According to a new report that the Daily Mail has reported on, consumer tests have found that up to 73 per cent of packet flower seeds are dead in the UK. You might have green fingers after all!!
Gardening is becoming more and more popular, with people pinching the pennies and wanting to know where their food comes from, growing your own vegetables, fruit and flowers is the economical and environmental option. However, millions of us spend hours painstakingly planting seeds and then fretting about the outcome. If you’re anything like me, you often disappointed when your effort is not reciprocated by an abundance of blooms. But fear not, there isn’t something wrong with you, you might just be working with already dead seeds!
Up to 59 per cent of vegetable seeds can be dead, while the figure can be as high as 73 per cent for flowers. The findings have been revealed by consumer group Which? after it tested three types of vegetable seed – spring onion, runner bean and cucumber. For flower seeds, its experts looked at begonia and pelargoniums, which are also known as geraniums.
In theory, there are legal minimum standards for the percentage of vegetable seeds that should germinate from a particular pack. However, this varies between types and is rarely enforced.
Which? found that seven of the 17 vegetable seed suppliers it tested failed to meet the minimum germination requirements.
Although there is no legal minimum germination standard for flower seeds, a number of suppliers performed badly during trials for Which? Gardening magazine.
However, it is not all bad news. Which? said that the germination rates from seeds have improved since it conducted similar research in 2007.
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