Please do not assume store-bought seedlings beat starting from seed

I tried buying tomato starts from Home Depot last spring and my neighbor's seeds from a tiny nursery grew way better. The store ones had weak stems and got leggy within 2 weeks, while the seed ones thrived in the same spot. Has anyone else found that local nursery seeds outpace big box transplants?

3 comments

3 Comments

mia70018d agoMost Upvoted

Whoa there, I gotta respectfully disagree on this one. I've had great luck with big box starts myself actually, like last year my Lowes Roma tomatoes were absolute beasts and outproduced my seed-started heirlooms by a mile. It really depends on the specific store's turnover and how recently they got their shipment in (you gotta hit it on the right day). Your neighbor's seeds might just be a more vigorous variety too, I've found some random seed packets can be surprisingly tough compared to anything from a box store.

william_harris18d ago

My cherry tomatoes from Home Depot last year barely reached 2 feet before getting yellow leaves. The seeds I got from a local nursery hit 5 feet and produced until October. Big box stores just don't give their plants the same care as smaller operations do.

piper_kim18d ago

You know what, this actually changed my mind a little. I used to swear by big box starts because they're just so convenient and cheap, but after reading this I remembered my own experience with bell peppers. The ones I bought from Walmart all got blossom end rot while the seeds from a little farm stand down the road produced perfect peppers all summer. It's making me rethink my whole approach for next year honestly. Maybe the bigger stores just push their plants to grow too fast with synthetic stuff and they never recover.