I ordered eugenia selloi on Etsy

[sky_shrimp]

I ordered 5 plants from a seller. The were supposed to be one year old plants.

Here is the photo in the listing.



They came in a bag and I had to pot them. They were only in transit for 10 days. This is what I received.






I'll try to save them, but 2 have lost their first leaves, one has dried and I'm not sure if the other two are even selloi.

I've asked for a refund.

[brian]

These are super common, known as pitangatuba.  Have you searched under that name?

[palologrower]

idk the growing conditions in Israel, but in Hawaii 1 yr old would be way bigger than that.  Even me with my horrible growing capability can get them maybe 9-12" in a year easy.

[sky_shrimp]

These are super common, known as pitangatuba.  Have you searched under that name?

Yeah, I've searched for pitangatuba. Eugenia isn't available in the UK, so we have to source them from overseas.

idk the growing conditions in Israel, but in Hawaii 1 yr old would be way bigger than that.  Even me with my horrible growing capability can get them maybe 9-12" in a year easy.

My eugenia uniflora plants grow like weeds and they're on the bathroom windowsill. The seller knowingly sent damaged and dead seedlings instead of the 1yr old plants advertised. He stated they were his 'last batch' of selloi in the listing. The two that seem to still be alive are not even the same plant.

[brian]

Ten days in transit is long enough that the plants could totally dry out even if watered right before shipping.  They might require a substantial amount of soil to supply even a plant-in-a-box for that long.  I got some small seedlings from Europe that spent 10 days in transit and they arrived okay but they had a lot more soil than a small seedling would typically be potted in. 

I agree with you that 1yr plants should be bigger, though!

You might be better off buying 10-20 seeds, so you can be assured at least a few plants as these seem to really more than one to get a significant crop.  I have three  mature seedling pitangatubas and I still get very poor yield despite many flowers.

[sky_shrimp]

They were sent with about 2 level tablespoons of soil that was bone dry. There were no dead leaves in the bag, so he still sent them knowing the leaves had completely died off on two.

Can seedlings survive after losing their first two leaves?

[brian]

Understood, it sounds like that seller was bad.  It is hard to say if a seedling can survive loss of leaves in general, but they generally will not survive drying out enough to lose any/all leaves

[nullzero]

Best off ordering fresh seeds packed in slightly moisture coir or vermiculite. May have better luck ordering from someone in the States.

[sky_shrimp]

It's been about a month since I got these seeds. The dried shoots and roots rotted away. Two of the seeds were not selloi and almond shaped. I put the seeds into a zip lock bag with damp paper. They were under blue LED on top of my aquarium. I've noticed tiny 1mm green shoots coming out of two of the selloi.

If you have the first two leaves (the cotyledonsa) of a tree seedling die on you, pop them in a ziplock and they might come back. I found this picture on a Google search regarding eugenia which is interesting. The image is from a paper from Cambridge University. Two plants from one seed. It might only refer to eugenias. 

[brian]

Yes it is common for eugenia seeds to "try again" if the initial growth dies.  Hopefully yours will grow after all.

The leaves are pitangatuba are rather distinctive, if it grows you should be able to tell quite early if it is the correct plant.