Comments regarding Richter's Herb Specialists

I went to Richters just before the May long weekend this year.

Their started herbs and vegetables were few and small. Not at all like last year.

I was told that they "started late" this year due to personnel problems.

I hope they sort their business out.

Posted on November 11, 2011, updated November 20, 2011
I feel I may have just thrown $150 down a deep hole. Well "just" isn't quite right. Actually, I (potentially) threw the money a month ago. That was when I placed my order, which, according to the Richter's website, should have shipped from Buffalo N.Y., since I'm in the US and I ordered live plants. Unfortunately, my shipping confirmation shows that they shipped from Canada, so I suspect that, at some point far, far in the future, I will receive a box of dead plants. And, I have a sneaking suspicion that the dead plants will not even be MY dead plants, since the order number on my shipping confirmation doesn't match the number on my invoice.

The suspense is killing me. Update to follow...

This company is OK. I prefer to order only from organic companies, or those who are strongly committed to ethics around seeds. I didn't want to order from Richter's as they have a lot of trademarked seeds, and retain exclusive rights to certain plants. They also sell seeds for plants that are on many state & province noxious weed lists.
That being said, they have an EXCELLENT selection of herbs that are hard to find elsewhere. So, I went ahead and ordered from them this year. My order arrived in about 2-3 weeks, and was complete and accurate except for 2 backordered items.
At the time that I ordered, I asked why they did not put seed counts or weights in their catalogue. I was told it's too hard to count little seeds (well, most other companies manage to provide an estimate). So, I was a little suspicious that the amount in their seed packets would be quite small. I was right. You are not going to get a lot of seeds in their smallest size packets. That is why their prices are so good. For me, I don't mind because I'll be saving the seeds from these plants anyway. But if you want a lot of one kind of seed, better order a larger size.

Haven't planted anything yet, so cannot comment on germination standard (except to say that they do not put the germination standard on their packets, something which a high quality seed company will do).

I was a bit frightened by some of the negative reviews here, but I went ahead ordered anyway because of the wide variety seed they stocked.

I made my selections from browsing a copy of the paper catalog that I had previously received, but found it a little inconvenient initially to find my selections and make my order on their Web site. Long story short, if you're interested in ordering from them, go directly here: //www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi

Order was shipped promptly and arrived quickly. Seeds and paperwork were in a very tightly packed bubble envelope, and the seeds themselves are enclosed in non-resealable foil packets. Depending on the variety of seed, germination instructions printed directly on the seed packets or on stickers attached to the packets ranged from the very general to very detailed.

I am a bit concerned about how tightly the seeds were in the envelope packed, as some of the larger, more pointed seeds had poked little dented the packs. Have not yet opened the foil packets to assess if any seeds were crushed. Will update when I do open the packets and sow the seeds.

my experience was so-so

wow- so many negative ratings!

Have tried to work with this company for more than a decade, and would like to say a little about Richters to other gardeners.

For those of you who expect fast shipping internationally, let me point out that it is not their fault if customs holds up an order--Richters has no control of that. Also, I don't think a one-week turnaround between receiving an order and shipping out the seeds is unreasonable--the idea is to deliver quality, and doing things in a rush leaves the door open for error. So, if you are ordering internationally, it really does make sense to allow 6 weeks for delivery, even if its "just seeds." However, I think that ordering plants internationally is a long shot at best--the normal delays at customs are very stressful to live material that needs sunlight and water to thrive. I would caution people not to jump for live plants delivered across international borders. My opinion is that you will be lucky to have good results, regardless of the expertise of the shipper.

I have a problem with "SowNatural tm" seeds. This is an attempt to circumvent organic certification of seeds. Organic certification is good--it assures a customer that the seeds are untreated, not genetically modified, and grown without herbicides and pesticides. Apparently these are similar to the claims of "SowNatural tm," a self-prescribed category that is not supported by third-party verification.

My feel is that Richters for the most part does not grow their own seeds, and that when they buy seeds they keep selling the same lot for years. This is a good way to reduce costs of running a seed company, but it often results in poor results for the customers. How do I know this? Because if they were growing their own seed, they could more consistently deliver from the new harvest every year. I'm a seed geek, and I examine seed shipments microscopically. Under high magnification, I look at the seed, and I look at the chaff. Most species of newly harvested herb seeds (e.g. hyssop) will look very bright for the first year, and eventually take on a patina of age. Also, if the chaff is bright green (or whatever color it is supposed to be), then the seed is probably recent. If the chaff is off color, then its just like those herbs in the jar on the kitchen shelf from three years ago--looking greyed out--and this often means that the seeds are quite old. Most of the seed I have received from Richters over the years has exhibited a patina of age, and my results with it have been mixed. For instance, I bought an ounce of Rosemary seed from Richters. When it arrived, the seed had a dull patina, and I could tell from the chaff that it was at least 2 years old. I composted that seed on arrival. Rosemary seed is a low germinator at best, and old seed in my opinion is dead seed. Granted, herbs are often herbaceous or woody perennials and in comparison to annual vegetables, the seed of such plants can be slow and difficult to start--it can take years of oscillating temperatures or special circumstances for such seed to germinate. I'm taking this into account. What I'm saying is, that even giving them the benefit of the doubt, and admitting that I sometimes blow it (I have problems with voracious pillbugs and my arch nemesis, slugs), over the years I eventually learned not to expect high germination or vigor from seeds purchased from Richters. I've let my account cool, and haven't ordered from them since the Rosemary seed experience.

I've tried twice to correspond with Conrad, once by letter and once by e-mail, and he has never replied. That's too bad, because I think we would have a lot in common, and could share information that would be of benefit to all. Or, perhaps our motivations for doing this work in disseminating diverse herbal seeds are not the same, and actually we have nothing in common. Perhaps this neutral posting will catch his attention, and he'll do me the honor of getting in touch.

Richo

Richter’s has one of the most amazing herb selections in North America and their prices are quite reasonable. Their staff is also extremely friendly and attentive. I’ve e-mailed Richter’s with several herb-specific questions and I always get a knowledgeable, reliable response in a timely fashion. These people know their stuff!

There’s room for improvement, though. I recently received a package from Richters only to find one of the seed packets poorly sealed. Consequently, about half of those seeds spilled out in transit. The packaging on the seed packets could definitely be improved.

Their website design could also use some tinkering. Only about half of their herb descriptions include pictures, so you’re forced to guess what various plants look like. The plant care and hardiness information for each herb is also in a completely separate section of the website from the catalog section. That means that if you’re wanting to order, say, some creeping thyme but doubt its hardiness in your zone you have to navigate to another part of the website, check that info, and surf back to the catalog. Really inconvenient.

Some other reviewers have complained about the Richter’s customer service. Hopefully it’s on the up-swing. When I called Richter’s at the end of January to check on an order status and add a few items I found the place in an incredible state of disarray. Richter’s was switching computer systems, which meant there were problems tracking orders between the office computers (manned by customer service) and the packing warehouse (filling orders). The woman I spoke with was very nice, but obviously frazzled. Hopefully this new computer system is up and running now and it’ll make ordering, tracking, and shipping services much better than in the past. Cross your fingers that this will head off the types of problems past posters have had with Richter’s.

I have been buying seeds from Richter's for several years and like others, I got frustrated because they would just not ship things (never got the order) or the order would come two or three months later. I have learned how to get them to send what is ordered in a fairly timely manner. Don't order off the site. Call them up. Have the person check every single item to see if it is in stock. If it is not, tell them you do not want a backorder. They now have a deal where you can pay extra, I think $5, to have your order put on the top. This is worth doing, because they are very slow otherwise. If you talk to a real human being and have them check that things are in stock, you will get your seeds, and their seeds are generally pretty good in terms of viability, so it's worth it. I haven't ordered plants from them and so can't speak about that.

Now that they have a full on-line catalogue, I'd sure like to see more pictures on it. They have the best selection of unusual thymes I've ever seen under one roof --- they all 'sound' great -- would sure like to see more photos on their on-line catalogue. Not too many photos in the catalogues I receive either.

I have mixed feelings about this company. They have an unbelieveable selection and if they were not the sole source for many different mint varieties I likely would not order from them. My orders have been very well packed, but take forever to arrive. Waiting 3 months or more is not uncommon. Once a plant or two died just after arrival and they were replaced, though again, 3 months later. I've also had half my order end up out of stock a time or two, but they were sent later in the year. The plants are usually of good size and healthy. The one pack of seeds I ordered did not generate a single sprout.

My experience to date has been positive with a statement to be "wary". This is the 2nd year ordering herb plants. They have the largest collection of thymes I've found and so like a bee I keep going back. Their plants are generally smaller than I'd like to see but with some extra care they will prosper. Unfortunately, 2 of the plants ordered this year (Orange Spice thymes) were very young. Barely started root growth. They died 2 days after arrival. I called and complained. RHS offered me a refund, well of course if I wanted my money I wouldn't have ordered anything. I insisted on new plants. They countered with a 6 plant min purchase requirement. I countered with a "did that already, it's your problem fix it" sorta statement. They agreed and re-sent the plants. They arrived yesterday and have MUCH better root growth. Look extremely healthy and will do fine I'm certain. IF they don't it'll be my fault not theirs.

Chris

I love the selection and the price is good. However I have ordered three times in two years and each time the plants arived jumbled up in the box, soil everywhere. You have to carefully sort out the plants and repot them immediately. Some are broken. It could be a problem of the shipping company, UPS, but 3 times in the same condition is strange and leaves one to think they could be packed better. Most of the plants did survive and they did replace those that did not, but after calling them twice to explain how the plants arrived I did not expect the third shipment to arrive in the same way. Yet it did.

I've had some mixed experience from Richter's – both with their seeds & plants. The catalog is wonderful and I think they have the best herb selection around but I have received bum seeds as well as scrawny plants from them. My worst experience … I waited patiently for a very late plant order only to find they were out of stock on several of the plants when it arrived. The worse part was I never would have ordered if I had known those specific plants weren’t available. I don’t think I’ll be doing business with Richter’s again – seeds or books maybe… but plants definitely not

They do herbs mainly, plants and seeds thereof. Also related books.