Seed Quality: Best Practices for Vegetable Seed Handling in Montana

Farmers need quality seed that is free of disease and that delivers on advertised germination rates, vigor, trueness to type, and specific traits for a particular variety. This manual provides recommendations to assure the quality of seed Montana’s specialty crop growers produce. The recommendations are intended as best practices to assist growers in reducing the risk of producing or selling inferior quality seed. The practices in this guide focus on growers who sell primarily vegetable seed. The practices are also geared toward a particular scale: seed growers who are supplying gardeners and small-scale farmers with their sales (<200 acres). The manual includes detailed recommendations on conducting variety trials, quality assurance grow outs, germination testing, vigor testing, managing foundation and stock seed, and additional resources.