Comments regarding Tomato Growers Supply Co.

Love this company. Amazing selection, super quick shipping, and willing to add on to an order that I already placed.

Posted on April 11, 2020, updated April 11, 2020
Posted on April 10, 2020, updated April 11, 2020
Posted on April 10, 2020, updated April 10, 2020
with all that is happening (Covid-19) in the Spring of 2020 I have found a "bright spot" and a friendly face & experience with Tomato Growers Supply Co. in Florida, and their wonderful customer service..I'm also giving rave reviews to an employee named, Tevor..
I not only had my order confirmed before shipping, they were kind enough to double check my USPS complete address as I failed to supply the box #, they also supplied the tracking info. and assured me that these items would reach Iowa within 3 days with the Easter weekend.Yes!
This is my go to place for the Margherita Hybrid cherry tomato..I have an abundance of cherry tomatoes with this variety every year, they are super tasty..I also like the Principe Borghese variety of tomato..They make the best sun dried tomato, I line a baking sheet with parchment paper, grease -w- olive oil, fill with sliced tomatoes and dry in the oven at a low 250 temp. the best.. Thankyou to Trevor for assuring me that my order would go out, despite the current situation, as several garden suppliers, are not shipping at this time..I assure you that Tomato Grower's is up and running and coming through for us. They have always come through and I will continue to order from them. Happy Gardening everyone! CJ

I am a commercial grower in Oklahoma and was a customer of TGS for many years. I enthusiastically recommended them as a reliable source for quality seeds... until now. This year I ordered over $100 in seeds. Some of my long-time favorites had jumped up in price, or the quantities had decreased, but I still placed an order. Three weeks later, as I was planting the seeds, I found three packages that were short in count. I sent an email to TGS and received a snippy reply, stating that I had complained about a shortage some years before! What the heck does that have to do with it? These three packages were short! Well, in about a week, I received the shorted seeds, very carefully counted, in hand-written envelopes. Do I need to say that not a single one of these replacements germinated? Not one. Linda, the previous owner, was all about the customer. The new folks seem to be all about losing customers. And they have now lost me.

"On Apr 9, 2019 3:00 PM, Tomato Growers Supply Co. responded with:

As the grower stated, she had complained many times in the past of shortage. In every instance we provided replacement seed and apparently that was not enough. Our employees had noted her as a "difficult" customer from prior engagements. The comment about replacements not germinating is completely inaccurate. She never commented to us about the replacements not germinating. We are very sorry that she is unhappy. We really tried to help her. We wish her well in the future."

Asked for fast shipping and got seed order in less than a week. Pretty good.

I had a few questions about some tomato varieties I was wanting to purchase, so I called the company. I spoke with a very nice woman (possibly the owner?) She answered all my questions, and even took my seed order over the phone. My seeds were mailed out the next day, and were happily in my house in MA 3 days later. I believe Tomato Growers Supply is now under new ownership since last year. They certainly doing a excellent job with working with their customers. I will absolutely do business with this company again.......

This place is awesome I ordered seeds on April 2nd and received them on the 10th and I live in Canada.Last year when I ordered it was just as fast, also this year I got 2 bonus packs of seeds with my order.As for germination rates I always get close to 100 percent with any seeds no matter where I get them from because I dont over think it.I plant them in dirt and give them water and light just like in nature and they do fine.

I have ordered seed from this company a few times. I have planted tomatoes (big beef VFFNT and others) for 3 or 4 years from the same packet and had good success. I am re-ordering the Big Beef VFFNT tomato and some others from them. The resulting plants did beautifully in our garden in Virginia. We even got some good ones at our old home on the Gulf Coast -- which is a little amazing since we had so little success with tomatoes there. Recently I had some trouble logging in because of forgotten passwords and new addresses and I was helped by a lady first and then a computer guy named Justin. Both were very kind and helpful and my order seems to have gone through without issue. :)

Posted on March 19, 2015, updated March 19, 2015
I recently ordered pepper seeds from Tomato Growers Supply, and decided to pay a little extra for shipping because I was excited to get started. It took them 2 days to even drop the package in the mail from when I placed my order. Then the carrier had some issues with shipping time. It ended up taking me a week and a half to get my seeds when I paid for 2 day shipping. I emailed the company and asked if they could do anything to help me out since it took so long for everything, including them to even drop them at the carrier, and they told me that it was pretty much just bad luck for me.

I will never do business with this company again, and advise anybody who cares about good customer service to avoid them as well.

I ordered tomato seeds from TGS last three years and always was very happy with seeds and dealing with people from company. First time, I ordered seeds for my mom as she lives in Ukraine and grows her garden there. She got huge crop that year. Every variety was exactly as it's described on TGS page. My mom even asked me to write positive feedback for TGS :)! Next two years same nice tomato crops we had either in Ukraine and in North Dakota. I just order for me the early varieties as growing season in ND is very short.

I am new to growing tomatoes from seeds. I ordered four different types and all four have germinated really well indoors.

The four are:
Azoychka
Black Pear
Golden Queen
Yellow Brandywine

The gift packet of Sioux also germinated well.

Last year, 2013, I ordered both tomato and pepper seeds from tomato growers supply. I had just about 100% germination on all seeds and I had so many peppers I didn't know what to do with all of them. The most prolific pepper plants I've ever seen and all of them over 4 ft. tall. I had beautiful looking tomato plants in the beginning but because of a very, very wet spring and early summer my tomatoes suffered and I had very meager results on my tomatoes. Blame it on the weather and not TGS.
Good customer service and will buy from them this year.

This year (2013) was the second or third year that I have ordered from TGS. Nothing but problems in 2013. I ordered several varieties of tomato seeds and Brown Habanero and the Gold Habanero seeds. When my seeds arrived I was notified that the Brown Habanero seeds were back ordered. After weeks I received no response concerning the back ordered seeds. I emailed TGS and was finally told they did not have and would not get the Brown Habanero seeds.The seeds that I did receive germinated less than 40% and TGS sent more seeds. Finally I got the seeds to germinate including the Gold "Habanero" seeds. The peppers bloomed much earlier and I now have long green peppers that are not Habaneros. I complained to TGS and got no response. I not longer trust this company and will never do business with it again!!

"On Jun 12, 2013 12:51 PM, Tomato Growers Supply Co. responded with:

We apologize for missing your email. We were able to find it, and we have replied to your message.

If you ever have trouble reaching us online, please give us a call toll-free at 888-478-7333, Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern time. We will be glad to assist you in any way that we can.

We are looking into this issue with Habanero. We have not had any similar problem reports this season, so hopefully this is an isolated incident.

We are very concerned about the quality of the seeds that we send to our customers. We guarantee that seeds will grow out true to type with good germination rates up to one year from the purchase date, and we have sent a refund check to you for this packet."

Got what I ordered and some. Reasonable germination. Was able to add a forgotten item to my order with an email, that was nice

Fast shipping and a very pleasant experience. Have ordered multiple varieties of peppers and have gotten a 81% germination rate so far. Great selection, would order again in the future.

Bpwilly

Ordered some exotic hot pepper seeds and some heirloom tomato seeds. Selection was very nice, prices are decent, shipping time average.

Started the seeds in jiffy seed starting mix, kept them warm and humid inside a clear plastic bin with a heating mat in the bottom. I have at least one sprout from every strain so far (except one pepper) and it's only been a week.

Pepper seeds are harder to germinate than most seeds, they require TLC! You people need to stop ruining this company's reputation because you aren't skilled enough to sprout some seeds!

Overall a great experience and they will receive my business again next year!

I've dealt with TGS for several years. Never had a problem. Their disease resistant varieties were the salvation of my disease problems. Germination using sterile seed starter soil resulted in near 100% germination for the several varieties I purchased. I give them a 5 star rating.

Posted on October 30, 2012, updated November 10, 2012
I bought tomato seeds of the following varieties: tomato ildi, sugary and Sweet Pea Currant, to send me to Ecuador, I sent an email on two occasions but they have not responded at all. I think they have stolen my money

I ordered both pepper and tomato seeds in several varieties that appeared mouth watering in the pictures. For the most part, the pictures were all that my mouth was able to water over. It's hard to acquire fresh, tasty vegetables when the seeds, no matter how much you care for and baby them, do not germinate.

Don't call and talk to that woman Linda. In my opinion, she may just be the rudest person on the face of the planet.

Do yourself a favor and just buy your produce at Fresh Mkt or Whole Foods or someplace similar.

I bought several of the forum eGradini.ro in Romania, tomato seeds.
We are very Thanks to the percentage of germination, now I started to taste ripe tomatoes!

Posted on May 28, 2012, updated May 28, 2012
I ordered 8 types of seeds. 1 was backordered but came before I need to start seedlings.
My germination rates were fine, as good as my fresh Burpee seeds. About 70% in my not so warm house during March.

I ordered the following tomatoes: Sub-Artic Max (#2733); Stupice (#4782); Siberian (#2908); and Polar Baby (#2536).

The only thing that came up was 2 sprouts from seeds of Polar Baby. The price including shipping was $15.75
ARRRRRGGGG! What a waist of money!

I spent both time and money selecting these tomatoes and really did want to grow them here in Minnesota. I am very sorry they didn't even sprout -- and the few that did were weak.

"On May 16, 2012 8:45 AM, Tomato Growers Supply Co. responded with:

We are sorry for your disappointment with our seeds. However, we do want you to know that we have tested all of our seeds for germination quality as mandated by Federal Law, and we do not sell any tomato variety that tests less than 80% (the Federal standard is 75% for tomato). The seeds you purchased had tests completed on 10/21/11 with the following results: Siberian--88%; Stupice--88%; Polar Baby--90%; and Sub Arctic Maxi--84%. We were trained by the Florida State Seed Lab to perform these tests.
We understand that seeds are living organisms and as such can be unpredictable. We have a policy that any customer is entitled to a 100% refund or replacement seed any time within a year of purchase. Please call us to request this. Again, we are sorry for your experience, but please know that we are very serious about the quality of the products we sell and would never knowingly cheat or disappoint any of our customers. We want everyone to have great success and enjoy their gardening experience. That is our #1 mission!"

I ordered eight different types of tomato seeds. Six of the eight have 0% germination - really a major disappointment. The other two had a 25% germination rate so I spent over $25 for ridiculously low return. I won't be ordering from this company again.

I have ordered from TGS the last two years. They are a mixed bag.

On the one hand, the actual tomatoes we got were spectacular and delicious. However, the germination rates were the pits. Last year and this year the seeds germinated an average of less than 30%.

My compromise was to order two packets of everything this year, knowing that I would have to reseed. What I like about them is they always throw in a free tomato seed to try. Last year it was Virginia Sweets, and it was delicious and a great producer once we got the plants in the ground. I reordered two packets for this season. 33% germination so far.

The Super Marzanos from last year were also great producers... once I had plants to transplant. This year, again 33% germination.

My free seeds this year were the German Giants. I am excited to see how these plants turn out, but so far, I have had only a 22% success rate.

I will update this as the season progresses.

Posted on May 17, 2011, updated February 16, 2012
I want to like this company because they are local so take my review with a grain of salt...

Pros: Their catalogue is very nice. It may be old fashioned but I find a good catalogue helpful in ordering. Shipment was quick. Very solid selection of seeds. And- they have some of the coveted Dwarf Tomato Project seeds.

Cons: Pricing seems a little high, not as high as some, but still expensive. There are no mini's or smalls to test a particular cultivar. A few of their regular sized, full priced packets would be considered mini's by most folks. Eight packs of seeds plus shipping ($5.25 for a local shipment of less than 1 oz ) ran just under $35.00. When I called them to discuss certain tomato seeds, the woman who answered seemed somewhat unfamiliar with their products and even basic tomato terminology. I had to change my questions a few times to get the info. That may not seem like much but I don't think asking a professional tomato growing company in SW Florida about tomatoes that set in high heat should be difficult.

At this point, I can only give a limited recommendation. I would recommend using Tomato Growers only for particular seeds (ie. Dwarf Wild Fred!), etc. that you cannot find at one of your regular suppliers. I'll update once I test their germ ratios. If germ ratio is high (85% or over), I may upgrade to positive with the qualifier that it remains an expensive supplier for tomato seeds.

This year marked my 2nd or maybe 3rd order with TGS. As always, the order was processed and shipped quickly. One item on backorder, a new AAS offering. Hopefully it will arrive soon. Can hardly wait to get my tomato and pepper seeds started!

I've bought tomato and pepper seed from this company for the last two years. They've always shipped promptly. I've had good germination rates using a heated tray, and good production from the mature plants.

In my experience Tomato Growers Supply seeds have had poor germination. I ordered last season from them and had low germination rates. I thought it could be my fault so i gave them another shot this year and was dissappionted once again.The peppers I purchased this year were called Jaloro (gold/yellow Jalapeno hybrid).Three seeds came up out of the Twelve I planted.The Tomato seeds had a slightly better rate but, I will not be ordering from them again.

This is my second year to order from this company & I've been nothing but impressed. We grow some 42 varieties of peppers & 30 varieties of tomatoes every year & I ordered about 15 of those from TGS last year. All seeds germinated well & the freebie packet of "Early Wonder" they sent has become one of my favorite tomatoes. This year I ordered 26 varieties from them -- I haven't planted the tomato seeds yet but the peppers are germinating well & right on schedule. We're still on dial-up internet & their website is one of the easiest to use from that perspective. Their seeds arrived packaged well, it arrived quickly & the order was complete. I couldn't be happier with this company.

I ordered tomato seeds late 2010 and much like another person posted, I actually wanted a particular variety, in my case it was RED ROSE. A) I am having very poor germination with all of the Tomato Growers Supply Seed I did receive. All other seed, even much older seed is already up. B) They STILL dont have RED ROSE in stock, despite that fact that it is in the new catalog and will appear in your cart if your order it. It WILL NOT be arriving in your mailbox with the rest of your order. I will not be ordering from Tomato Growers Supply again.

While I've ordered from them in the past, 2010's seeds had some horrible germination issues. I start several hundred plants of 30-50 varities of tomato and peppers from various vendors and years, so it's not different handling. I wasn't able to get 20 plants out of the entire packet of peron (kind of skimpy on the seed, exactly 30, so the 50% germination really showed. I make an emergency order from Territorial which came very quickly and germinated very well and saved the day. I also got only one cisneros tomatillo from the packet - I didn't have any orders, just for testing, replaced with similar from Adaptive Seeds. There was no response to my email or letter to Tomato Growers; they don't seem to stand behind their seeds the way Tomatofest does.

While TGS has a nice selection and the other varities from them germinated okay, I don't need the stress of unreliable germination so I will not ever order from them again.

I have ordered from this company for 2 years, and have been well pleased with each order. I generally receive my orders within 2 weeks, which does not concern me, as I order by the beginning of February. ( I do feel the shipping charges are a bit high if only ordering a couple of packets.)

Germination rates have been excellent, and the plants are all hardy and good performers. My particular favorites, which I will be ordering again this year are Early Wonder and Sioux tomatoes, and Chichimeca and Bulgarian Carrot peppers.

I have orderd from TGS in the past with no problems. However, this year I too have had horrible germination rates. Fortunately, I only ordered two packets, but so far neither has topped 25%. This is well below the usual standard I am used to from this company. Not sure what has happened, but it seems this is a common theme this year. I'll leave the rating as neutral because of my past success with them. If it had only been one packet, and if I hadn't seen that others were having the same problems, I probably would have still left it as positive.

Posted on March 13, 2010, updated April 5, 2010
Posted on March 19, 2009, updated March 13, 2010
I've ordered from TGS for many years, and the only problem I had was a few years ago when a variety was totally mislabeled. (Yes, I grew it out again the next year to make sure it was the seeds and not that I had screwed things up.) They've always been the quickest to send out their orders. Well, not this year. Count me as another one whose order took 16 DAYS to arrive. That's far longer than any of the other seeds I ordered at the same time from other places. It wasn't the actual transit time - it was postmarked 2 days ago. So I'm not sure why this took so long to process, but 16 days is a bit ridiculous. Very disappointing.

Posted on February 17, 2010, updated April 2, 2010
I have bought from this site for the last 4 or 5 years and just recently put in an order. I recieved no email saying the item shiped like many other companies do. I also paid 5.25 for shipping an order that cost them 1.05 to ship. And what did they ship in : a plain manila envelop with totally no padding. When you pay 3 and 4 dollars for a packet of 30 seeds and some of them are crushed with there shotty costly shipping its just not worth the selection.

Signed, Disapointed

I thought it was just me! This year I tried Winter Sowing for the first time. I was taking note on the germination rates for each milkjug that I sowed. Out of all the companies I had ordered seeds from (all fresh seeds), the seeds from TGS had the poorest germination rates, across the board, with each variety I ordered from them.

I sowed only 10 seeds per milk jug, and the TGS seeds averaged only 20-30% germination in each jug. Not very good...

I used 6 different companies this year for tomato seeds. Tomato Growers had a terrible germination rate.

Siberian 0%
Siletz 0%
Early Wonder 50%
Gregori's Altai 30%
Yellow Ping Pong 60%

I am an experienced gardener and all my other varieties from other companies have come up. I've started many varieties for many years and never had this sort of problem.

I will not order from them again!

Of the 4 companies I ordered seeds from this year, the germination from TGS was the worst. Out of 214 tomato seeds sown only 125 germinated ... that's less than 60%. I won't be buying seeds from TGS in the future.

DON'T ORDER LEGEND HERE! I ordered "Legend" seeds from this company because they were recommended by Cornell as resistant to late blight. Since shipping was $5.25, I ordered a second pack of something I was mildly interested in but wouldn't have ordered on its own. At no point did they let me know Legend was out of stock on the web site. Even now, four days after I received my seeds, it's STILL BEING OFFERED ON THE WEB SITE AND STILL GOES INTO THE CART. But it is out of stock. So I paid almost $8 for a pack of seeds I don't really want trying to purchase seeds they ran out of who knows how long ago. And customer service had nothing to say except too bad. I will never order from this company again.

Posted on February 3, 2007, updated March 6, 2010
I have ordered from this company for several years now and will continue to order my tomato seeds from them. I have also ordered pepper seeds from them this year for the first time. I am anxious to see if they produce as abundantly as the tomato plants always have. This company has extremely fast turnaround time on orders. The order arrives in your mailbox long before you expect it to! The bonus packet is greatly appreciated!