Seeds from supermarket veg

snowdogg

Wondered if anyone has any insight on this, how likely is it that the seeds you find in supermarket veg will produce plants the next year?

I've heard a lot of people say fruit and veg are treated in such a way as to stop this happening, how much truth is there to this? Are there any veg this doesn't apply to?

All my crops this year have come from packet bought seeds though these can be quite expensive

Farway

You can sow seeds from supermarket veg, however they come with a big warning, the resultant crop may well not be a good as the original fruit / veg, but could be better

This is because the original crop could well have been [and probably was] a F1 hybrid, thus will not breed true

However the crop could just be even better, many on here, me included, have grown from saved supermarket veg seeds [I did long red sweet peppers, no problems]

The ones to be a bit more wary of are things like squashes, which are very promiscuous and will cross with any old cucurbit , so it would be a shame to sow say acorn squash and get some odd shaped warty gourds instead

jhorna1

don't know the answer to your quiry but you can get seeds for half price and money off vouchers from the seed companies. Join to recieeve free email and snail mail newsletters, which tell you when they have half price seed sale. Some also send you maony off vouchers which can be used on sale items - saves a bundle. also join Dig In to receive free seeds.:j:j

tallyhoh

Everyone on our allotment tells me I cant grow spuds from leftover supermarket ones, despite the fact that I have grown a good crop more thn once. We also have squash, pumpkin and have grown peas from a packet from Asda, the dried ones that you soak with a tablet.

If they are leftovers its always worth trying.

Lotus-eater

Potatoes can be treated with a growth reducing chemical apparently, but I've never seen it in practice, but you do have to be careful with diseases when using shop bought spuds.

F1 veg, which are most (if not all) you buy in the shops, you get any variation of either parent, often one of them will have been rubbish (but used for it's disease resistance, or similar), so you have no idea what you are going to get.
As a novelty or a bit of fun, have a go, I have loads of times. But if I'm taking time and precious space to grow food, I want to know what I'm growing and I want a reasonable return.

I'm serious about growing food, so yes I muck about a bit with seeds, but the mainstay of my stuff is either saved seed, or decent bought seeds.

As Farway says, curcubits are the exception and never worth doing unless you really want to enter the curcubit lottery and you only have a 5% chance of winning.



It does depend what you mean by expensive seed. For example, if you grow 10 tomato plants and the seed costs £1.50. You spend 6 months growing them to get lovely sweet fruit on ten plants, as promised by the packet.
OR, you get some free seeds from a supermarket tomato. You spend a whole 6 months growing the things, only to find out that the fruit is bland on 6 of them, 2 taste OK, 1 tastes great and one dies.

Which is the cheapest? Or which is the best value?

RAS

Hi

Tomatoes, french beans/dried french beans and peas will all come true or nearly true unless they are F1.

Curcubits are a bit hit and miss; they cross-pollinate like made. But if your particularm fruit came from in the middle of a large field, most of the seed will come true.

I know people who have ggrown supermarket potatoes easily but one of the other allotment holders planted a whole bag from a farmer and nothiing came up as the were treated. Basiicaly, if it is producing sprouts, it can be planted, otherwise do not try.

I did a post last year on cheap seed sources last year https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1251329

Farway

It would also be worthwhile hanging on until later in year when the likes of Wilkinson and many garden centres are clearing out ready for Christmas stocks, they reduce seeds to sometimes as low as 5 or 10p

OK, choice maybe hit or miss, but a good chance to pick up a real bargain packet or two, and try something more out of the mainstream

PS, keep an eye on the board, the word soon goes round here about the reductions

mcgrow

A lot of supermarket stuff isn't bred for taste, it's more for disease resistance, size, ease of transport and long shelf life, so for that reason, it's not that good an idea. Every so often, you get unusual varieties, especially in the high end shops like M&S, and that's when people tend to try to grow their own versions.

cjb02

kiwi plants are easy to grow from supermarket seed here is a page on my site on how I grow kiwi seeds

Things to point out though.

1/ You need a male and a female to get fruit.
2/ From reading the internet most seeds that grow will be male
3/ You have to wait a few year (internet research suggest 3-7years) before plants flower and shows any signs of fruiting (but only if you have male and female)
4/ The foliage is fantastic, currently have one growing up the side of my garage and it stands are over 8ft with beautiful foliage, red and green. It was grown from seed in a kiwi fruit bought from the supermarket. It is 3yrs old now.