Strawberry Seed Store

The Finest Gourmet Strawberry Seeds

Strawberry Seed Vigor

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We often get questions about growing strawberries from customers who have purchased seed or plants from other suppliers. Some companies won’t answer these types of questions but we want to deliver practical information based on our experience. There’s enough misinformation out there to keep me busy full time in correcting it.

Anyhow, a customer recently contacted me about seed they had purchased for ‘Pineapple Crush’ from another supplier. After several weeks there was no sign of life in the seeds. We typically see the first signs of germination in 6-8 days. Here is how their question was answered:

…. I think one thing that makes a difference is that we are germinating and growing strawberry plants all the time, nearly year round. I usually know if there’s a germination problem because I’m doing it almost every week.

The differences in seeds (between suppliers) is not just seed quality but also how they are cared for during processing and storage and of course, their age. We turn over a lot of seed here so they don’t have much time to get old. We freeze seed as soon as it is harvested or received and keep them frozen until we package and ship them.

We don’t package thousands of packages ahead of time either. Their longest exposure to the elements is while in transit.

Harvest method also makes a difference. We don’t allow the seed to dry on the plant, we use the “blender method” and “float off” the junk and nonviable seeds.

FYI, I have found that seed that is slow to germinate most times does NOT produce vibrant plants. The resulting plants seem to lag in growth and are relatively ho-hum in fruit production.

 

International Shipping

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International orders are increasing rapidly. We’re getting more and more inquiries about costs, regulations and others. To help answer some of these questions I’m creating this post and a new category. I’ll use this category to try to answer other questions as they arise.

Today’s question was about the cost of shipping international orders. The customer wanted to know if we could ship more economically. Here’s the answer I sent:

I charge $5 handling on all orders which covers some of the expenses of filling out customs forms, etc. The remainder of the shipping charge is the actual cost of Flat Rate Priority International shipping through our post office.

I used first class mail (which runs $2 – $4) for a long time but the packages were taking 3-5 weeks to be delivered. During this time the seed is exposed to a variety of conditions, some of which might kill them. I’m sorry about what seems to be outrageous shipping costs but in the interest of safety for the seeds and getting the seeds delivered in a timely manner it’s necessary to use priority shipping.

As a side note, I just received a shipment of wholesale seeds from Europe. The UPS delivery charge was $136. I too pay the high cost of shipping.

Another email to the same customer explained that a minor reason for upgrading international shipments to flat rate priority was because during the extended weeks while shipments were in transit, customers were sending emails almost daily asking where their shipment was. I couldn’t get anything done because I was replying to all sorts of emails. And, I don’t think they liked the answers. I can’t track international orders through the post office so both the customer and I feel, and are, helpless.

This may beg the question, why don’t you ship with UPS or Fed-Ex? The simple answer is that I have chosen to go with the most economical and most reliable shipper, the U.S. Postal Service. The other options are MORE expensive.

 

Germination

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The minimum standard germination for strawberries is 60%. The actual germination for most varieties is well above this standard. Seed packets will include the actual germination for each variety.

We have published a lot of information on blogs and other sites about germination. We will attempt to gather this information and post it or link to it from this site. If you have questions in the meantime please let us know.