The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: agroventuresperu on August 07, 2022, 02:05:33 PM
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Let me know if you want me to name names.
I recently bought "seeds" of Mitragyna speciosa from a couple different vendors. The first sent absolutely empty pods. At least they refunded me when I complained. The second seller sent seeds that just looked underdeveloped. Sure enough 0% germination.
Lots of palm seeds over the years were totally worthless. Even rotten seeds from large, well-known vendors.
Tons of fruit seeds from other big name sellers, with horrible results. Apparently vendors don't commit to rotating old stock with new stock, and prefer to just off-load completely old dead seeds to unsuspecting buyers. I've had so many bad experiences over the years, that I'm not sure I'll ever buy seeds again from any big seed websites. Things like vegetable crops are usually pretty reliable, but forget about palms, fruit trees, and other rare plants. It seems none of the vendors even check their viability.
One thing I've been keeping an eye out for now for a few years is Musa ingens, the giant banana species. A quick internet search yields a few results, but the prices are so ridiculous (like 3 seeds for $14) and I just assume it's from some batch being resold over and over again from seeds that could very well be a decade old...
I mean you can always ask a seller how old the seeds are, but what do you think they're going to say, "Oh yeah those have been laying at the bottom of my sock drawer for the better part of two decades. I don't even remember who I bought them from or when they were collected."
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Are there any seed vendors you can totally endorse?
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If you're still looking for kratom, send D-grower a message. I know he's sold fresh seeds in the past.
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If you're still looking for kratom, send D-grower a message. I know he's sold fresh seeds in the past.
I will, but I think they're out of season now.
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Are there any seed vendors you can totally endorse?
If they still exist, Silverhill Seeds. They were great. The owners were killed by terrorists a few years back, so I'm not sure they're still around. But when the original owners ran the business I had so many good purchases from them. They were one of the few I recall that were honest about the viability of their seeds. Once I inquired for a certain species of Tabernaemontana and they told me that the seeds they had were already too old, and they would have to take another botanical excursion to collect more. They explained they would need to be express shipped, since they were recalcitrant seeds. I ordered a ton Sclerocarya birrea ssp. caffra seeds from them once, and the huge box of seeds made it to California without any hiccups. Excellent germination rates. Lots of other things from them that I ordered seemed to always have good germination rates.
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Are there any seed vendors you can totally endorse?
If they still exist, Silverhill Seeds. They were great. The owners were killed by terrorists a few years back, so I'm not sure they're still around. But when the original owners ran the business I had so many good purchases from them. They were one of the few I recall that were honest about the viability of their seeds. Once I inquired for a certain species of Tabernaemontana and they told me that the seeds they had were already too old, and they would have to take another botanical excursion to collect more. They explained they would need to be express shipped, since they were recalcitrant seeds. I ordered a ton Sclerocarya birrea ssp. caffra seeds from them once, and the huge box of seeds made it to California without any hiccups. Excellent germination rates. Lots of other things from them that I ordered seemed to always have good germination rates.
Oh God, killed by terrorists?? Where did this happen?
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Are there any seed vendors you can totally endorse?
If they still exist, Silverhill Seeds. They were great. The owners were killed by terrorists a few years back, so I'm not sure they're still around. But when the original owners ran the business I had so many good purchases from them. They were one of the few I recall that were honest about the viability of their seeds. Once I inquired for a certain species of Tabernaemontana and they told me that the seeds they had were already too old, and they would have to take another botanical excursion to collect more. They explained they would need to be express shipped, since they were recalcitrant seeds. I ordered a ton Sclerocarya birrea ssp. caffra seeds from them once, and the huge box of seeds made it to California without any hiccups. Excellent germination rates. Lots of other things from them that I ordered seemed to always have good germination rates.
Oh God, killed by terrorists?? Where did this happen?
They were killed by an ISIS terrorist gang during a plant hunting expedition in KwaZulu-Natal in 2018. Silverhill Seeds is still in business and is owned by one of their long-time employees: https://silverhillseeds.co.za/.
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Sad to hear :-\
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Why Are So Many Seed Vendors So Dishonest?
Not totally in reference to tropical fruit species.
There is a level of skill and knowledge needed to harvest, store and despatch many seed types.
It is clear not all sellers have this.
Some aren't aware of seed lifespans.
There is an inherent failure rate in seed germination, even if everything is done right.
It can be hard to tell at what stage it went wrong, so failure is accepted to some degree.
Some sellers grow seeds, some repackage from other sources.
It is clearly a side business to some sellers, not a passion.
Buyers also lack knowledge about what they are buying.
Some seed sites are somewhere in the Psychedelic Fantasy range of what they offer,
Giant Blue Strawberries, Multi coloured grapes, photoshopped
( there are tricolour wine grapes on one bunch, but not that colourful).
Giant Sweet Pepper varieties, held in the hands of a very small lady.
Some buyers see these items and go Wow, and buy it.
After many years of seed collecting and growing I see this items and think WooooooooW. HaHaHa.
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Silverhills still in business some the employees run it now with some guy from Kistenbog (spell?) in South Africa getting seeds for them this last I heard. Was a grest place ordered many seeds over the years some bush edibles but mostly proteacea species.Was a great loss when they were killed.
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Def have bought a few expensive seeds that i question their viability
Unfortunately yea seems somewhat common
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Why Are So Many Seed Vendors So Dishonest?
Not totally in reference to tropical fruit species.
There is a level of skill and knowledge needed to harvest, store and despatch many seed types.
It is clear not all sellers have this.
Some aren't aware of seed lifespans.
There is an inherent failure rate in seed germination, even if everything is done right.
It can be hard to tell at what stage it went wrong, so failure is accepted to some degree.
Some sellers grow seeds, some repackage from other sources.
It is clearly a side business to some sellers, not a passion.
Buyers also lack knowledge about what they are buying.
Some seed sites are somewhere in the Psychedelic Fantasy range of what they offer,
Giant Blue Strawberries, Multi coloured grapes, photoshopped
( there are tricolour wine grapes on one bunch, but not that colourful).
Giant Sweet Pepper varieties, held in the hands of a very small lady.
Some buyers see these items and go Wow, and buy it.
After many years of seed collecting and growing I see this items and think WooooooooW. HaHaHa.
Hah. I've seen those photoshopped fruit photos. Would never order from one of those sellers.
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Saw this today about Silver Hill founders. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/world-renowned-botanists-allegedly-beaten-to-death-and-fed-to-crocodiles-in-south-africa/ar-AA12Dtzg?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=e87ef9b941a24a78b63037ddf78fdec2
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I feel like I'm getting scam right now. Bought rollinia seedling from etsy since 09/24 and the shipping label was created but it never ship. I know we had a hurricane, I contract the seller and got no reply.