All About Downcounts

How Do They Happen?

We know how frustrating it can be to order your plugs many months in advance, then open the box to see that you've received a partial tray of something. We do our very best to avoid these sorts of surprises, but sometimes nature has other plans. And in the baby plants business, these situations are simply unavoidable sometimes. Here's how that tray came to be shorted:

1: Imperfect Germination

Even the experts don't get 100% germination rates every time. Here you can see that this tray contains some empty cells. Gro 'n Sell routinely conducts rigorous germination tests, and oversows accordingly.

2: Fixing

Then their team goes in and "fixes" all of the trays, taking plugs from one to fill in any holes in the others, ensuring that all trays are full of plants.

3. Partial Tray

Gro 'n Sell has usually oversown enough to fulfill all orders, but there is occasionally a shortage after all trays have been "fixed", and a partial tray must be sent to a customer. These are often caught at the very last minute.

And Then What?

Gro 'n Sell keeps meticulous records of all such shortages, and submits a Downcount Report to Farmer Bailey each week for our team to issue refunds and email affected customers. We make every effort to notify customers of downcounted trays before their order is delivered, so as to avoid surprises. But this is not always possible.

Do note that when shipped a downcounted tray, customers are never charged for the full amount of healthy plugs that they're receiving. This a courtesy from Gro 'n Sell, a way of saying "Thank you for understanding!". For example, if a tray is between 25-50% full, the customer will only be charged for about half of the plugs they receive. And if the tray is less than 25% full, the tray ships at no charge. Additional examples are below:

This 128 tray was downcounted to 112, but the customer was charged for 100

This 216 tray was downcounted to 195, but the customer was charged for 185

This 216 tray was downcounted to 162, but the customer was charged for 120

While it is our goal to provide you with exactly what you order 100% of the time, that's just not how farming works. But we will always be communicative and honest with you about your order, keeping you informed every step of the way.

Thank you for your understanding, and for choosing Farmer Bailey.