I noticed a lot more shorting going on this year. Contact the company and let them know. They almost always sent you another pack without much hassle. Of course, that pack is usually also short, so you still only end up with about 75 percent of what you should get for the money.

I wonder if the very wet year last year on the east coast cut into seed product?

Parks shorted me on almost everything I ordered from them. I was expecting 50 echinacea seeds. I got 22. It happens a lot. Mechanized seed counting isn't accurate.

I dont think thats acceptable at all! I understand there may be a little variation, but that much less is awful. I dont think theres any reason for them not to give you what you paid for! I will have to double check my parks seeds. Id definitely get in contact with them about it! This makes me kinda mad...

I would definitely call and let them know you want replacement packs. This is not the norm.

Most company's actually do the baker's dozen ideology and give more than the listed count.

If you're getting shorted it's bad business and it's not right.

T

that really stinks. I also got shorted on many of the cheapo seeds I picked up. I bought some petunia seeds and there were only 5 seeds in the pack!

I think you should contact them and let them know. That is something we should not put up with.

I mostly got the common stuff and I did not count. I think I might start counting now!

Karen

In the packs that I have counted seeds they have been just over or just under by a seed or two which is not important if it is a large amount of seed. With small amounts of seed that can be very expensive even one short is one too many.

I have not ordered any new seeds this year and those from the store have had good counts.

Yes, I would e-mail or call for a replacement packet if very short.

I would call or email for replacement packs and if an additional pack didn't bring it up to the 'advertised amount' I would contact them again until I finally got the full amount due on each variety.

Possibly their seed counting/packing equipment was not set up for the various sized seeds.

Sue

I feel better, I thought that I'm the only one having this issue. Over the last weekend I sowed seeds that I've ordered from Park - what a disappointment. Especially, thyme, I thought I'll need microscope to see where those seeds are. Granted, they are small. In addition, they stick to those tiny envelops and there is no way to get them to the soil. Anyway, shipping, no shipping, overall, huge disappointment.

I bought seeds from Parks 2 years ago, and although I didn't count exactly, the quantities seemed very skimpy for the price, so I haven't ordered from them again.

This year I ordered from Everwilde and Prairie Moon nursery. It was the first time for Everwilde and I am impressed with the very generous quantities of seeds. We'll see how they germinate. This was the 3rd year ordering from Prairie Moon and their quantities are accurate and pretty generous for a set price of $2.00 per pack. They also replaced a pack of seeds for free (Aster azureus) that had zero germination last year. I am very pleased with both these companies.

I do a little trading, but prefer to get most of my seed from commercial sources, because my experience has been that seeds from trades are too often mis-marked or have zero germination.

I count larger seeds and seeds that you only get a few of anyway.
Select Seeds shorted me a few years ago on butterfly weed and I e-mailed them. They sent me another pack that was short also and had to end up sending a third pack just to get enough seeds to almost equal one pack.
Recently I ordered form JL Hudson, Summer Hill, Fragrant Path, and Diane's. I think I was only short one Thunbergia seed from Summer Hill. I got 3 packs that should have had 10 seeds each. One had 10, one had 9 and one had 11.
Three of these also sent bonus seeds.
I haven't ordered seeds from Park's in ages, but thinking about placing an order today for other stuff.

I order all my veggie and herb seeds from Heirloom Acres Seeds. Their count is always right on, if not a few more in each package. Granted, they have mostly run of the mill stuff, but their prices are cheap, the germination percentage is marked on every package, and I have never had any issues with them.

Has anyone ordered from Territorial Seeds? I got one of their catalogues and might try ordering from them next year just for grins and giggles.

Wow, I'm so excited, I've just ordered a bunch (I'm talking a BUNCH) of seeds from Cheapseeds. Thanks karen, everything started after that disappointing thyme from Park and went on and on and on.... I'm definietly in trouble, I just had a "Wow moment" - I'm addicted. Well, if you have to choose addition, I'm voting for WS! Thanks Trudi, you are the HERO! waiting for your book. Take the credit that belongs to you!

cheapseeds is the best. LOTS of seeds and you get exactly what you paid for (I think maybe a bit more actually)

They have a Facebook page and I joined it for info etc. Nice guy that runs that company,

I think I may order some of the white poppy seeds. they look so pretty. I think it may be to late to plant them though.

Karen

Thanks all for your input.
I was really wondering why I never heard about this happening.
I did contact Parks after I opened the 1st package, and they replied immediately, and said they would send more. - which has not arrived yet.
One mistake- OK, no big deal.
But then when I opened the 2nd pack, I wanted to cry - so I e-mailed them again, in a much angrier tone.

Well- next time I order seeds, I will definitely look for companies that people recommend before I do.
You see, I usually stick to the tried and true flowers. This year I was so taken by these two in Parks' catalogue, that I had in mind a large area of them. oh well. live and learn.

ellen

i ordered from Parks a few days ago, never have before- but they were the only ones with mixed Hardy Hens & Chicks, i also realized that i was out of oregano, chives and french marigolds plus a few other things.

Hen & Chicks seed is tiny, i hope i get the 100 seeds the packet is supposed to have. i need lots of H&Cs and they tend to germinate slow and spotty.
I expect my order to arrive in about a week, so i'll check the seed count.

Ellen and all, Sadly Parks started going downhill a few years back. Their catalog which I still get, reminds me of Burpees, which has gone way down hill in the last 10 years or so. SSE is a good place to order seeds, do a google search for them, Johnny's in Maine is good too. Hope that helps, :)

Alberta

Just received my order from Parks on Saturday, but hadn't opened the seed packs. Just did, Gerbera Daisy, and was relieved to find seven seeds instead of the five it said. So one pleasant surprise.

Still, my experience with Johnny's was great and Sample Seeds was good too.

Caryl

I haven't been really happy with seed count from Parks or the seed packs in the store either.
I LOVE cheap seeds, great quanities although the selection is a limited.
Also, I like to order from Stokes Seeds too. They generally cater to nursery's but they do sell most of their seeds in packets also. Always been happy with results from them.

Nobody has mentioned Swallowtails seeds. Ellen, I remember your earlier post about Swallowtail shorting you after that whole order mishmash. I was disappointed and concerned, as I had an order from ST on the way! My order was for a very expensive seed, and I had to divide it between 6 people. The count was exact, but I would expect that for something that costs $.40/seed in a normal pack and $.10/seed in bulk. With seeds that expensive they'd better not short! We did a group order from ST earlier this year. I'll have to e-mail the coordinator and see if any of the packs were shortchanged since she had to divide them up.

I am waiting on an order from Parks. First, my order said I would get free shipping, then the free shipping didn't apply to the order at confirmation. I called them and they said it was a computer issue that needs to be changed and applied the free shipping. My first shipment is on its way, will count EVERY PACKAGE!!! The seed I am most excited about (King's High Scent Sweet Pea) is on back order. Will count that, too. I want EVERY ONE Of those seeds to germinate! I know that's not possible, but I should at least have all the seeds promised to start with.

Thanks for posting.

I coordinated the order that Deanna referenced from Swallowtail, and can say that of the things we ordered (MANY), all the ones that needed 'splitting up' were either at or above the seed-count. More often than not, it was above...by enough to add a couple or more to EACH person's order as I recall.
I have ordered from Swallowtail several times, and not once have I had short-counted packs, so I would have to say that this doesn't seem to be a usual & customary practice for Swallowtail.

I would believe it from T&M/Valueseeds, though, as I believe many of us had mis-counted packs a couple years ago when the subject came up.

Crosman's is also high on my list. "Standard" varieties, but great price, and qty for price.

T&M actually gave me a couple extra of the most premium seeds that I sure did count. Others did, too, in that category but I don't remember which company/seeds.

I don't particularly notice shortages as I can't possibly count them all. Eyeballing them, some do look skimpy. Some sometimes seem quite a bit over so maybe it evens out.

But I don't want to start naming any names unless I did count them, didn't order any from Park's.

I don't know if you remember my poppy story from last year, but in the course of that, T&M offered to replace the seeds where just the poppy came up in that container, and the seeds I planted were something else, am still certain of it, so I declined because it was I who didn't plant them right in the first place. But it was nice of them to go way the extra mile when we were trying to sort that one out. A couple other companies have offered to replace when it wasn't that big a deal, it was more about a question I had, so I declined, but appreciate the good will, and you remember who it is.

If it had been one of the super expensive seeds, I might have asked for replacements, haven't yet. Plants and seeds by mail order are a gamble.

I thought I was going crazy! In the past I have been able to use the same pack of Blue Bedder Salvia seeds for two years. This year there were barely enough seeds for one years sowing. I thought Ferry Morse just changed the weight of the seed pack. I didnÂt think they actually were shorting customers.

I'm keeping a list of Seed Companies that people recommend.
So next year, anyone wants to know, remind me.

(assuming I'll be able to find it. lol. )

Ellen - have never really had a problem with Parks - ordered two packs of gerbera daisy seeds, 10 seeds each, and got 11 in each pack. Sowed them HM/GL, and ALL 22 germinated, and at this point are still alive!! Minor miracle, I know!! Have had luck with Swallowtail, Richters, and a new place, for me, Easywildflowers.com, in Missouri-great service!

Has anyone ordered from
Plant World Seeds?
I'd like to order from them, but am unsure if you have to do special paperwork or anything.

Just received my Parks order except for one packet on back-order. I counted almost every package. I was pleased and surprised that every pack I counted had MORE seeds than stated except for one, which had exactly the promised amount. I ordered some expensive seeds and those packs worked out to 11 out of pack of 10 (two packs of those), 27 out of pack of 25, 25 out of pack of 25, and 36 out of pack of 25 (8-D!!!). Another pack had 54 out of a pack of 50, and two packs with 100 seeds I didn't count because the seeds were exceptionally tiny, but based on my past experience separating seeds they each comfortably had about 100.

I would imagine all these companies purchase from distributors. It could be that my seeds (several very similar) came from a better distributor who supplied accurate packs to Parks. Who knows?! There are a couple of packs that don't lend themselves easily to count so I don't know about those...but they feel pretty decent!

Hope my seed on back-order is just as true as these packs!

I'm happy for you Deanna, and it really baffles me - cuz the envelope that I got to replace the one that was short, says 100 seeds, and I counted and got 54.

If it says 11 and I get 10 I am not going to complain, but 50% of what it says it not right.

Baffles me, too, which is why I wonder if they use different distributors. Several of my low-count packs originated in England, perhaps from a trustworthy source for Parks. None of my seeds were especially "common," and maybe that made a different , too. That's the only thing, other than them finally getting their act together because of customer complaints, I can think of that would be different.

The two packs with 10 seeds costs about $2.75 each. They would be foolish to shortchange those!!! 8-O !! I didn't see that when I ordered them. I couldn't find the number of seeds per pack on the website, which I now see it as the bottom of the right-hand list, but I assumed it would be about 50. My bad for not looking harder. So far they seem to not be a hybrid, which means I could possibly gather seeds from them for next year. I sure hope so! Or, I could sell the seeds and fund the kid's college :) .

When I ordered from Parks in the past, the seed counts were okay and the germination was par.

I am just not a fan of Park's customer service and the way they handle bulb/live plant purchases. Real bad experience and they do not deserve my business for anything.

Ferry-Morse and Burpee are very fair in terms of amount of seed.

The best seed company in my opinion is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com). VERY generous amounts of seed, excellent germination rate. They are not going to have the most common seed types, but different and unique seeds are abound there.

My germination on the gerbera daisy seeds from Parks is two out of seven so far.

i got my Park seed order last week, the computer glitch on the free shipping got me too, but its ok anyway, i needed the seeds no matter what the shipping. Seed count looks reasonable, i didn't count each seed, but by eye they look fine, which makes me feel relieved.

one seed company i always order from every year (for the last 8 years) is Pinetree Garden Seeds. (www.superseeds.com) they price reasonably and even though they got swamped well beyond capacity a couple years back (they are a very small operation who's customer base suddenly tripled in one year- taking them by complete surprise!), they are a very good company to deal with.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinetree Garden Seeds