How many seeds per ounce?

When you look at seed catalogs, especially those that nursery growers will be using, they usually tell you how many seeds there will be in one ounce of each type of flower or vegetable. I’ve always found information that fascinating.

I grew wax begonias from hybrid seeds from a national seed source when I was a kid. When they germinate, they’re so small they look like moss. The tiniest specks you can see on the paper are the seeds from our summer begonias. I picked some from my begonias to show you how really miniscule they are.
You can see the dust-like seeds through the outer walls of the begonia fruit.

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I’m didn’t spend hours researching it, but to give you a few common comparisons on seed sizes:

Average seeds per ounce…
I compared several online sources to get a range of seed sizes you might expect to encounter. When people ask me if they can plant seeds directly into the garden, I encourage them to check out seed sizes first. It’s impractical to try to pick up some of these seeds with human fingers.

• Tomatoes: 8,000 – 12,000

• Watermelons: 400

• Pumpkins: 225

• Beans (bush): 100

• Corn (sweet): 200

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• Zinnias: 2,000 – 6,000

• Marigolds: 7,500-10,000

• Texas bluebonnets: 850

• Petunias: 250,000 – 300,000

• Wax begonias: 1,000,000

• Orchids: The count varies, but for some species many millions (almost microscopic)

• Coconuts: Average is 3-5 pounds per seed (coconut).

• Pecans: Some of the largest varieties tip the scales at 20-25 pecans per pound. Pecan shows often have competitions for the smallest pecans, as measured by number of pecans per pound. I helped with a pecan contest once where the winning entry had more than 400 pecans per pound. They weren’t much larger than pinto beans!

Posted by Neil Sperry
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