Seed Drop: Amazonas, Pouteria, Theobroma, Plinia, and a bunch of other goodies

[palologrower]

Some good points being made. 

There is a lot of work into getting these seeds out of country.  It takes work.  Plus it seems fun and all watching the vids of Joe exploring, but I'm sure there's parts of it that are costly or dangerous. Talking to another Brazilian fruit collector, things can go shit very quickly.  He was out of touch for several months.  Only after a long pause in communication did this person reach out back to me saying that he was way laid by chikungunya virus.  If you google it, I'm amazed my friend didn't die.  Taking that into consideration, I would see it as being factored into the seed price. 

Personally for me, there is a price limit before I say I can't buy a seed.  Does Joe have those seeds that I feel I can't justify paying for at the price he's asking?    For me at this point in my life yes (well, maybe I might change my mind later on tinctoria), but knowing the background on this species with the anecdotal experience in collecting it, this definitely gives value.  If you can't afford it or think it's a rip off, that's fine. If you can wait xxx years before the first guys in the states can grow and fruit it, then by then you'll see the price drop to a level that you can afford. 

Good luck Joe.  You are definitely bringing value to the knowledge set of these fruits that you're newly introducing or re-intoducing.  No one knew anything about the Plinia clausa beyond that one random pic sellami used for his initial sale.  Now the knowledge bank at least in the English language has expanded many fold. 

[Surfmatt]

Definitely didnt want to jump in here as I'm pretty new compared to all of you, but I just have to ask... who is the "Sellami" referenced here?

[SDPirate]

I mean maybe the prices aren't for everyone and certain rare species are justified, where else are you going to get them?  A lot of us don't have the time, energy, or resources to acquire them easily, so if someone is willing to romp in the jungle and spread the love upon return at a price to cover it I don't see a reason to hate.  I have only ordered a couple times from Joe and the ones I have received have been high quality with good germ rates.

[Timbogrow]

There's no hate here. Just when you call people trolls and imply cowardice behind screens when it's the internet. That's provoking a virtual battle. A comment I made on the price rising was wrong. I should have not said anything since theres so many fragile people here that take a penny so seriously( maybe me lol).  I mistake the competitions lower price for his rising. It didn't rise, it was always higher. Go buy em up people. I'm not supporting a community that thinks it's ok to imply cowardice behind screens like you need a face to face fight? Who thinks their not hiding behind a screen when your on the internet?  I don't take kindly to that. It was all price talk til things got personal and Joe started crying about having to work hard for $. I have safety equipment I wear all day but I thank it, not complain about. Moral of the story I shouldn't have mistaken a price hike for being 33% higher priced overall and to insinuate what he did was wrong as well. The ego of being the only person to have true seeds is insulting to the other kind sellers as well. You all don't know me or what I've done for any community.
Sorry Joe and community. I understand how much effort that is for you now. Forgive me for being wrong and bad mouthing you. Just don't expect people to be kind when you say stupid things like trolling and implying cowardice.
Dan never gave me a bad name so I didn't apply any to him. Was Boomer supposed to be insulting?  I'm going on 5years working alone and it's booming most weeks lol.  You all were just wanting to find a punching bag and didnt care who told what first lol. Here you go hit me, I can take some in return. I deserve it. Let er rip. My apologies.

[Paraponera]

Ok all prices raised 1 cent.    Please do! I love when people think it’s an easy way to make money. It would make for a cool vacation if you like hiking 90 degrees and 100 percent humidity in the Amazon covered in deet wearing long sleeve shirts and pants 7 to 8 hours a day searching for fruit. Not to mention a foreign country where we need to hire a translator to talk to locals. I don’t speak Tikuna…. Do you? The places we camped had no running water or electricity. Still sound like fun? After a long days hike then come home and clean seeds for 2 hours in the dark! Fun vacation stuff! If this sounds like a vacation then we need more people like you and and I’ll even invite you on my next expedition! Oh and you need your yellow vaccine to travel where I go. It’s mandatory and make sure you have a malaria precaution plan.

Thank you for allowing to me to explain My pricing and why the price will only RISE with further seeds drops as the quality of my offerings gets better and better. I learn and change my seed storage procedure every new drop. Always trying to improve and the last couple seed drop have very high germination rates.

I hire local guides to take me into the jungle. Most of these fruit are not found at the market. If I found them at the market then they are priced accordingly.  I took two fruit experts last trip and they didn’t spot  anything. I’ll even happily give you all the gps locations I marked. You can go go back and get all the same fruits and seeds except you need to go at the same time next year as  Amazon fruits only stay in season for Around 3 weeks then it’s a new fruit crop. . So all the fruit we found are probably no longer available. I went last year in May and got completely different fruit.  And all my Tikuna indigenous guides (make sure you tip them as much as I did because they are amazing people and deserve it). I don’t try and get the cheapest possible seeds. I am trying to build a community of explorers to build value to the community. Maybe if we show locals that there is value in these trees as opposed to trying to get the seeds at the cheapest possible price and “take” from the locals, then we can actually have something sustainable. if we want them to preserve nature then the people with money need to fund it instead of whining about 1 dollar more for a seed.

Also my seeds are 100 percent true because I collected, cleaned, inspected, and never left my sight. Not sure if any other seed provider in the USA can say that. Maybe you Shiloh and palologrower haha.  But if none of that is important to you then please buy seeds from someone else.  I am almost sold out of many species and almost all my customers are repeat customers

Absolutely LOVE that you are helping the Tikuna build a sustainable market in their community and profit off of their own native forest in a eco friendly, sustainable way! Very Romulus Whitaker of you. I have to admit that all that deet covered rough traveling does sound like an incredible vacation to me! Lol

I have roughed it through various parts of the neotropics alone and with others and still come up with far fewer useful species. Thanks for all you do and don't let the haters take up space in your head...they are no doubt incredibly jealous or suffering from delusions of grandeur.

All the seeds I have ordered from you have been of the highest possible quality. Also, thanks for the extra seeds in the last order. I HIGHLY recommend your shop to anyone interested in quality viable seeds at a fair price!

[SouthBayHapaJoe]

Thanks.  I value the discussion on pricing and can understand hesitation in purchasing.
Tim,  I think I understand your complaint…. I did raise the price on pouteria “tuturuba” here is why. That tree is in maranhao, Brazil. I sold out quickly of that seed and found a way to get the same exact tree seed, however I was in Colombia…. I figured out a way and got 30 more ..
Form that exact tree that I have personally tasted.  I figured 5 more dollars a per seed was worth it for those that really want it now.  If you would have emailed me instead of posting on my sales then I would have told you that and probably sell it to you at a discount.  I will able to get more seeds in the future and the price will go down.
For the rest who shared words of encouragement… I appreciate you all. if you know me personally then you know that it really didn’t bother me and just gave me another opportunity to share why I do things. 
The Tikuna are growing some pretty cool things now thanks to forum members.  palologrower hooked up some cool seeds that I got to share with them. Let’s all be friends again. But let’s shut down this thread.  Water under the bridge.

[Bush2Beach]

Yep ultimately the best feeling way to spend money is to spread it around to fruit friends , and all support each others ventures while propagating and growing more fruits.
I gonna find something I am excited to grow and send  Joe some money right now.

[K-Rimes]

Just here to say Joe was killer on my last order and included extras which I was not expecting. It is amazing for me to get access to these species and seeds as a voracious collector and I don't have to fart around on eBay fighting people with far deeper pockets than I have.

This feels like a renaissance for Brazilian species of which I could only dream of acquiring just a few years back.

While there is some "wow, that's expensive!" sensations for some of the seeds he is selling, I think it's overall good pricing and is available in a way that is non-competitive. If you want them, you simply just go buy them. If they don't sell, I am sure he'll run a special and you can get them cheaper. If you're really patient, you can buy the seeds 5-10 years later when the North Americans have got them fruiting, or you can pay the small premium and lead the charge.

[tru]

Damn Joe!!! The new website looks great!

[jiminirvana]

I sent you a DM before your trip if it would have been a possibility to collect seeds from some canopy layer and emergent layer trees if you so happen to find them on the ground or come across them,  which I would have paid top $ on. I grow to donate to Zoos and botanical gardens, I never got response from you.