Buying seed in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the International Financial center, agriculture activities are less common in the city, there are not much seeds/plants shop in there. Most seeds shop are located in Yuen Long and Sheung wan. So, people mostly buy their seeds in Mong Kok flower market and those vegetable seeds shop.

In Sheung Wan, there are seeds shops like Wong Yuen Shing seeds shop, Ma Fok Kee seeds shop, Chan Man Hop seeds shop. Also, seeds wholesaler like Good Earth Agriculture, Shiu Chun Enterprises Ltd., Choi Hing Lee Seeds Co. Ltd etc. have their main office station at there.

I visited Chan Man Hop seeds shop frequently during my studies in HKU SPACE Stanley Ho Community College as Causeway bay quite near to Sheung Wan. The shop established in 1939, which pass though second world war, cold war period until now. It owned by the Chan family, Ronald and Bunny are the heads of the shop.

In the shop, you will see many jar of seeds stored in the cupboard like hairy gourd, different types of pak choi, choi sum, mustard etc. When customer buy small amount of seeds, Ronald will use a teaspoon take out the seeds and place it into a plastic bag, then it will be sealed well by heater to separate from moisture for maintain viability. Most people only buy $10 of seeds, which mean two teaspoon seeds. They also have some packaged seeds like Choi Hing Lee brand and Taiwan Knownyou brand.

Ronald introduced some new seeds to me like large black hair hairy gourd from USA, as well as New Zealand cultivated brassica vegetables like Chinese Kale, Choi Sum, Pak Choi etc. He said that late radish seeds should stay in refrigerator for one year to after-ripening. Many customer from China town in North American cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, New York etc purchase large amount of seeds due to Asian vegetable are not available in those cities, they grow them for sale in Chinatown. People from mainland China also purchase seeds from them due to reliability when compare to the seed quality in mainland.

They always recommend small leaf garland chrysanthemum "Emperor vegetable", because it is the most easiest vegetable to grow. Any extra care are not needed, just sow the seeds into fertilized land and wait until harvest.

Figure 1: Front door of Chan Man Hop seeds

Figure 2: Ronald counting the seed stock and filing the document at the desk

Figure 3: Brassica seeds like mustard, pak choi , choi sum stored in jars

Figure 4: Packaged seeds from Choi Hing Lee brand

In New Territories, there are seed shops like Wing Hing Lon in Tai Po, Ma Chun Hing seeds in Sheng shui, Chan Cheng Kee in Tuen Mun and severals in Yuen Long. Those shops in Yuen Long included Chan Ping Kee, Chan Kwan Kee and Wong Sam Hing. Vegetable seeds quality within those company are also very good. Some major clients like Produce Green Foundation buy large amount of seeds like Hok Tou Pak Choi from Ma Chun Hing every year

Wing Hing Lon is a seeds shop, as well as grocery store. I usually pay visit to there to search for cheap seeds, which is $5 HK per pack of seeds.

Mr. Stephen Wong is the head of the shop, he has his own way to sell the seeds.
He organized the seed rack according to the family of plants, then repacked the seeds from bulk bag into small plastic bag, sealed well, labeled and placed them into seed rack during time with less customers

You can find brassica family seeds like Chinese Kale, Choi Sum etc near the site of door; Asteraceae family seeds like lettuce, garland chrysanthemum in the middle of the rack; Cucurbitaceae (Melon family) seeds like hairy gourd, bitter gourd near the direction of cashier.

This store also have variety of fertilizer, like peanut meal, chicken feces, compost, potassium ion etc.

Most farmers from Tai Po will buy seeds from this shop. My farmland owner Mr. Wong Tze Kwong also buy seeds from there.

Figure 5: The front door of Wing Hing Lon

Figure 6: The owner of the shop - Mr Stephen Wong

Figure 7: The shop also sells groceries such as cooking oil, salt ,sugar etc

Figure 8: The seeds are well organized according to family of the plants and season to grow

Figure 9: Fertilizer are essential for growing vegetables and you can find them in Wing Hing Lon

Ma Chun Hing is one of the oldest generation seed shop in Sheung Shui, New Territories. The Chinese book "Hong Kong Vegetables(香港正菜)" written by Leila Chan Hiu Lui have mentioned Ma Chun Hing and the history of agriculture in Hong Kong. The shop is operated by the Ma family, Fai is the head of the shop.

Sometimes I pay visit to Ma Chun Hing frequently to search for seeds and chat with Fai, he mentioned there are lot of farmers in Sheung shui and Fanling purchase his seeds for farming purpose.

They stored the seeds in jars like other major seeds store in Hong Kong. They use a teaspoon to take out the seeds and seal them well in small plastic bag when there are customer purchases.