Monday 2 February 2015

Clean Start: Organic Seeds

While browsing seeds at the store and in catalogues have you been looking for organic* seeds?
With the organic gardening and farming movement gaining popularity, organic seeds are starting to show up in the stores, albeit in small numbers and limited types (usually herbs).

In contrast, local retail source, Apache Seeds, stocks many organic and heirloom varieties seed lines, and their selection is currently at it's highest.

Earth's General Store, doesn't have their organic seeds yet (as of 02-Feb-2015), but should by March. (Other organic and sustainable gardening tools, however, are available.)

Does your favourite seed company have organic varieties?  How do you get them? 

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* Organic Certification doesn't mean "pesticide-free", but does mean no synthetic pesticides have been used.  Neonics are synthetic systemic pesticides, so seeds from plants that have been treated with neonics cannot be certified organic.

Organic pesticides are generally not systemic: Penn State University has listed "none have systemic activity" as being a limitation of organic pesticides and Oregon State University's "Profiles of Natural Pesticides" only lists one (Azadirachtin, a Neem derivative, as being systemic at root, and mildly systemic in leaves).  This is a good thing for our Bee-Friendly goals: even if the parent plants were treated with the organic pesticide, it would not have persisted to the seeds and next generation of plants. 

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