There is nothing wrong with buying vegetable seedlings, especially if you are a novice gardener. But, when compared to growing your own seedlings, they have both advantages and disadvantages. This post looks at the pros and cons of commercially grown seedlings and offers advice on buying seedlings.
Before going out to buy seedlings check whether the vegetables you want to grow are suitable to plant as seedlings or are best sown directly as seeds. Unfortunately, many nurseries stock seedlings of vegetables that do not transplant easily. For a list of seedlings that are easy to transplant see the Seedling Planting Suitability Chart page.
- LESS WORK INVOLVED
Using commercially grown seedlings involve less work than home grown ones as you avoid the effort required to grow your own seedlings from scratch. - NO WAITING TIME
Commercially grown seedlings can be bought and planted on the same day, whereas if you want to use your own seedlings you have to start growing them four to six weeks ahead of when you want to plant out. - GOOD AS STOPGAPS
Commercially grown seedlings are good stopgaps for when seedlings you are growing yourself fail or are not ready in time.
- EXPENSIVE
Commercially grown seedlings are much more expensive than buying seeds and growing your own seedlings. You usually only get eight seedlings per standard punnet and in Australia punnets generally retail for around $4.50 each (2025 prices). Whereas a standard packet of seeds usually yields enough seeds to grow at least twenty punnets worth of seedlings. - LACK OF DIVERSITY
If you were to list the different varieties of vegetables available as seedlings you would only fill a few pages, but if you listed all the different vegetables found in the various seed catalogues you would end up with a very large book. Growing your own seedlings hugely expands the variety of vegetables that you can grow. - RELATIVELY WEAK SEEDLINGS
Commercially grown seedlings are raised under ideal conditions with plenty of water, heat and fertiliser to grow them as quickly as possible. This tends to produce seedlings that are more likely to be stressed when first planted in the garden as they are not used to the tougher conditions. - NOT AS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
Most commercially grown seedlings are grown hundreds of kilometres from where they are sold, and a lot of fuel is used to truck them across the country. Transporting seeds uses much less fuel. Also, the punnets that they come in are only used once. If you grow your own seedlings not only will less energy be used producing them but the punnets and pots used to grow the seedlings can be reused.
If you need to buy seedlings then try and buy ones that are grown locally by small operators. These seedlings are usually tougher than the ones grown by large wholesale nurseries as they are not forced (grown quickly) and are grown under local conditions. Local seedling growers can often be found at farmers markets. Some nurseries and agricultural supply stores also stock local seedlings. Local seedlings can usually be spotted as they are generally grown in non-standard containers such as Styrofoam cups or even just wrapped in paper. If you are unsure then ask the vendor where they were grown.
Do not buy seedlings in poor condition due to lack of water or being left to grow too big for the punnet. Seedlings that have dried out at any stage should never be bought as lack of water often triggers vegetables to bolt (go to seed) and by growing them you will be using up valuable space in the vegetable patch as the crop these seedlings produce is more likely to be stunted and of poor quality.
This also applies to seedlings that have grown too big for the punnet. Some nurseries offer seedlings that have grown too big at discounted prices, but they are far more likely to go straight to seed. Only buy seedlings in prime condition.
Seedlings for sale at a local nursery. The carrot seedlings on the right are a good example of nurseries selling seedlings that are not suitable to be planted as seedlings. Carrots planted as seedlings will almost always produce poor quality split carrots, they do much better when sown directly as seeds.
ADVANTAGES SUMMARY
ADVANTAGES
- Require less work than growing your own seedlings.
- No waiting time.
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Good as stopgaps for when home grown seedlings fail.
DISADVANTAGES SUMMARY
DISADVANTAGES
- Expensive.
- Lack of diversity.
- Weak seedlings.
- Not as environmentally friendly.
