Seed Needs Shiso Seeds for Planting Green Perilla Herbs - Non-GMO Heirloom & Untreated Annual Herb Seed to Plant a Culinary Garden Indoors or Outdoors (1 Pack)

They grew well and we enjoyed the taste through the summer.

It is NOT Japanese Shiso (that is Perilla Frutescens var Crispa). The leaves are quite broad when mature. My sprouts are still young so the flavor is not strong but it tastes like perilla and smells like perilla (slightly minty) and has big leaves like perilla. It is VERY difficult to start. Germination usually requires cold stratification (in the fridge for a month to imitate winter, then a hot/warm water soak to soften the super hard seed cases) and the seedlings are extremely weak to fungus and waterlogging and root rot. The ones that survive the gauntlet however are quite vigorous. I used about 150 seeds and ended up with about 50% germination and 30ish seedlings that survived enough to grow foliage.

None germinated as far as I could tell. I used this packet and another whole packet of shiso seeds of a different brand, and soaked them briefly before planting as advised, however, only one plant grew. It was purple so it was from the other packet. None of this brand packet's shiso seeds became plants.

This pack of Shiso seeds comes with a "Used by 12/2024" on the package so this should be newer stock. The direction on the bag stats this Shiso is best to sow when temperature is around 70 degree. I sowed some in a self watering pot and save the rest in the frig for next year. Shiso is easy to grow. Actually too easy, so don't plant these in the ground otherwise they may take over the plot next year. They drink water like crazy so the pot need to have constant moisture. Other than that, enjoy the leaves. We learnt from the TV to use the leaves as low carb wraps. It's good with protein such as grilled or BBQ beef, pork, fish, or chicken. Try grow some Shiso in pots. You'll like them too.

Over the last 2 or 3 years, I have been actively collecting edible plants and trees. I want to make my backyard an oasis of edible plants. After seeing parilla/shiso listed as ingredients in a few different Asian style meals I purchased (store and restaurant), I decided to go out on a limb and buy the green variety here on Amazon. I have been VERY happy with that transaction and look forward to planting them in a day or so, after they're done soaking. They seem healthy and viable, but I will report back if I have an issues. Thank you to the Seed Needs Store for having seemingly hard to find seeds like these for a great price!

Just a heads-up for fellow Shiso lovers! I usually don’t write product reviews like this, but I felt I should share my experience so that others who are looking for real Shiso seeds aren’t disappointed like I was. If you're familiar with the true taste and aroma of Shiso, you may notice right away that this plant doesn't match. I'm not sure what it actually is, but it's definitely not the Shiso I know. The taste is quite different—it has a faint minty flavor, and the scent is very weak, not at all like authentic Shiso or even regular mint leaves. After waiting over a month for the seeds to grow, I was really hoping they were the real thing. But to be honest, I had some doubts from the beginning, as the seeds looked different—the ones in the pouch were cream white, while real Shiso seeds are usually dark gray or black. I’m sharing this in the hope that it helps someone else find what they’re really looking for.

As winter sets upon me, I made it my mission to have shiso available throughout the season. After dropping $150 on an LED grow light, and reading reviews of seeds that made me wonder if any would be viable, I figured I'd get two different sets of seeds from two different sources to increase my chance of success. If there were lots of choices for ordering shiso seeds, the prior reviews would have led me to go somewhere else. Since the reviews were so bad, I wanted to know which seeds are actually worth buying for next time. This is what happens when a scientist is allowed to garden. I divided eight seeds from batch (a) into two small cups. I then divided 12 seeds of batch (b), from this vendor (Seed Needs) into three cups. In other words, each cup had four seeds. I tried to provide both sets of seeds the exact same treatment, giving similar amounts of water and access to light. The instructions say that it can take up to 14 days for the seeds to sprout. About 12 days in, I have 6 seedlings growing from the batch of seeds from Seed Needs (50% sprouted), and only one from the other vendor (12.5%). So far, Seed Needs is the winner by a long shot. I'm am a very amateur gardener, and this is my first time trying to grow ANYTHING from seeds. So, it's entirely possible that more seeds were viable than have started growing. One nice touch is that the package has instructions on how to grow shiso. Yes, you can find instructions on the web but it's nice that when my hands are full of dirt the instructions are right there. It will be a few months before I have full plants with edible leaves, so I can't comment on the final product. Given what I read from other reviewers, I did want to post that my luck has been better. Given that other reviewers have had worse luck with seed needs, and that I've had terribly luck with a different vendor, I wonder if different batches of seeds from the same vendor have natural variances in viability. If so, going with two vendors to ensure something sprouts might be a good strategy. Regardless, my experience says that these seeds are worth trying. I hope your luck is as good as mine.

Second or third time I have purchased these and nothing happened. I had Shiso seeds before and they grew great.