Gurney's Feedback?

They seem to be having an awesome deal today. Buy $50 worth of product get $25 off. Just wondering if y'all have had good or bad experiences with them?

a useful site for me has been http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd. http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/184 is the specific address for Gurney's.

What you will find is numbers of reviews, divided by good, neutral and bad, and categorized by length of time.

Try it and let me know you think!

Thanks Martha. Now I don't know what to do! LOL Those reviews are VERY split. Dang. Money is too tight right now to risk having an issue. I think I will just try and find my onion sets somewhere else. Thanks.

I used to buy most of my garden seed from Gurney's back in the '80s and '90s. Then they almost went bankrupt, and if memory serves they were taken over by another company. (I think they're now affiliated with Gardens Alive.)

I know they had a lot of problems around that time and I stopped buying from them. I can't say how things are with them today, but I know they are not the family-owned company I remember from the good ol' days. The garden watchdog link at davesgarden.com shows more negative than positive reviews for them.

This is where I am thinking of getting garlic and onion sets. They have some small assortments that look interesting. I haven't ordered from this company yet, so don't know their track record.

www.SouthernExposure.com

As far as the website goes, I really like that they have growing recommendations and explain the differences between long day / short day, etc. I wish they had pictures, though, for those of us who aren't as familiar with all these varieties. But I'll take the info over the pictures.

Also, it's sad to hear that Gurney's has slipped. It's been a long time since I've heard that name but it brings back good memories.

Very interesting site! Potato onions sound right up my alley!

I wanted sets though, and I only see seeds on their site. I have some onion seed. It is less than 8 weeks till our first frost...I wonder if I plant the seeds now if they will make it. I guess I dont have anything to loose. Was just hoping to have sets. hmmm....

If you plant seed now you may get teeny tiny onions that you could use lift later in the fall and use as sets in the spring.

*Blinks* no sets? I was sure they had sets. I didn't want seeds either. Note to self: Must have eyes checked!!!

Don't bet on it....I have been several bricks short here as of late...too much stress in my house. Check again, I could DEFINETLY be stupid and blind.

Yellow Potato onions
http://www.southernexposure.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PONION

Compared to the 8-oz standard starter package which has small or medium-sized bulbs (approx. 8-12/pkg), this special 20-oz package has larger bulbs.

Whew, I am not completely blind yet!!! I think they do sell some seeds, but they have sets too.

I just ordered from Gurney's, I got most of my stuff for the spring and a few other things on sale. I hope I don't have any problems!

I've always had excellent results from Southern Exposure Seed Company. I've purchased seeds as well as potato onion sets and shallots from them. I like that many of their seed packets give the percentage of germination on them, so if that batch has a lower germination rate you know to plant a few extra seeds. They usually add extra seeds to the packet if the rate is lower.

They usually sell out of their potato onions in early summer. That's the only bad thing about those - you have to purchase them early, but they don't ship them until planting time, which in my area is late October to early November.

Middlemama, I highly recommend everyone try potato onions. They are expensive to buy, but once established you never have to buy onion sets again. Each year you plant some small sets and some large onions. The small sets grow into large onions, and the large onions divide into small sets, much like a garlic bulb. So you store all the ones which divided into small ones for planting next year. Then you reserve enough of the large onions for next year's planting, and then you can use the rest of the large onions. They are good keepers.

It takes a few years to build up enough stock to be able to have plenty of onions to use as well as to reserve for planting, but my grandmother had enough (passed on from many generations) to plant two full rows in her large garden. They were the only onions she planted. She passed starts of them on to me, but unfortunately (it's a long story) I lost them. I was so excited when I found that Southern Exposure carried them. I'm trying to build my stock up again. I had a good amount going twice, and both times our neighbor had his wheat sprayed for garlic and the drift killed my onions. I'm trying again this fall. Wish me luck.

I have mixed reviews. I think it is worth ordering only if you have the big discount. They are really overpriced if you ask me. I can get the same seeds at Walmart for a fraction of the cost. I also had problems with shipping last year on several items. The failed to tell me they couldn't get the item until it was too late for me to get the seeds locally. They also waited to ship my sweet potato slips until it was June---several months after I ordered them. That said, I did order from them again this year and the order was better.

And their custom service needs improvement.

Thanks Ander. I am still kinda confused...but going to post on the new thread with my questions.

Thanks everyone! I think I am going to skip Gurney's for now.

Overall, I've been satisfied with Gurneys, but never buy unless on one of their super sales. Do watch the invoice carefully as they have a habit of backordering plants and planning to send them at a time that is not appropriate, at least in my hot and dry climate. I tend to cancel any backorders, and they honour the cancellation just fine. Last spring I ordered several vines and althea from them that were tiny when they arrived, but have grown like weeds, much surpassing my expectations.
I usually don't buy their seed as they are pretty expensive and I can do better locally.