Virginia Oyster Gardening Guide

Short Description
gardening in general. The CBF Web site gives you 11. suppliers organized by geographic region … your garden. It all depends on the size of seed, the type …

Website: www.deq.virginia.gov | Filesize: 191kb

Content
13
How to Start and Maintain an Oyster Garden
Step Five: Purchase Supplies
When buying seed, it’s important for the oyster
gardener to be sure that it comes from a hatchery that
has the best available brood stocks. That means oysters
with a proven record of good growth and survival in
areas where disease is prevalent. While disease tolerant
oyster lines have been developed, it is unlikely that a
fully disease resistant oyster will ever be discovered.
Vendors for oyster seed and containment systems
change frequently but you should be able to locate one
close to you, no matter where you are in Virginia’s coastal
area. See Reference C on page 20 for Web site addresses
for the Tidewater Oyster Gardeners’ Association (TOGA)
and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). The Toga
Web site gives you 14 vendors in Virginia and 1 in
Rhode Island that can be viewed alphabetically or by
location. TOGA’s site also provides contact information
for 70 Master Oyster Gardeners. You may want to
contact an MOG near you for advice on the best seed
and containment sources, as well as for advice on oyster
gardening in general. The CBF Web site gives you 11…