Read the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mother Earth News

Wow - 10 years ago Parks would have been near the top of that Mother Earth list. Things sure have changed in the seed business.

Anyway, I have good luck with Willhite Seeds and Vermont Beans Seed Company. Willhite is a little bit slow in processing orders, but worth the wait cause they have what I want.

So far as I know, there are no GM garden seeds. What would be the purpose? Do you know of any? The only ones I know of are for use in combination with herbicides in agriculture.

Jim

How are you defining "GMO"? It is my understanding that there aren't any actual gmo seeds available to the home gardener anyway. Hybrids? Sure. GMO? No.

Dave

What is gmo?

Dave,
You are correct, no company sells GMO(Genetically Modified Organism) seeds to the home gardener. (To get GMO seed you need to be a commercial grower and have to sign legal documents before buying the seed.) That does not stop a lot of places advertise that they don't sell them. I write on my site that I will never have anything to do with them as opposed to I don't sell them.
Not sure who started the whole rumor that GMOs are available to the home gardener, but unfortunately many people believe it.
Also no home gardening see companies are owned by Monsanto. They acquire Seminis a large seed producing company. Seminis sells to wholesalers. So wholesalers buy seeds from various seed producing companies. They then sell to the retail companies. So it is possible that some varieties of seeds that originated at Seminis do work their way down to the home gardener, but they would be OP(Open Pollinated) or regular Hybrid, NOT GMO.
There is an unfortunate rumor out there that Burpee is owned by Monsanto. They are NOT. They are owned by George Ball Jr.
Hope this clears up a few things,
Remy

Fedco might be what you are looking for, http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds.htm . Here's a link to their policy, http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/genetic_engineering.htm . I've ordered from them for several years with no problems. Their prices are good and their catalog is fun to read (even though I am as conservative as CR Lawn is liberal). They are a cooperative so a few of their policies are a little different.

Here is a link that might be useful: fedco

Corn is often contaminated by GMO pollen. Pollen does get around, and if seed companies do not routinely check their suppliers then who knows what you are getting. Ever wonder why so many people have allergies to foods these days? No one really knows the safety of these things and they are just everywhere. I think people should speak up for truth in labeling so we know what we are eating. Seriously. These things do matter.

Technically, Monsanto and other "agribusiness" playing in GMO do own seed suppliers.

Their production has nothing to do with GMO, though...it's just a business they own under their umbrella almost solely pumping out hybrids or market-branded plants.

Also, GM production for vegetable crops is very out of style...field crops are still where the money/interest is. GMO sweet corn is next on the "market vegetable" front and it should be coming to market in a few years, though. There's GMO yellow squash (not for home gardener) out there, but even the cost vs. yeild gain doesn't sell seeds on any farmland but the most infected/diseased. Almost every papaya you buy is GMO against papaya ring spot virus...and it's the main reason papayas are cheap the past few years.

The "hot" thing in GMO production right now is grain/storage crops with drought resistance and aluminum toxicity resistance (huge problem in arid lands, esp. in Africa).

The GMO companies are working on vegetable crops, but it's such a small amount of their research...and the seed buying ig boys are the grain growers planing 100s-1000s of acres.

"(huge problem in arid lands, esp. in Africa)."

oops...

That should be in wet lands...tropical areas...rice growing areas in warmer climates...parts of the south-east US (though not horrible in most places in the US and can be corrected by liming to adjust pH to limit available Al uptake).

I just went over that list of the top 15 seed companies at Mother Earth News. To this point I have purchased from twelve out of the fifteen companies without ever having read the article. I found them at Dave's Garden Watchdog. I had never even heard of the other three companies. Going to have to check them out.

I order from E& R Seeds have for years always place order over phone love there service.eandrseed@yahoo 1-866-510-3337 THER prices are the best!

For heirloom seeds, I have shopped here http://www.heirloomseeds.com/ for years.

What amazes me is that MEN does not even rate several of the very best OP seed sources. For example, Sandhill Preservation is not included. There are also specialty places such as Tomato Growers Supply which are limited to 3 or 4 veggies types that need to be considered. TGS has a huge variety of tomato, pepper, eggplant, and tomatillo seed.

Here is a link to a webpage I built with hotlinks to most of the companies with websites. It deliberately includes all companies I am aware of including the 15 from MEN plus a hundred more.

http://www.selectedplants.com/seedsupplies.htm

DarJones

DarJones I have not gone over your list at The Garden Watchdog. However with just a quick glance. I see many good companies on your list I have purchased from that are not on M-E's list. Morgan County Seeds for one. But there are so many other too like Sandhill and Native Seeds, Seedman and Sample Seed Shop, Kitazawa and so many more I have purchased from with excellent results.

Thanks for posting the list. I will refer to it in the future.

I did check your list against my list though. Might I suggest...

Hirts Garden. I think all their negatives are for plants; not seed sales and it's easy for things to go wrong when shipping plants.

St. Clare Heirloom Seeds.

Heritage Harvest Seed. a lot of guys in the Beans, Peas & Other Legumes forum order from this company.

West Coast Seeds.

Gourmet Seed International.

Sustainable Seed Company.

Italian Seed and Tool.

Amishland Heirloom Seeds.

Botanical Interests.

Thanks Thisisme, I was already in the process of updating my website for 2012. Please re-load the link and you should see most of the suggested companies plus about 50 more have been added.

I will not add Amishland or Hirts at this time because of repeated problems with seed. I have several friends who ordered seed from Hirts and got the wrong variey. Amishland has a habit of re-naming varieties at any whim.

There are not many that I refuse to list, but for those few, it is because of repeated problems that went unresolved.

DarJones

I like Pinetree Garden Seeds. (www.superseeds.com). I like them because they have smaller packets of seeds, and since I have a smaller space to garden in, this works for me. Plus, the smaller packet is a smaller price. They have always been timely about shipments and let me know if something was running behind.

DarJones I understand where you are coming from. However I have heard lots and lots of complaints about miss labeled seeds at Pepper Joe's in the forums and he's on your list. I love his selection and he has good customer service. But I don't want another pack for free after the first one was not true to label. I chose to purchase pepper seeds elsewhere.

As for Hirts Garden the last several times I ordered from them the seed packs were from Burpee and Cooks Garden both of which are on your list. I have heard of people ordering plants from them that were not true to label though. For most of us garden space is limited so getting anything thats not true to label be it seed or plant is a big negative in my book.