[tomato] RE The Great Seed Dispute

Byron (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Sat, 19 Jun 1999 20:22:17 -0400

Dave

It was not my intention to affect your business

It was my intention for seed buyers, to read the the words of

A. Organic Gardening Mag.
B. USDA
C. Jerry Baker
D. Nancy Bubel
E. Dave Dewitt  

----  Buy only certified disease free seeds ---

For Organic growers this "Inspected for" or "Hot water treated"

For chemical growers the above or "Chlorine Treated" or "Georgia Treatment"

OR

Do your own seed treatment.

The last time I looked at your URL and the last time I looked at Totally
Tomatoes Catalog. Those words were not in there.  Are they ??
I will no longer assume that seeds are disease free unless I see those
words in print. 

This also applies to a lot of other catalogs as well. 

You said you have not had problems. There are diseases like

Phytophthora, root, stem or fruit rot that are not activated (Start) unless
you have greater than 2 inches of rain or excessive overhead watering .
IF the seeds were contaminated and IF this weather condition did not exist 
then you would never see this and about 4 other similar diseases.
Once these diseases start there is no cure. The corrective action is
to remove and burn infected plants and allow that ground to remain fallow 
for 3 years.  

Some diseases only show up when it's extremely dry. 

My $7 purchase of diseased seeds has cost me over $1,000 in seed
disease testing, soil testing, lost wages and soil replacement. 
Am I extremely PO'd ??, you bet. 

If your seeds are certified disease free and you advertise as such, I don't
see the probelm

Byron