Where to buy Broccoli Seeds?

[SunshineMN]

I've read you can soak them in food grade hydrogen peroxide if they have been chemically treated. I'm not 100% sure that helps but it may. I'll need to do more research on it I guess. For now, I'm just very happy I can include broccoli sprouts. I certainly can't afford what other places are charging for sprouting broccoli seeds.

[delmar]

I don't mean to offend, but you are not thinking logically about this.

If the broccoli the seeds are coming from are inferior (pesticides, fungicides, poor soil) then the seeds will be inferior.

From what I understand, that is not the way azure standard does business.

[MysticTree]

I don't mean to offend, but you are not thinking logically about this.

If the broccoli the seeds are coming from are inferior (pesticides, fungicides, poor soil) then the seeds will be inferior.

That is a big if of course. What if they are not coming from that scenario? What if they are just as organic as the ones certified organic but the cost involved in certification is too high for the farmers to bother with?

I know of a few organic farmers who supply local greengrocers with organic veggies. All the veggies they supply are organic but on the shelves they are labelled as organic and regular - two locations inside the shop. The organic ones are more expensive but no more or less organic than the ones labelled regular!

[Living Food]

I have dill seeds from them but I haven't tried sprouting them yet. I also plan to get some celery seed.

Dill sprouts and celery sprouts are weird and need to be sprouted in special ways. They both take about a week before they germinate, and you can get away with only rinsing them once a day or once every other day. Dill takes about 2 weeks to be ready to eat, and celery can take 3 weeks or more.

I'm not an expert, though, these seeds are way too expensive for me to experiment with in quantity.

If the broccoli the seeds are coming from are inferior (pesticides, fungicides, poor soil) then the seeds will be inferior.

Very true. It's true with all organisms (maybe not bacteria?), if the parents are weaker then the offspring will be too. This continues on down the generations, so those organisms continue to get weaker and weaker. The average human these days is a good example of this principle, sadly.

That is a big if of course. What if they are not coming from that scenario? What if they are just as organic as the ones certified organic but the cost involved in certification is too high for the farmers to bother with?

This happens occasionally, but mostly only in local scenarios. It is very rare to find a national outfit selling organic seeds as non-organic, although it does happen. Generally national outfits source their seeds from big, industrialized farms (even the organic seeds tend to come from big, mass-production mono crop farms), so if the crop is organic the farmer has plenty of money to get organic certification.

[Living Food]

Never mind.

The site made me post the above message twice, and we can't delete our own messages.

Could an Administrator please delete this? Thank you.

[MysticTree]

Farmers are not necessarily rich because they sell organic products. Farmers in this country are not rich people a lot of times. Especially if they are tenant farmers. Being certified organic is horrifically expensive and many settle for using organic methods and not registering as organic.

[Living Food]

Very few farmers are rich. Many many farmers here are dirt poor because they spend all their money on expensive GM seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and grow crops that we already have an insane surplus of: GM corn, wheat, and GM soybeans, mostly.

Very few organic farmers are rich, either, but my point was that big, national suppliers tend to get their products from big farms, and the larger the farm the more likely it is that they can afford organic certification (even though small farms tend to be far more productive per acre). Small family farms are going out of business at an astounding rate here, the big industrialized farms are making them bankrupt. Thankfully people are starting to wake up and buy from small, local, generally organic (even if not certified) farmers.

There are lots of small farmers who grow organically but aren't certified organic, much much fewer very large farmers who grow organically and aren't certified. And big national chains tend to get their products from the large farms.

[MysticTree]

We do have large farms here but very few if any that are anywhere near as big as some of the farms in the US.

[SunshineMN]

Azure Standard isn't like those big companies though. They have lots of information about what they believe and why they operate the way they do. They are very health conscious with their products. They are not strictly raw, but they are against GM and lots of chemicals. The only thing we've purchased from them that we were not completely happy with was red lentils which were too broken up to sprouts, but their green lentils sprout like crazy as well as the broccoli and every other seed we've purchased from them. Even sprout people have had problems getting organic broccoli seeds for sprouting and for years sold conventional broccoli seeds (though I believe they finally have a source for organic ones).

[Eva]

www.SproutPeople.Org is absolutely my favorite resource for sprouts of any kind! Their seeds are superior to everything else I've found!

[delmar]

Azure Standard isn't like those big companies though. They have lots of information about what they believe and why they operate the way they do. They are very health conscious with their products. They are not strictly raw, but they are against GM and lots of chemicals. The only thing we've purchased from them that we were not completely happy with was red lentils which were too broken up to sprouts, but their green lentils sprout like crazy as well as the broccoli and every other seed we've purchased from them.

I have heard enough good things to give them a try!

Even sprout people have had problems getting organic broccoli seeds for sprouting and for years sold conventional broccoli seeds (though I believe they finally have a source for organic ones).

In fact they are still selling their "conventional" broccoli seeds for $25/lb. Given a choice between paying that much for seeds and not sprouting broccoli I would have to choose not sprouting broccoli. especially when I can get organic Sunflower Seeds for $2/ lb, organic flax for $1/lb and organic peas for $0.50/ lb

[delmar]

I just made my first big bulk seed order with Azure Standard.

Bulk Radish Seeds, Organic 1 lb.
Bulk Clover Seeds, Red, Organic 5 lbs.
Azure Farm Wheat, Hard, Red, Organic 25 lbs.
Bulk Sesame Seeds, Brown, Organic 5 lbs.
Bulk Broccoli Seeds 1 lb.
Azure Farm Flax Seeds, Golden, Organic 25 lbs.
Bulk Sunflower Seeds, Raw, Organic 25 lbs.
Bulk Peas Green, Whole, Organic 50 lbs.

It is supposed to arrive Sept 5

[MysticTree]

I just made my first big bulk seed order with Azure Standard. Bulk Radish Seeds, Organic 1 lb. Bulk Clover Seeds, Red, Organic 5 lbs. Azure Farm Wheat, Hard, Red, Organic 25 lbs. Bulk Sesame Seeds, Brown, Organic 5 lbs. Bulk Broccoli Seeds 1 lb. Azure Farm Flax Seeds, Golden, Organic 25 lbs. Bulk Sunflower Seeds, Raw, Organic 25 lbs. Bulk Peas Green, Whole, Organic 50 lbs. It is supposed to arrive Sept 5

How exciting. That's a lovely selection of seeds too. Hope the price is good. Stock up coz prices are going to soar.

[delmar]

I have 137 lbs of seeds coming for $175. Some of the prices went up recently but still a great deal, I think.

[MysticTree]

I reckon that's a good price. Keep a note of how much you spend over the next 5 years. It will make interesting reading. If you like onion, garlic etc microgreens then you really can produce a lot of that seed yourself. Might save you a few dollars and the flower and seed heads are beautiful.