Weekly Check In 3/31/13

 My seedlings are growing big and strong.  They are now very easily recognizable as to what kind of plant they are.  I have not adjusted the lights up higher yet because I don't want them to grow too tall and spindly reaching for the light.  I won't move the lights until they almost touch them.  They are getting tall enough to put a fan on them for short periods of time to strengthen their stems. 

 

The weather has warmed up a bit and you can see a lot of the snow has melted this week.  It is starting to feel like Spring might put in an appearance sometime in April.  Incredible to have this much snow on the last day of March.  

Look at these cucumber seeds - the ones on the left are very florescent in color!  Super bright green.  They have been treated.  The ones on the right are untreated. 

Treated seeds have no place in my organic garden and I am usually very careful when ordering seeds to make sure that I don't order any that have been treated or have been genetically modified (other than normal cross pollinating). 

I was very surprised to receive these treated seeds.  I went back to the catalog and also looked at the online description and the seed company did not state that they were treated.  The seed packet that they came out of did plainly state - CAUTION: TREATED SEED. 

They have been treated with Thiram - which is what most treated seeds have been treated with.  I could call the company and ask for a replacement or a refund, but now I've lost faith in this company and for the small price of a packet of seeds, I am just going to chalk it up to experience - I won't, however, be ordering from them again.

This is why I prefer to start my own plants and not even buy plants from a nursery - you just don't know what the plants or their seeds have been subjected to before you get them. 

Others will argue that there is nothing wrong with treated seeds and that the chemicals will wear off long before they get to your table - that may be true - but where do they go?  Do they end up in the soil affecting other plants or in the water?  And those small amounts of chemicals add up over time.  For more information on Thiram - CLICK HERE.