Peppergate 2023

Well, another reason to save and share our own seeds.  This year the supply chain most seed companies use became a little more obvious as gardeners grew out pepper seeds they purchased and ended up with the wrong varieties of peppers due to mislabeling from a mega wholesale seed company.  I've heard from disillusioned gardeners that found out the company they trusted, and thought either raised their own seeds or else got them from local growers, were probably getting them from China.

Anyone know more details?

I'll bet it was Burpee or similar. The only places I'm 99% sure are USA based are Baker Creek and Southern Exposure. There's probably many other small places.

Maybe it was a crossbreeding accident?

We bought flower seeds from Territorial Seed Company this year and several plants came up a bit more leggy than the rest of them. They were still the same kind of flower, but it was obvious that an odd seed or two was mixed in.

I got Jalapeño 'M' from Burpee this year.  Not sure why I picked it, I think because nothing was in stock anywhere when I got around to ordering. This is the description from the website and on the seed pack-

"Dark green, medium-hot, thick-walled peppers 3" long, 1" wide, with rounded tips."

What actually grew are pale yellow (almost white), a little smaller than described and I'd say they are pointy rather than rounded. The certainly do not look like the pictures on the website.  Fortunately, they taste like jalapeños and are appropriately spicy.

So interested to see what others have to say.  Figured it was a mix up somewhere but not much to do about it when the plants are in the ground and producing so I never followed up with them or asked around about it .  I don't get much from Burpee anyway but this makes me lose a little faith in them.

I have a picture of the plant that I mentioned above. It is the rightmost orange flower. My wife planted them with onions to form a trap crop to protect cabbage plants. So they did the job and brightened the garden. The fact that this plant was taller than it's cousins isn't a big deal in the long run.

Not being argumentative, maybe skeptical, but please explain how we make the jump from mutations/genetic accidents, or human error in harvesting, sorting, or labeling to saying supply chains, or seed companies sourcing seeds from China?

If I ever had evidence that one of my trusted seed suppliers was doing that instead of growing out their own seeds, I’d be livid. And on the other side of the same coin, an honest and reputable seed supplier should look at an accusation like that as libelous.

I had a real disapointment this year, with Cherokee Chocolate tomatoes. Roughly half of the thirty or so plants I set out died, and half that lived produced nasty yellow tomatoes.
But the very last thing I am blaming is my supplier secretly importing seeds from china while claiming to grow their own.

I have noticed an unusual % of questionable plants in my garden this year.  Because I only labeled the name of the plant and not the source, I am not ready to draw any conclusions.  In fact, I used a wide variety of seeds I had in storage.   I plan to be much more careful with my record keeping this spring.

Jeff,

While I can't say with evidence, it is my personal belief through my own experiences, that wholesale seed suppliers exist & point-of-sale seed companies are either contractually obligated to not disclose their sources, or prefer to limit potential competition by keeping their source to themselves.  I've emailed a reputable small but growing seed company in the past & received a reply.  I emailed them more recently asking about their testing of corn seed for potential GMO cross pollination & was ghosted.

Sure, many seed companies that sell to the public via retail packets or online sales grow their own seed, or contract with other small producers to grow it for them in keeping with their standards (I have heard of these stories from people who trial a new variety before it hits the seed catalogs).  As these small businesses grow, so does their catalog, and in-turn, their need for more land/staff/growers/etc.  Personally, I don't fault any of these companies for outsourcing some of their recurring bulk seed production.  Where the problem lies, is at the Quality Control aspect.  I'm sure that wherever these peppergate seeds were sourced from is getting an earful of complaints from every company they sell to.  Chances are, that company will fold, get rebranded, and sell to the same seed sellers next year under a new promise of better oversight.  That's just how these things work.  

As for China, I'm not going down that road, but the supply chain for these commodities is no different than for any other with regard to wholesale goods.  

Another story...Two years ago, I bought the same sweet corn variety from 4 different vendors that were sold in farm stores, big box hardware stores, & at every XXXmart around the country.  3 out of 4 ended up having worms hatch out of the kernels while in the packets, reducing the good seed to half or less.  I wrote these companies, & included photos, & only one had the decency to reply & offer to send me some alternate seeds as replacement.  Later, I went to those same stores that I bought them from, and all of the corn seed packets were riddled with moldy corn, frass, dead moths, etc.  Sure looks like those seeds were all sourced from the same place to me...

I've had experience working in management with one of the seed companies many permies would recognize, and can confirm that it is common for them to buy wholesale seed lots from many vendors around the world. Basically no medium-to-large seed company has the resources to grow out hundreds of seed varieties each year, especially of types sensitive to cross-pollination, and even more so with hybrids.  Some much smaller regional seed companies do, and they will make a point to tell you that.  Other small companies contract with farmers they know and trust, and often will disclose that information as well. (Siskiyou Seed, for example, specifies the grower for each variety.)
Cy is correct that seed sourcing is considered top-secret proprietary information.  If you want to be sure of the source of your seed, I would suggest looking to small companies in your bioregion and then see if they tell you who grows their seed.  If they don't say, it's probably from the wholesale market.

Would producing seed be a viable homestead business?
Would peppers grown for seed need to be harvested as normal, or would they be left to grow longer?
Would high tunnels or hoophouses be a good way to avoid cross pollination?

One more thought, some people overwinter pepper plants.
Would that be worth doing for seed production?