Renaissance farms issues anyone?

[zendog]

Hi,

I was looking for seeds for a few "regulars" that I had forgotten to save seeds from and found Renaissance Farms had all the ones I wanted, plus a pepper I was looking to try. I have never ordered from them before, so wasn't sure what to expect although I had heard good things. After ordering I never got an order confirmation and the seeds hadn't arrived after several weeks so I started getting nervous and looked for reviews in case anything was going on with them. I saw some mentions about seeds not arriving, a refund not given, and poor germination and wondered if they were going downhill. A few days later I got an email the order was being prepared, so I gave a sigh of relief.

Now that I've sown my 30+ varieties and watched them begin to pop up I've noticed that every variety has at least some germinating except the 3 varieties I bought from Renaissance. I planted 25 seeds of each of those, so it isn't just a few seeds. Some of the other seeds are seeds I've saved and some older MMMM seeds with seeds going back to 2017 and still coming up. I'm hoping they'll show up soon, but it is odd to have nothing showing from those specific varieties all from one vendor.

Anyone else buy seeds from Renaissance this year and having good results?

[AKgardener]

When I started out buying micros from him everything was good for my seeds got here quick and so forth and never had a quality issue but the last year I haven’t gotten an email of any sorts and nothing back when I asked where it was. After months I finally got an order but for what ever reason things went down hill and I can’t judge because we truly don’t know what is going on at his place .. but I will say this if you can fullfill orders at least make a statement on your website so that we don’t feel like we’re getting dipped. It was all good until this last year or 2

[zendog]

Thanks for the reply @AKgardener. I'm curious if you've ever gotten off-types or wrong variety seeds from him? I find that worse than poor germination since I sell some of my extra seedlings locally and never want to have someone get the wrong plants. So I might just replant other varieties I have if whatever's going on might mean I wind up with a Opalka when I thought I would be growing Polaris.

[AKgardener]

All the times that I’ve ordered and that has been since 2018 .. I personally have not received anything that was not what it said it was.. I do have a batch of new seeds that I have not tryed out yet and yes there will always be some that don’t germinated I’ve got an entire pack of seeds from urban farmer of Siberian I tried it last year and this year not one germanated.. I don’t what the deal was but it was just in my opinion a bad batch same with Renee garden got cherry seeds in a pack that was supposed to be beefsteak and just received a new pack.. as far as the other guy I have not personally had an issue

[ddsack]

Have not ordered this year, but did last year and had no problems with seeds being correct or getting them in a timely manner and don't recall germination percentage, but did grow garden plants from all his ordered seeds.

I do recall making a point of ordering fairly early, since I had heard before that some people thought the wait time and response was too long. After placing my order last year, I got an email from the site with a link to view my account at Renaissance Farms. I don't remember if I ever used it to actually check on my order. If you have received no response to your order, maybe check your email spam file to see if it might be in there.

[MissS]

I have ordered from here for years and years. Long before he was even on the map. For the past two years, the wait for the seed order from Renaissance Farms has been quite late. I did try to contact them and their email was not working so I then tried to call and that was not being answered. After a few months I got an email that the order was shipped. Last year was still awhile but not as bad as the year before.

I found that Delectation of Tomatoes has almost everything that Renaissance Farms does. Dale is prompt, gives great advise and is a pleasure to do business with.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

I tend to place seed orders way early... I start planning right after my year ends while my memory is clear on the current season and then order my seed then. I have ordered successfully from Renaissance Farms for the past 4 - 5 years. I have not grown anything that was not as it seemed. I did have trouble germinating NAR from him last year, but every so often that happens with any vendor that I have dealt with. I would imagine that once folks start getting antsy about spring and planting and gardening, these seed vendors must be crazy busy.

[PlainJane]

I’ve switched to Vertiloom and Delectation of Tomatoes as I’ve found Renaissance just too unreliable for the last 3 years.

[JosephineRose]

The last three years I too have had poor germination with my Renaissance Farm seeds, as has one of my good friends. I emailed them to let them know about my issues and did not receive any reply or acknowledgement of the message, which was disappointing.

The last two years I had 0% germination multiple varieties on my grow list and was unable to find alternate seed suppliers in time to save them for the season. So this year I culled all my Renaissance seeds. I had bought a lot.

My friend did the same, and in replacing these varieties, she pointed out a great size difference between the new seed and the Renaissance version, and compared her saved seed from previous years to confirm. The most recent purchases from Renaissance had tiny seeds compared to the new seed source and her saved seed. I know that around the pandemic Curtis' site became very popular and sold out on a lot of varieties.

My theory is that in a rush to meet demand Curtis may have inadvertently saved immature seeds in an attempt to fill orders - which would also explain the delays in fulfillment as he waited for fruits to develop. I think he grows all his seed himself.

[JosephineRose]

I have ordered from here for years and years. Long before he was even on the map. For the past two years, the wait for the seed order from Renaissance Farms has been quite late. I did try to contact them and their email was not working so I then tried to call and that was not being answered. After a few months I got an email that the order was shipped. Last year was still awhile but not as bad as the year before.

I found that Delectation of Tomatoes has almost everything that Renaissance Farms does. Dale is prompt, gives great advise and is a pleasure to do business with.

Dale is amazing and incredibly generous with his time. i am a big fan.

[Sherry_AK]

I have never ordered from this supplier, but...

16 CFR Part 435
Rule Summary
The Rule, issued in 1975, requires sellers who solicit buyers to order merchandise through the mail, via the Internet, or by phone to have a reasonable basis to expect that the sellers can ship within the advertised time frame, or, if no time frame is specified, within 30 days. The Rule also requires that, when a seller cannot ship within the promised time, the seller must obtain the buyer’s consent to a delay in shipping or refund payment for the unshipped merchandise.

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/brows ... 030%20days.

[Moth1992]

I might be wrong but I think someone here mentioned somebody close to Curtis passed and since then the business was not the same.

I ordered my first batch of micros in 2021, they took forever, emails were never answered, but they arrived in time for seed starting and germinated great. In 2022 I tried again and the order never got processed, emails were never answered, so I requested a refund through paypal.

Now I have so many seeds from the MMMM anyway that I dont bother.

[Dawn]

I haven't had much in the way of shipping delays, but I've had poor germination and some wrong tomatoes. I gave it another shot this year, and the tomatoes came up, but much later than everything else. I grew Taiga 2-3 years ago from his seeds and got only one seed to germinate. This year, I planted 3 (from the 2 or 3 years ago seeds), got nothing, planted 4 more, still nothing. Amber keys from the same order didn't germinate at all, and KARMA Peach came up regular leaf and made bland red tomatoes.

[Frosti]

I ordered from him once, one seed was cross pollinated (Green Giant), one variety had 0% germination (Anna Russian) and another had very poor germination (Taiga @Dawn). Haven't tried all of the ordered varieties yet.

[rossomendblot]

No YouTube videos or Facebook posts for 2 years is not a good sign. Comments on his YouTube videos have been turned off. The last new varieties seem to have been added to the website back in 2021/2022.

[zendog]

Thanks all for your feedback and experiences. This will definitely be my last purchase from Renaissance Farms. I did ultimately get a few seeds popping up - 10-20% germination depending on the variety. It remains to be seen if they are actually the varieties I thought I purchased, since there seem be a number of people who got incorrect or crossed seeds. At least two of my varieties, Polaris and KBX, are potato leaf and seem to be showing as potato leaf as seedlings so I'm hoping they are correct.

I hope the owner is doing okay. While I'm disappointed in the seeds, running a small business is never easy.

[jrmax13]

I have ordered from here for years and years. Long before he was even on the map. For the past two years, the wait for the seed order from Renaissance Farms has been quite late. I did try to contact them and their email was not working so I then tried to call and that was not being answered. After a few months I got an email that the order was shipped. Last year was still awhile but not as bad as the year before.

I found that Delectation of Tomatoes has almost everything that Renaissance Farms does. Dale is prompt, gives great advise and is a pleasure to do business with.

Agree! Dale at Delectation is amazing! Great customer service, prompt mailing, low prices, and wonderful product. What more could you ask for?!

[nativefan]

I purchased seeds from Renaissance Farms for the first time this year and I will not be ordering from them again. I took a risk, even though their website has a tab "New 2021/2022", this in 2024 (not a good sign!). I didn't receive any communication from them for a month, despite my emails to them. I finally got a response when I disputed the purchase on PayPal. When I tried to cancel my order, only then did I receive an email and eventually the seeds. Other than the name of the variety, there was no information about the seeds, no germination info, nothing, on the tiny plastic envelopes (not the best for storing seed!). I sowed multiple varieties from multiple vendors and everything has germinated except for the majority of seeds from Renaissance Farms. Never again.

[MissS]

@nativefan I'm sorry that you had such a bad experience. I don't know what is going on there. I do hope that his health is okay and I do wish him luck, but I feel that I must now put a warning up on his name in our Preferred Vendors List.

Thank you for sharing your experience.