Rating Seed Companies… From Prices To Quality

This gardening inCanada video rates the top five seed companies we see here in North America. This review looks at quality, prices, website and ever selection option. Price is only one factor in what makes a good seed company!

👩‍🔬 G R A B A P L A N N E R
Paperback Houseplant Planner:
https://geni.us/NFTrl2
Paperback Garden Planner:
https://geni.us/s9zc
Digital Download Planners
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GardeningInCanada

S T A Y I N T O U C H
Join our monthly newsletter! newsletter.gardeningincanada.net
Website/Blog & FREE printables: https://gardeningincanada.net
Leave Me A Voice Message To Be Included In The Podcast: https://memo.fm/gardeningincanada/

A F F I L I A T E S
Westcoast Seeds Affiliate Link: https://bit.ly/33mGGaI
Seeds Now: https://www.seedsnow.com/?rfsn=6354409.1f000b
Magidome Greenhouse Connectors: https://magidome.com/?ref=2517cenrgs
Discount code: GardeningInCanada

S O C I A L S
👩‍🔬PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/gardeningincanada
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/gardeningincanada
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/GardenInCanada/

A B O U T M E:
Ashley is a soil scientist who has had a passion for plants since she was a small child. In the long summers as a child, she would garden alongside her grandmother and it was then that she realized her love for greenery. With years of great studying, Ashley had begun her post-secondary education at the University of Saskatchewan.
At first, her second love, animals, was the career path she chose but while doing her undergrad she realized that her education would take her elsewhere. And with that, four years later she graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a bachelor’s degree in science and a major in Soil Science.
Some of Ashley’s interests are YouTube, in which she posts informative videos about plants and gardening. The focus of Ashley’s YouTube channel is to bring science to gardening in a way that is informative but also helpful to others learning to garden. She also talks about the importance of having your own garden and the joys of gardening indoors. Ashley continues to study plants in her free time and hopes to expand her YouTube channel as well as her reach to up-and-coming gardeners.
Disclaimer
This description or comments section may contain links to affiliate websites. I receive a commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such a link. This includes the gardening in Canada website. You should assume all links both on the gardening in Canada YouTube, Blog, and all other social media are affiliates and I will receive compensation.

Today’s video we’re going to talk about the seed companies that are best to purchase from now this list is by no means exhaustive but I am going to go through like the big guys and if you have seed companies you want me to review then put those in the comments

Down below and I will include them in another video so because this channel is dedicated to science what I care about most is very specific categories in both their packaging and their online presence so what I’m going to utilize to rate these seep companies is actually highly dependent on selection so the

Varieties and GMO vers heirloom vers what they have the second Factor I’m going to determine if a c company is worth going with is percent germination this sounds bizarre but it is incredibly important and we’ll get into why when we get to that section three is price because price ultimately does matter so

We’re going to use the seedling Emoji to determine out of five what scale each one of these companies are on okay so number one is McKenzie’s seeds I believe this is a solely Canadian company however they will s send to Americans and this is not a list specific to just

Canada I’m going to get into more American uh seed companies as well but this one I think is particularly Canadian so one of the factors actually that I didn’t mention that will factor into whether or not you should buy it is the location of their seed harvesting so

This is important because the seeds and where they’re harvested will give specific genetic or morphological uh expression so what I mean by that is if a plant is grown in a colder climate say a Zone 3 what we tend to see is very specific physical representation in in

That parent plant so the plants that do well in zone 3 will Express and genetically multiply in zone three and you get The Offspring of that which is the seed now if the plants are grown in California Zone 10 the genetic Offspring and the physical expression of those plants is

Going to be specific to California Zone 10 and therefore purchasing those and put them in a Zone 3 Canada probably not as effective now will this affect the rating no what it will affect uh is ultimately where I tell you where they’re grown to help you determine if

They’re in and around the Zone you’re in to determine if they’re best for your location now this can be reversed meaning if you were in California and you thought to yourself I’m going to buy seeds from XYZ company in a Zone 3 you could have the opposite effect those

Plants is grown in zone three while they may be better engineered for really specific moistures and temperatures that are cooler or less or higher whatever the case is bringing those into a Zone 10 you’re going to have the opposite effect so you’re actually going to have a plant that’s going to struggle because

It’s not drought resistant or it’s not resistant to high Heats so you can see kind of how picking seed companies within your area are important ultimately speaking so number one is McKenzie seeds and this is a Canadian company meaning the seeds the plants everything are grown in Canada and they

Actually have the moto motto motto motto The Motto made for you with a big maple leaf on it meaning it’s made for those colder climates so if you’re in California probably wouldn’t get Mackenzie seeds because it’s not going to do well where you are if you’re in

Northern us you could probably get away with these bad boys selection is about three stars out of five they got a wide selection they don’t have rare seeds or very unique seeds but they have your Basics and they also have a little bit above the basics percent germination

They don’t State this on the seed packaging anywhere front or back and therefore they’re going to get a one star out of five I haven’t even really been able to find lot numbers on their seed packaging and lot numbers in of themselves would at least help you be

Able to compare to some form of a database that they have to determine the germination percentage of that lot but I don’t even see that indicated on the the packaging so they are going to get one out of five their prices so what I’m comparing this to is bush beans which is

Kind of bottom the barrel most least expensive um but commonly purchased and then I’m going to go for not exotic but different tomato which is the Brandy Wine variety of tomato the reason why I’m checking these two out is because I can’t go to the extreme of rare or

Exotic CU we’re going to get into SE SE companies that have a much larger selection and unfortunately not all these seed companies get exotic and Mackenzie is one of them so the Bush Bean varieties just your classic wax are at the $2.49 per pack price range so they’re

Actually at the bottom of the range in regards to pricing one of the cheapest hands down the next one is actually the Brandy Wine tomatoes and they come out at$ 329 which is again one of the lowest these guys are big so they produce a lot

Of seeds and they are in major box stores so they are in like the Home Depots and the Walmarts and that sort of things so that’s maybe why we see these lower prices because they are applying to a very broad range of people and their supply is much higher than that of

Some of the other companies we’re about to speak about okay the next one is West Coast Seeds you guys knew that West Coast Seeds is going to be less because West Coast Seeds is one of my absolute favorite companies however they are flawed in some ways they’re not perfect

I just they are my preference so West Coast Seeds they are non GMO and they have a variety of heirloom and their varieties are large but not as big as some of the companies coming up so I will say selection wise they’re a four out of five they’re not the best but

They’re not the worst and they have a lot but they’re not all inclusive so they also make it very easy and that’s one of the things where I guess McKenzie seeds could go down to even like a three out of five is uh West Coast Seeds they

Have indicators on their screens or on their website that help you very easily determine if it’sit heirloom non- Gino and untreated which I appreciate I find their website not to be clunky I find it very easy to navigate and you can even find some of your favorite influencers

They have an entire page dedicated to their top picks me included that you can utilize so we’re them a four out of five plants stars now the grow base for these is Vancouver and I went on a trip last year no 2022 me and my husband went on

Mr gardening Canada went on a trip and we did the whole Vancouver Victoria Road Trip it was awesome and we drove right by West Coast Seeds and their grow up grow up a lot with their storefront and we didn’t even think to stop in but I

When we’re gr rolling by it I thought wow that is so interesting to see their entire setup I would love to have done a tour and I should have done one but they are in Vancouver meaning they are in a Zone they’re between Vancouver and Victoria and they’re in a space that is

Not obviously azone 3 or the cooler Prairie Provinces and so they’re going to get four out of five stars if we were to put positioning into the determination of the seeds meaning that these plants are not or The Offspring of these plants are not going to express

The genetic coating that is ideal for our climate so we may not get off to the greatest start when we would compare it to McKenzie seeds just based on where they are located and I will put the zone that they are in here and I’m thinking it’s probably around a nine a Canadian

Nine eight or nine because of how tropical it felt when we went very very warm and trust me as a redhead I have like an internal heat sensor for this sort of stuff percent germination five out of five stars folks five out of freaking five stars these this I have I

Literally have West Coast Seeds everywhere these guys I would I don’t know if you can see this I will do a zoom up if you can they have percent germination and a lot number that is beautiful that is perfect that percent germination is so so important when determining in the moment

How many seeds to plant so just to put this in perspective how important seeing that percentage on the package is so this one the carrots these guys um one of my favorite carrots to grow is 96% the reason the reason why the percent uh matters is because say I was growing

Peas and the peas said that the the rate of percentage was 80 that would mean out of every 10 seeds I plant only eight are going to germinate so if we’re speaking of planting our Gardens in the sense of even a kitchen Garden all the way to

Preserves and the future that sort of thing we would say to oursel okay a tomato plant produces X volume of tomatoes and I need X volume of tomatoes to get me into the new year you can then determine I need 20 plants um which means I need 30 seeds for example this

Will help you save money right however if that percent germination is not stated you have no idea how much to plant because say the percent germination is 50% and you underplant those plants and now you’re in a rush to restart them because you notice 2 3 weeks after you seated everything that

Things are not growing or not populating you’re already behind and now you’re relying on green houses and nurseries and you’re not getting the varieties want so that’s why I find percent germination so important and West Coast Seeds in my experience and my rant is almost done I promise my experience with

West Coast seed is it is accurate and it is incredibly truthful when it comes to what survives and what doesn’t so percent termination on the packaging the convenience of that West Coast seed 8++ plus plus I could give this factor six out of five stars I would because that

Is just how important it is to me and how important it should be to you okay rant done however the downfall of this is that this sort of stuff does cost money so the convenience of having a lot number combined with the germination percentage cuz determining that does

Take time it’s quite a bit of work to determine that factor the fact that the front tells you the particulars of the plant and then the back is incredibly desri descriptive even giv you a um a measuring tape for depth all that stort the amount of information on this

Packaging does make it more expensive the pack for the browny wines is $419 Canadian and the bush bean pack is $4.99 Canadian so they are more expensive and that is kind of where West Coast seed Falls a little bit low is because of the cost to grow is very very

High compared to that of some of the other seeds that we see out there the next one is osc so the reason I chose this one is cuz we see this online a lot osc online C company is what it stands for and we also see it in a lot of

Bougie retailers such as like Le Valley Tools For example and this is international meaning it’s you know Canadian American you name it and osc is 125 years I had to read it from that 125 years they’ve been growing seeds and doing their thing they are grown most

Mostly in Canada and so therefore and in the prairie area so they are more designed for a colder climate in regards to phenotypes that they express and The Offspring in which they make I don’t love their website that’s like number one I do not love their website I find

It very clunky hard to navigate I find it difficult to kind of find what I need um and their selection is good on the basics but I don’t find them to have a lot of exotic one bonus to their website and one bonus to their packaging is that

They make it very clear what is untreated what is GMO free and what is heirloom so those three factors are important to many of you who watch this Channel and they are very easily expressed on the website when you actually begin to scroll through it it is like literal markers and that I

Appreciate the rest of the website I find clunky so when it comes to selection and website representation I would honestly I would give them like a two out of five not my favorite for that however when it comes to selection of goo and heirloom and untreated they are

Probably higher than some so maybe it up a little bit but I’m goinging up two out of five stars percent germination I don’t see that present on osc and I also don’t see lot numbers dat on their packaging now I may just cuz I’m relying

A little bit on the internet here I just might not be on the physical photos if you know that osc has some form of Lot number please let me know down below it’ be skewer Lot number either one of those two would work but I don’t see them to

Have that and they do not have a central database for us to pop in a lot number or a ski number if those did exist to determine rate percent um day of harvest uh percentage of germination that sort of thing so that is low on the level I’m

Going to give them one one out of five one out of five plants because that is one I’m just kind of like o That’s not great uh a lot of these other ones do have at least a lot numbers which is obviously beneficial when it comes to pricing these guys are good they’re

Around that McKenzie seed range and Bush Beans come up to $2.99 and the brandies also come up to $2.99 Canadian so they’re exact same price uh exact same volume as all the other ones um because they have less information kind of on the seed packaging and on the the internet that would justify

Maybe those lower prices half price in some cases that of West Coast Seeds so pricing we’re going to give them five out of five stars because I find those prices to be reasonable the next one is MI Gardener so mi Garder if you guys do not know is the literal YouTube channel

Mi Garder I can’t remember what his name is he’s great he has great content um I find it to be very science-based and factual and he seems like a very kind kind man now he’s in Michigan I believe Michigan would be the zone that this is

Located and while it’s not warm it’s not overly cold however I would say phenotypic wise the plants represented in the offspring of said plants would be kind of in and around the acceptable range of something that could be grown in Canada if you decide to get your

Hands on the packaging so that I think would be okay and if I was to rate that in regards to cold climate gardening I’d probably give it like a four out of five it’s pretty much in line with what you would be growing it actually be more

Inline than that of West Coast Seeds so something to keep in mind there they do have a really good selection they have a lot of different categories a lot of other websites have vegetables flowers and then garden tools it’s kind of like the three big ones these guys have all

Different types they have so many different categories I can’t remember where there like tomatoes and they really break things down which can be beneficial if you’re looking for something very specific or if you want to browse which is what I like to do I don’t like to browse by vegetable if I’m

Going to click category tomato I want to be able to browse all the different types of tomatoes and I want pages and pages of it very unique varieties and and my Gardener does seem to supply that so I’m going to give them a four to five

They’re not the best on this list for selection but they are up there in regards to selection options next one is they do have a skew so they have a skew number not a lot number but they’re the same thing the skew numbers don’t give you any Central tracking base so I

Didn’t see any database where I could check this check the skew and then determine percent determination that sort of thing it’s probably more likely if someone called in they said hey I’m having issues with the seeds they’d ask you for the skew number and then they would you know long-term track potential

Issues it’s probably more for their R&D side than for or benefit so that one I’m going to give it two out of five plants two because they have it and they may be able to say hey yeah that skew has an issue um but it’s not convenient for you

To utilize in regards to determining how many plants or how many seeds you should plant when it comes to pricing they are $2 USD for brandies and they’re $2 USD for bush beans so do with that information what you will okay the next one is actually Baker’s Creek so Baker

Streak is RAR seeds.com this is they they got an Instagram Channel they’re pretty Instagram famous if you ask me and they’ve got the craziest selection possible so they are getting six out of five stars in for selection not only do they have the basics they have the most bizarre the most unique they’re

Constantly adding new varieties and they I mean the selection is off the charts their website is also like a six out of five stars not only only is everything clearly labeled but the photos the photos are just popping they make me want to buy the entire website so that the website presentation the

Presentation on the packaging you name it beautifully well done I love it they don’t have percent germination but they do have lot numbers and those lot numbers do not reference a central database in which you can find a percent germination so I don’t I like it but I

Don’t love it and so that is going to get the two out of f stes that the rest of them got because I would love the convenience of at least being able to take that lot number plug it into a website to help me determine how many

Seeds I need to grow to meet my needs for that year so unfortunately because of that lack of database or the lack of information they’re only going to get two out of five stars for that but it seems like it’s pretty it’s a pretty prevalent uh industry standard besides

That of West Coast Seeds which is stepping up the bar so these are done in Mains field and therefore they’re kind of in that kind of West or my Ami Gardener type range they’re great for you know any pretty much any scenario they’re not particularly Californian and hot but they’re not particularly cold

Either and so therefore phenotypically expression wise they probably would fall and work in in any area they won’t be particularly good in cold climates they won’t be particularly good in hard hot climates but they will meet the needs of what you’re trying to grow especially in an an annual position annual plant

Position either floral or vegetable wise okay the price point so these are a little bit more expensive than Mi Gardener and the reason for that is because these guys do put a lot of effort into the presentation of the packaging they put a lot of effort into

The presentation of the website they put a lot of effort into diversifying and increasing varieties in which they do Supply particularly varieties that they diversify and Supply specific to where they’re growing which is you know not particularly warm but they do grow quite exotic fruits and vegetables so because

Of that their prices are a little bit harder and that higher and that’s why they maybe are able to justify those higher price ranges so the browny wines are at $3 USDA range and the bush beans I’m shocked by this but they’re $4 USD so I’ll put the Canadian conversions

Here but ultimately speaking they’re a little bit more on the pricey side probably in and around that West Coast seed era I so West Coast seed maybe doesn’t have the the variety that they do but they have the germination percentage and then rare seeds has the variety representation but not

That present germination uh representation so it really depends on what you’re going for are you going for variety if you’re main focused is variety and you say listen I’m getting in pack of seeds the whole plant is Packet is getting planted I don’t care

If I’m over or under I don’t care I’m PL all of them rare seeds is probably the rout to go if you are particular in percent germination so say buy a package and you want to make sure 80% or 90% or 96% in the case of the

Carrots is germinated then that may be something to consider and what you want to look at in that case is actually the um you know West Coast Seeds a percent germination if you’re just looking for cheap and Basics then I would would absolutely go with like an osc or a

McKenzie and if you’re looking for connection so a connection to someone where you can watch their YouTube videos you can watch the results of their their video content then Mi Gardener maybe the route you want to go so that is my review of five fiveish fiveish uh C companies that you

Can grow with what are your C company choices and why if you want me to review any other C companies let me know in the comments down below and we may do a tier rank video depending on how many get listed out because I’d be interested in

Seeing kind of where they all land on that if you don’t know what tier rank is what are you doing with your life anyways I want to thank you guys for watching comment down below if you have a SE company you love and I will talk to you guys next time bye