To find your tax parcel, you will need to browse to the county assessor website (The County where the seed will be planted). For a complete list of counties, please go to https://dor.wa.gov/find-taxes-rates/property-tax/county-assessor-and-treasurer-websites. Once at your county assessor site, find “search my property” or “tax parcel lookup” and follow the prompts. Write down your tax parcel number and enter it into the appropriate box in our online order system.

It varies from sale to sale. The Monday before seed goes on sale, we will annouce seed availability via email. Pacific Oyster, Manila Clam and Mussel seed are generally in good supply for each sale.

Growing shellfish on a hobby scale is pretty straightforward. We sell all the gear and seed needed to get started. Read our shellfish garden guidelines here. Read our shellfish gear guidelines here.

Pacific Diploid Oyster sold by volume: $70/bag

Pacific Triploid Oyster sold by volume: $75/bag

Kumamoto Oyster (when available) sold by volume: $95/bag

Olympia Oyster (when available) sold by volume: $95/bag

Manila Clam sold per 1000: $25

Mediterranean Mussel sold per foot: $25

Geoduck Clam: $2.50/each

We pre-bag oysters by volume. Counts vary as oysters grow at different rates. The average you can expect is 300-400 oysters per bag. We recommended splitting these equally between 3 grow bags. Purchasing a few extra bags is a good idea to split into more bags as oysters grow bigger.

https://buy.taylorshellfishfarms.com/seed-gear/

When seed is purchased online, you can have your neighbor pick-up for you. They MUST have your confirmation order with them (printed or an electronic copy on cell phone).

We would recommend you try a couple of different types of seed. Every beach has different results. Experiment and find what works best on yours! General guidance:

• Pacific Triploid is the most popular option. They are best for eating year-round, generally grow the fastest but do have a higher mortality rate compared to Pacific Diploid oysters.
• Pacific Diploid usually grow slower than Triploids but survive better. Because they go through the natural spawning cycle in the summer months, they are best eaten from October - May. While they may spawn, most areas in the state will not see successful reproduction in the wild. 
• Kumamoto Oysters are our prized half shell oyster. They are famous for their sweet flavor and deep cup. Compared to Pacific Oysters, they grow much slower. Growing Kumamoto Oysters successfully can be much more site specific than Pacific Oysters and it is not clear which sites they will grow well or not. 
• Olympia Oysters are our native oyster. They are slow growers and prefer to be grown deeper in the intertidal because they are more susceptible to temperature stress. 
• Manila Clams grow well in ground that is a mixture of sand, grit and rocks. Avoid areas on the beach with a lot of freshwater influence. If other clams are naturally growing in an area, Manila Clams are usually successful as well.
• Mediterranean Mussels will do well in most areas. Mussels can require additional care to ensure the bags do not get fouled up.
• Geoduck require deep sandy beaches to be successful. With the right beach, they are relatively simple to grow. Harvesting them is an adventure!

Plant geoduck seed the same day, or store it in a fine mesh bag and hang it from a dock submurged into the water. Oyster, Mussel and Clam seed is ok for an additional day, but we recommend all purchased seed is planted no later than the day after pick up / delivery.

Check out our seeding guidelines here.

You can pick up a limited selection of gear from our Shelton Shellfish Market year-round. Unfortunately, our Samish location does not offer shellfish gear for purchase. 

Seed can only be picked up at the selected seed sale dates. 

Seed survival can vary drastically between different beaches and even year to year. It is difficult to predict how much seed will survive but generally when your shellfish garden is managed well, you can expect:

• Oysters: 40%-60% Survival
• Clams: 20%-60% Survival
• Mussels: 25%-50% Survival
• Geoduck: 30%-70% Survival

Survival of your shellfish can be impacted by many factors. Some are controllable, some are not. The main causes:

• Uncontrollable environmental factors. Some of these are: algae blooms, salinity changes and multiple compounding stressors.
• Overcrowding. Remember to split your oysters before they get too crowded and can't move freely in the bag.
• Temperature extremes. Abnormal heat or cold can impact your shellfish.
• Buried gear. If your gear becomes buried by sand or mud, it may smother your shellfish. 
• Predators. Crabs (not the small shore crabs), Oyster Drill, Starfish, Moon Snails, Scoter Ducks and Flounder are all predators for different species of shellfish. Obvious disturbance on the beach, crunched shells, holes in the shells or presence of these predators in high numbers are all indicates that this may be impacting the survival in your shellfish garden. 

Submit your questions here.