many seeds of popular/rare types as I can and get all my seeds throught the GW seed exchange.

Anything less than 20 seeds in a packet is ridiculous.

I have found that comparing prices prevents me from paying more for less.

Are you real? The oil companies make approximately 8 cents per gallon on gasoline. The government taxes it (federal, state, and local) anywhere from 45 cents to 87 cents. The govenment is also insisting on further regulations for environmental reasons all the time, on refining, etc. That has added 42 cents to every gallon. Be mad at the govenment and the environmentalists. Better yet, if you buy things at Walmart, where do you think it comes from? Mostly China. The growth in Chinese and India manufacturing has caused oil demand to increase and OPEC has kept the supply the same. We can't drill for our own oil on the coasts and in ANWR because of the environmentalists. So, it's the government, the environmentalists or the consumers who buy at Walmart. You pick who to blame but you're barking up the wrong tree if you think it's the oil companies.

As far as seeds go, they price them to whatever we will pay for them. I buy most of my seed from Fedco but I do put in an order for Burpees Brandy Boy tomatoes! Great tomato, and well worth the cost of the seed.

Good grief give me a break. I almost blew my tea all over my pc laughing when i read your comments>"We can't drill for our own oil on the coasts and in ANWR because of the environmentalists." Do you really think that drilling for oil in ANWR or the Gulf is going to bring the gas price down? Boy have they brainwashed you. And my thread is about the small amount of seeds that you get from Burpee anyway. Supply and demand..go ahead and buy your seeds from Burpee.Walmart and non-burpee will do me fine. I think gas went up .50 cent since my original post. Just wait for a hurricane, refinery problem or another big problem in mid-east. You have not seen high gas prices yet. $5.00 a gallon by summer without any disruptions. I believe in fair market but not at the expense of bringing down a country.Hope everyone's gardens are thriving. I got baby tomatoes, green beans, snap peas and squash:)

Gulf,
You obviously don't believe in a free market system. Gas will go up as long as the demand increases or the supply decreases. If you want it to go down then increase the supply or decrease the demand. That is the way our system works. Sorry you can't understand that. Drilling in ANWR and the gulf will bring prices down, but not a lot. The problem is the demand right now. Not buying as much gasoline will help. Not fueling the Chinese and Indian economies will help, like we do when we are buying all the goods from Walmart. My point is that WE have put ourselves into this situation with our consumption habits and now you want to punish the oil companies for providing what we demand? That makes no sense. Sounds like you've been brainwashed. THINK!

Back to Burpee... I will gladly spend the $4.65 for 30 seeds for Brandy Boy. It's an excellent tasting tomato with good disease resistance. When I planted Brandywine I got only 2 tomatoes per plant on average but with Brandy Boy I get 10x that. The taste is just as good to me. I also get greater than 90% germination (this year it was 95%). If a pack went up to $10 then I would probably stop buying it and just put more plants of another variety. BTW, I wouldn't buy my zucchini seeds from Burpee since a Fedco pack of Black Zucchini costs 80 cents and lasts me 3 years.

macheske, Look we disagree on why oil prices are high and I am strong in my belief that the high prices are causing extreme damage to mny families and the economy. No use argueing about it anymore. Regarding Burpee seeds, I will buy other brands. Nuff said...Hope your garden does well this year.

No problem. At least we can agree that the high gas prices are a problem!

My garden is growing great this year. We're harvesting broccolini, romaine, onions and pac choi. The peppers are about a foot tall, the tomato plants have just started getting tiny green tomatoes on them. The zucchini and summer squash are starting to get flowers. The beans are getting second leaves (except the limas which were planted last weekend). The cukes, watermellons, cantelope, and pumpkins are struggling with the recent unseasonably cold weather. Overall, doing great.

Hope your garden is doing the same.
Rick

susanc, you should contact Thompson & Morgan about the low seed count in the packet of pink strawberry. I'm sure they'd be glad to send you another, considering the slight in stated number. Try their toll free phone #, if available. LOL

Here's one for you. While on a business trip to SC, I went to Park Seeds. I bought several packs of different hot peppers and when I opened the pack of Kung Pao - there was just the one seed.
Better be a good yield!
Linda

I just read the other day in local paper about how well Burpee seed company is doing.It also mentioned how the seeds are packed by automation. I hope this is the cause of why the seed count varies per pack.

i to find burpee seed a little skimpy with their seeds.i sometimes find cheaper seeds at dollar general or some other discount store.

Are they trying to compete with big oil companies and make me hate them too?
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It's amazing what will drive people to hate these days.

I buy from Burpee if I can't find them anywhere else. Most of you are growing veggies, but they have what they say is an exclusive White Wedding zinnia (25 seeds for $4.95, bought 2 packets and can't find one). Didn't count, but almost all germinated. Also got a new blue annual salvia I couldn't find anywhere else, they say in their description that it is blue and it looks like that in their photo, but some are starting to bud in their 6-packs (finally got a lot planted out), and they look like they are going to be dark purple. That ticks me off. And the same thing happened with some blue catmint from another company. It is dark purple, I can live with that, but I checked my empty seed packet because I thought I bought those from Burpee, didn't, and the blossoms don't look anything at all like their photo. Should I complain to them for what I consider dishonesty? I know photos don't always show up true on the web, but still.

I really feel sorry for people caught in the gas crunch, just to fill to the top from half takes about $17 for my 91 Honda Civic. The Europeans have been paying the equivalent of $5 for years now, but I think they use more mass transit, plus some people in our country have to commute long distances to their jobs, and we are so large and used to the convenience of driving everywhere. I drive very few miles any more, still under 70,000 on my car. It's really hurting low-income people, even middle-income people. The wealthier don't seem to mind, same with costs of heating and cooling their huge homes. Otherwise I don't want to argue about it and am not sure if there will be a solution, but people are sure mad about it, and I don't blame them for that.

But darn Walmart, you have to drive way out to get to ours no matter where you live, plus they sell gas, too. I only shop there when I can't find what I want anywhere else.

I do try to save seeds from plants that have done well in my yard, but not all are doing that well this year from last year's saved seeds, except the volunteer tomatoes I got on ebay last year as Big Boy and turned out to be cherry tomatoes, some are too hard to save, some are hybrids that may not grow again, and we've sure had enough rain.

Just wander in and out of here now and then, usually I hang out on the OGR and winter sowing forums.

The seed count tends to depend on whether it's a special variety and also whether it's something that doesn't set a lot of seed. I haven't bought anything from Burpee in quite some time. I ordered Crambe cordifolia seeds about 2 years ago from Thompson & Morgan. They sent 6 seeds. All six seeds germinated, and I now have 6 huge plants (one of them bloomed for the first time this year, it was spectacular!).

When I grew a lot of veggies as a kid, we tended to put 3 seeds in each mound for squash, so 6 seeds does sound a bit skimpy! Of course, 3 plants of zucchini will serve the needs of a fairly large city.

--Ron

This is an old thread, but I have my two cents to add. I bought Burpee Candy Cane zinnia seeds back in March, planted them early, and patiently waited for them to bud. Candy Canes are red and white - these came up all yellow. I am NOT happy. I also bought a pack of purple prince and every flower is a slightly different color purple. I guess that's okay, but they don't look like the photo on the seed packet. :(
Has anyone else had problems this year with the flowers seeds not being what you bought?