Hancock Farm & Seed Co. - Dade City, Florida

Ivo I.

Update 02/2025
Just for the records: not unexpected but just to make sure nobody has some false hopes, the $1,000 grass seed did not turn into any grass, also not after 2 years.

Reading the reviews of others, it is wonder-some that the State Attorney did not lock their doors yet, for fraudulent business practices. Any other business would be in deep trouble. Imagine selling groceries in a box without food being in as advertised. Absolutely unthinkable but with grass seed it must be different.

Update 03/2023
I am adding as we learn about the lies of Hancock Seed & Farm to protect others. Of course they never returned calls, they never took their seed back and never offered to return the $1,000 to me. I told them they can have 5 out of 6 bags back but ... No response.
Instead they wrote on BBB that seeding grass is not easy. They should have said that their grass seed is the problem. I went to Tractor Supply, bought a 50lb bag, spread it out and ... take a look at the results (with Hancock seed and with Tractor Supply seed) yourself. It germinates all over without having to worry anything.

August 2023 after trying for 3 months.
Here is the portfolio of excuses this company is going to provide you with, to explain the failure of their product:
- night time temperature too cold in April/May
- takes 6 weeks to germinate (winning time)
- PH value too high by about 1 point (go change your soil to acid)
- when soil PH is right at 5.5 it must be the unit you measure with
- seed needs to be 1/4" buried in the soil, not 1/2" (don't forget to buy a caliper)
- grass seed can't lay on top (good luck with Florida rain washing seed out over 6 weeks period of time)

One of the pictures shows the seed turned white after being washed up by rain, doing nothing in 2 months.

They guarantee 80% success rate, well that's easy when your prepared list of excuses is that long. We bought seed from Traktor Supply and 2 weeks later we had grass (see the picture) all over the place. Too bad we spent $1,000 with Hancock but maybe it serves as bird food, at least.

Long story short, don't get trapped with them! If seeding grass becomes that difficult with their product, they should not be selling anything.

1 point out of 5 while minus 5 would be a well deserved rating.

PS: just to show the dishonesty they operate with, l have attached 2 pictures, showing their seed (in white) right next to the PH value they require to be 5.5
Ooopps, it's 5.5 indeed? That's when they stopped responding.

Tobias M.

I ordered 50 pounds of seed mix for pasture. Cant believe it arrived so fast. Just under 2 days. The bag was torn in 2 places not sure if thats carriers fault or not. Im going to weigh it to see if I lost any. Would like to see some protective packaging but the ordering was simple, lots of delivery updates, and super fast delivery.

Mark J.

Actual Customer. This company is not honorable. Ordered 50 lbs of premium Bermuda seed. No problem with shipping. Planted in September during great growing weather but the seed did not take in full sun, partial sun, or under straw blanket despite daily watering. Called seed customer service and was forwarded to their resident scientist who denied any refund claim and just made up a list of untruths to avoid issuing a refund. Sent pictures and was willing to talk issues through but this dishonorable gatekeeper just shut any reasonable conversation down. Do not believe anything this company says. Avoid!

jimmy J.

Buyer Be Aware. Purchase at your own risk.

I had a horrible experience and will never purchase from this company again! I purchased 25LBS Granite KBG, 10LBS of Midnight KGB and 10LBS of Titan RX Turf Type Tall Fescue. So obviously spent my own money on this company’s product.

I seeded and while seeds began to germinate, I noticed powdery mildew and brown patch disease on all area that were seeded. I contacted the company and informed them and they response was to send a response email with the definitions and history of powdery mildew and brown patch disease. I still had a large of amount of product remaining that wasn’t used and asked for any sort of reimbursement, credit and sadly non was offered. They however thank me for buying their seeds with no resolution. Be aware, if you have any issues with the grass seeds with this company, they’ll give you the runaround. I have included pictures I sent them verifying the issues I experienced with ALL their seeds.

I ultimately purchased seeds from another company the same year and seeded with no issues whatsoever. The 4 last pictures with the nice lawn are KBG seeds I purchased from another company. I’ve been doing this for many years and I know how to recognize bad vs good cultivar of grass seeds.

Btw I left an honest review (1 star) on their website about my experience and they deleted it.

X

Have visited them over past four years. Grasses, clovers, cover crops have all been good. Seed is expensive and at times difficult to germinate in Florida. It’s not like planting vegetable seeds. We were even able to grow oats for the horses. Friendly and knowledgeable folks at the desk inside and well stocked warehouse. Bermuda was hard to germinate but once the weather cooperated, it’s been an amazing variety for us at least.

Edward T.

I've used this seed two years in a row now common bermuda and each year there was a different weed In it. Last year it was sand spurs. This year it's this purple weed that's takinging over my yard. Please don't use this company.

Frank B.

Ordered 5# of Indian grass seed. Didn’t grow. Called and got nothing but the run around. Asked for help with telling me how to get to grow there. They told me it was to steep appear to be be to shaded. Zero help on how to make it grow. They only said their seed supplier said that he had a good a good germination test. Mind you this was $100 worth of seed. Not a huge deal. But their
idea of making things good was a 10% off a future order. Absolutely the worst customer service I have seen in 50 years. I would never recommend this company to my worst enemy! Check out the pics and see the outcome of my work. Nothing but weeds and now I need to redo all my work. I’m not happy. I would run away for this company as fast as I could. So remember there is nothing to fall back on if your seed doesn’t grow. According to them it something you did wrong. Not them!

John L.

I have been using Hancock Seed for my deer plots for a few years now and getting great results. Not only is the product great but the staff is always friendly and return emails very quickly answering any questions I may have. I use the fall and winter blend the most but have also used the deer greens, killer clover, ultimate plot mix and the no till. The photos are results from the fall and winter blend.