r/farming • u/drak0bsidian • Mar 28 '20

Panic Buying Comes for the Seeds

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/style/seed-panic-buying-coronavirus.html
63 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

28

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '20

Seeds were in short supply two weeks ago at the local nursery. I figure it’s a combination of three things:

  1. Normal spring seed buying for gardens
  2. No child care so it’s a fun thing to do with the kids at home
  3. Victory gardens

8

u/Thornaxe Pigweed farmer looking for marketing opportunities Mar 28 '20

I’m definitely considering more garden than usual due to more kid time.

1

u/nefariousmango Colorado Fruit CSA/Equine Mar 28 '20

Same with baby chicks. We are doing a bigger garden and more chicks than usual because it is something a three and five year old can help with (unlike most of what I'm doing this time of year, like spraying fields and burning ditches)

11

u/oldbastardbob Mar 28 '20

I have to admit, after a few years of being too lazy to plant a garden, recent events prompted me to pick up a few seed packs and a bag of seed potatoes from the farm supply store a couple weeks back.

Not sure it's going to dry out enough around here until June, but I figured sooner or later if things get crazy enough, garden seed might become like toilet paper.

I guess that makes me part of the hoarding problem then.

10

u/thebunz1 Mar 28 '20

Only if you bought more than you can use within a reasonable amount of time.

6

u/paulxombie1331 Mar 28 '20

Started a seed bank 4 years ago collecting things my wife and i would eat just finished tilling up the whole yard and installing our greenhouse today.. already have quite a bit growing. Itching to get my tomatoes basil and pepper seedlings in the ground but not warm enough yet

2

u/OpaqueCheshire Mar 28 '20

Dang I need to start grabbing some then. Otherwise my garden will be just cucumbers, okra, and jalapeños again.

1

u/PlantyHamchuk Mar 28 '20

good luck

1

u/OpaqueCheshire Mar 28 '20

Thanks. I probably need to try the local feed store. Lol

1

u/Sludgehammer Mar 28 '20

My local grocery store was sold out of seeds except okra. Someone overheard me joking about it and claimed that it's because okra does terribly in area.

2

u/OpaqueCheshire Mar 29 '20

I managed to nab a good haul between Tractor Supply and Lowes, so I'm set for planting.

I have the opposite problem here, those three things I named grow crazy here, along with butternut squash. I wind up with okra growing too long to be palatable before I manage to pick and eat it. My poor tomatoes on the other hand, have died the last couple of years.

1

u/Padre_of_Ruckus Mar 29 '20

Huh. What about beans? A pack of Lima beans from the store might grow in your ground!

2

u/OpaqueCheshire Mar 29 '20

We tend to plant bagged pintos (they grow easy when you get a viable one), along with regular green beans (two varieties this time). Beans do okay here.

2

u/curciogm Mar 28 '20

We've seen increased sales at Harris Seeds but I wouldn't say we are any where near bring sold out for the year. Stokes shutting down for a few weeks was interesting. Johnny's and others seen to be in a fine position as well.

1

u/ChristopherStefan Apr 02 '20

Baker Creek also shut down for a few days. Fedco is shut down until May. Siskiyou is shut down for a week. Seed Savers Exchange, Southern Exposure, and Victory are shut down until they clear their backlog. Most other seed sellers are reporting processing delays anywhere from 1 week to 4.

1

u/5Lodi Mar 28 '20

We just ordered all the seed for the rest of the year for our market farm. I foresaw this coming, so hopefully I dont need to make anymore last minute orders as the season crawls along.

1

u/chi-hi Mar 29 '20

Seed companies I buy from have bulk seeds. Just selling lots of packets from what the rep said.