Topic: Number of seeds in packet?

[artichoke]

Opened a Thomson and Morgan packet of Fennel (victoria F1 hybrid) yesterday, and found 15 seeds!  On the packet it says "average 50 seeds". Has this happened to anyone else, before I ring them up and ask them to send me a fuller packet? It cost £2.19. I definitely did not spill any.

[1066]

No that hasn't happened to me ..... yet. But I would still phone them!!

[Flighty]

I'd certainly complain!  :)

[Mortality]

 :o complain, i'm sure they will replace them.

[landimad]

I know they said an average, but that is well below the average to all of us customers.
I would get on to them straight away and get something extra for your trouble.

[artichoke]

Exactly. 50 could be an average between say 2 and 98 and 15 and 85 and so on, but that is not what we expect from a packet of seeds..... I'd have been happy with 35 and probably not have bothered to count them, but the little pile of seeds on my hand was so small that I did count them.

Anyway, I have phoned, and they are supposed to be phoning me back "immediately", but I'm not holding my breath.

[Fork]

Picked up a pack of seeds from my local garden center last year and it was empty!!.

They changed it without a problem but I make sure I shake the packets now  :)

[lincsyokel2]

Exactly. 50 could be an average between say 2 and 98 and 15 and 85 and so on, but that is not what we expect from a packet of seeds..... I'd have been happy with 35 and probably not have bothered to count them, but the little pile of seeds on my hand was so small that I did count them.

Anyway, I have phoned, and they are supposed to be phoning me back "immediately", but I'm not holding my breath.

Unfortunately the finer points of the mathematical concept of 'average' are usually lost on Joe Public. 'Average' is pretty  meaningless unless you know the sample size and the Standard Deviation.

But id still complain

Pisses me off theres only 8 cucumber seeds in a packet. Surely Cucumbers arent all that hard to get to seed ?

[Digeroo]

I bought a very expensive packet of Fi Florian Stawberry and found it only had 8 seeds rather than the stated 15.  So I took it back to the shop and got another one.   So now from two packets I have managed to get 20 little seedlings.  Since the packet cost £4.19 I was not prepared to let them get away with it.  There were 18 seeds in the second packet.  It is a good thing I had the second packet since otherwise I might have complained about the germination rate!

I did get two inner packets with one packet of seeds and I did not take one back.  So if anyone is missing a pack of Atlantic Giant Pumpkins I have got it.

I certainly get annoyed by only getting a tiny number of tomato seeds in a packet.  When you consider how many there are in one tomato, you are paying several pounds for a tiny slice of one tomato.

Return them to where you bought them and they should replace them. 

[goodlife]

Oh that happens often...and every single time I complain...and been given new packet too..I'm sure seed companies know about it and thats why they do swap without any problems... ;D
I check everytime now when it is not too big job to do...often there is too much as well.. ;D

[artichoke]

Well, they did ring back and will replace it, so assuming there are enough seeds in the new packet that is now sorted.

I'll probably check a little more carefully in future, as I have never bothered before. Leek seeds don't go very far....I am leaving some parsnips and leeks to go to seed this year so that I don't have to keep buying them.

[springs]

i always buy from moles seeds.They sell by weight .

[lincsyokel2]

i always buy from moles seeds.They sell by weight .

I fancied growing some Sugar Beet, so i enquired at a seed house, i was gobsmacked, Beet seeds is £1000 a Kg. This is because the seeds come in clusters that have to be separated into individual seeds by hand.

[Larkshall]

I purchased a packet of Shirley Tomato seed the year before last, they were very expensive. Last year I decided that I would buy plants instead, when I saw them at the same price as the common varieties like Alicante. Not only did I buy two plants but then proceeded to take cuttings (side shoots) off those plants. I paid £1.98 for the two and finished up with 16 plants in the greenhouse. So, for Tomatoes, get plants, take cuttings and you will save a lot.

[Digeroo]

Since this thread started I have been counting the seeds in my packets and have so far had two T&M packets out of three types of brussel sprouts 10 and 12 short in 30 and 40.  In other words they are a third short.  Actually they other packet was short but only 3 in 60.

Updating the strawberries, I now only have 18 plants of which two are not thriving and have just removed 2 plants which turned out to be weed seedlings.  Maybe they came on the compost though I have not had any with other sowings and they were dead centre in the pots.  So while I only had 8 seeds from the first packet it did produce 8 plants while 18 seeds in the second packet has also produced 8 good plants.  Odd that. 

[lincsyokel2]

I have a packet of turnip seeds here, it says "Average content 5000 seed"

any volunteers ?

[PurpleHeather]

I always buy mine in shops and as a well seasoned seedaholic I can confirm that all packs vary in quantity of seeds in them so it is well worth checking the seed packs gently with the fingers before buying. Granted some are so fine it is hard to spot any difference at all but I often find that there is a pack which is slightly flatter or fatter than others.

Whilst the word average is a bit of a cop out. Some seed packs do specify how many seeds are in them, some say nothing about the quantity and others use the average.

I have counted where there are supposed to be less than 20 in the pack but if the pack says something like 250. I would need to be very bored to check that.

[Mortality]

Just checked my Painted Mountain Corn from http://brownenvelopeseeds.com/index.php/ just out of curiosity really, Packet says average 50, it still has 60 seeds in it and i've already planted 8.  ;D

[cornykev]

My sweetcorn always seems to have 8 or 9 exta's in my average of 40 seeds.     ;D ;D ;D

[artichoke]

I started the thread because of having only 15 seeds in a fennel packet claiming "average 50". T&M were very polite on the phone and promised to send a replacement with a recent order. It arrived today, and there was no replacement fennel.....