Why You Should Avoid Buying Plants from Big Box Stores

Growing Your Own Vegetable Transplants

The benefits of growing your own vegetable plants in the garden will always hold an advantage over buying plants from big box stores. Some benefits include the ability to control what type of pesticide or fertilizer chemicals are being sprayed on your crop which will in return produce healthier plants and provide maximum production of crops when growing from your own vegetable garden.

Home Gardening vs. Store Bought Crops

On this week's episode, Travis goes over the benefits of growing your own vegetable transplants. There are major differences when it comes to growing your own and buying plants from big box stores like Home Depot, Lowe's, or a local feed and seed store. Travis showcases two of his transplanted pepper plants and two that he purchased from a big box store. The pepper plants that he personally grew he planted in our seed starting trays, then transplanted them from the greenhouse into the garden once they were ready. The ones he bought from the big box stores came in a biodegradable pot with a plant that was about a foot tall. In the video, it is noticeable that the plants from the store have not grown much since begin transplanted in the garden. These plants from the store are not looking healthy and producing a little amount of fruit on the plants. While the ones that were grown by ourselves have grown healthy and made great production yields thus far in the garden. While the store bought plants may look appealing at the store they will not remain healthy once transplanted in the garden and production will not surpass the pepper transplants that were grown by the home gardener in the greenhouse. Another advantage is you will save more money and get more plants if you grow your own. You are saving money by getting more production by planting plants in the seed starting trays. When planting in the seed starting tray not only do these trays contain 162 cells for transplanting plants, but they also offer effective root growth due to the internal vertical root training ribs. This trains the plant roots to grow downwards instead of wrapping around the plant and becoming root bound. This seed tray will also help with soil aeration and root ball drainage. This will allow for less transplant shock and quicker production of crops. These seed starting trays will also allow you to get a head start on the growing season. Having seeds already planted in these trays they will be ready to go in the ground whenever weather or temperature conditions are just right. You also don't have to only grow what is available or what you can find at the big box store. Another benefit to growing your own food is producing healthier and fresher crops. When home gardeners are producing their own crops they can control the frequency and what types of pesticides and fertilizers they are spraying in their garden. Most of the home gardeners are only spraying their plants with all-natural or organic chemicals because they are healthier for the plant and the garden pollinators like bees. The plants are fresher due to them not being overly sprayed with insecticides, pesticides, and fertilizers as well. In commercially grown farming they have a tendency to overuse these chemical products due to them trying to maintain quicker and faster production. Also, to keep the product in good condition for supermarket purposes and standards. Overall, growing your own food can have many more advantages and better results than just buying plants from the big box stores.