Fake Orchid Seeds?

[calvin_orchidL]

This seller is bogus. I would only ever trust seed from the Orchid Seedbank Project. I have germinated and deflasked seed from them several times. Aaron Hick's service is solid. There is another seller on Ebay (kumpol_p) who I believe also sells valid seed. These are the only two sources I know.

[newflasker]

I bought seeds from Ebay(kumpol_p); He sent seeds with a bonus bag of other seeds; unfortunately, both are dead seeds. Waist time, media and money.

[calvin_orchidL]

Originally Posted by newflasker

I bought seeds from Ebay(kumpol_p); He sent seeds with a bonus bag of other seeds; unfortunately, both are dead seeds. Waist time, media and money.

Just out of curiosity, how do you know they were dead? Did you examine the seed under a microscope for viable embryos, or did they simply not sprout? I'm not trying to be rude or snarky; just trying to clarify because negative feedback on a forum like this can be disastrous for a vendor who cannot defend himself/herself.

[miranon]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I just looked up eBay to see who was selling seed of Vanda Manuvadee "Sky" (selling seed of an awarded clone without stating whether it's a selfing or what it was crossed with is not a good sign). It came back with this listing. I don't suppose this was the seller you bid from? Call me suspicious but there was a seller from Ankara, Turkey going by the eBay ID 5eeds / ladybotany a while back who would list rare seeds and then send seed of common garden plants and weeds.

At least you got your money back. I wouldn't pin your hopes on the replacement seed being orchid seed either. With due respect to our fine Turkish friends on OB, I'd be wary of buying orchid seed on eBay from anyone in Turkey.

Yes, this is the seller i bought the seeds from. I really don't understand why somebody would sell fake orchid seeds. It's not like he is making a lot of money (3$), so why bother or even send fake seeds?

From the e-mail communication with him:

Hi,
Will check the shipment, sometimes things go wrong in communications between the office and greenhouses. While the checking goes on, to be sure, I will be sending you a new seed pack, this time will be checked by myself to be sure. thank you for the warning, seems that double check is needed.
Please inform me when you receive the new seeds so that I will be confort.
Kind Regards
...
I am very sorry about the matter. Checked my ebay status to refund your money back and saw that your payment is still pending. I have sent some shipments without even receiving the payment. So we are lucky I think. Please enter to your paypal account and simply just cancel your payment and whole money will be refunded because as it is still pending and not in my account it is easy. If any problem occurs there please inform me.
By the way I will resend your shipment and this time you will pay after you have received the seeds and check that they are the right ones.
Greetings, thank you
...
We have greenhouses at Cyprus, the climate there is beautiful for plants, if at any occasion you can visit Cyprus, I would be very glad to quest you. It has beautiful sun and sea. Consider this offer . Take care.

[miranon]

Originally Posted by newflasker

I bought seeds from Ebay(kumpol_p); He sent seeds with a bonus bag of other seeds; unfortunately, both are dead seeds. Waist time, media and money.

This seller seems legit to me. Look at his feedback rating.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by miranon

Yes, this is the seller i bought the seeds from. I really don't understand why somebody would sell fake orchid seeds. It's not like he is making a lot of money (3$), so why bother or even send fake seeds?

The seller is preying on ignorance. The general public are usually unware of what is needed to grow orchids from seed and may be inclined to buy a $3 packet of Phal seed rather than a $20 mature Phal. Why screw someone over for $3? Well at the time of writing this post they've got 375 listings that are ending within a week so, at the $3-$5 asking price for, their seed adds up to ~$1500 worth of listings. Even if a lot don't get sold it's still probably worth the effort, especially given that and unsuspecting buyer will get the seed, not know that it isn't orchid seed and will give the seller positive feedback they need to convince the next poor sap to buy from them. The buyer will sow the seed, see it germinate and not know they've been conned until a year or two later when the plant they've bought flowers at which time eBay and PayPal couldn't care less and the seller has changed their name to prey on a whole new set of victims.

As for their email, based on their history from this and other forums, I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. This listing pretty much sums up their credibility. The colour on this rose is far beyond anything that Suntory/Florigene has released to date.

[newflasker]

Originally Posted by calvin_orchidL

.... I'm not trying to be rude or snarky; just trying to clarify because negative feedback on a forum like this can be disastrous for a vendor who cannot defend himself/herself.

This is the forum to share information. We report a problem it doesn't mean we are rude or snarky. You report a good deal of somebody it doesn't mean you kiss ... him/her. I am not rude and snarky to you as well as Kumpol_p. I tried seeds on three different media: Knudson C, MS, WV but I got empty hand.

[calvin_orchidL]

Originally Posted by newflasker

This is the forum to share information. We report a problem it doesn't mean we are rude or snarky. You report a good deal of somebody it doesn't mean you kiss ... him/her. I am not rude and snarky to you as well as Kumpol_p. I tried seeds on three different media: Knudson C, MS, WV but I got empty hand.

Sorry, I think you may have misunderstood me. I said that *I* wasn't trying to be rude or snarky...no accusations were made towards you. Please reread my original post again carefully.

I am not trying to defend anyone here - all I'm saying is that orchid seed is tricky material. My success rate for germination from the Orchid Seed Bank is around 40% ... 60% of the seed I get doesn't germinate. I don't know whether this is because the seed was stored poorly, whether I used the wrong media, whether there was too much sugar in my media, or whether the seed is actually dead. A billion things could have gone wrong from pollination to sowing.

Either way, I have no way of knowing whether the fault lies with me or with the vendor, or mother nature herself. And you know what? That's fine, because that's the nature of orchid seed. No one guarantees germination for this precise reason. I wouldn't bash the OSP because some of my seed from them didn't germinate. This isn't like getting a poorly wrapped plant, or a mislabeled plant, or a BS plant that is a mere seedling, all of which are situations which warrant complaint. This is orchid seed - something that even the best of us have problems with. For what it's worth, I work with a functioning tissue culture hood in a fully equiped lab, and as I said previously, my success rate is around 40%.

You said: "waist [sic] time, media and money"

I don't have the audacity to assume that my flasking technique is so flawless that if something doesn't work for me, it's automatically defective and the seller is to blame. Frankly, I don't think anyone should either.

[Gin]

I just looked at the rose link

[Tropicgirl]

Originally Posted by Gin

I just looked at the rose link

Ya, I WISH they came in that color!