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alohakate222

My Review of Adenium Seed Sellers

6 years ago

Aloha! I went a little crazy and purchased a bunch of seeds from different sellers. I am new to adeniums and got a bit overexcited, BUT I thought this information would be useful for some of you looking to buy adenium seeds online. The reviews are based on my experiences only with regard to the seller, shipping, and germination.


1) Ebay seller awillis21 - 100 assorted adenium seeds. I figured most of these seeds would be the usual pink, however, I wanted to have a lot of seedlings to be able to experiment with since I am new to adeniums, so I purchased this from a US seller for a relatively low price. Shipping and delivery were fast. I planted 30 seeds and got 100% germination.


2) Ebay seller therealflorida101. This seller is based out of Florida. He seemed to have a beautiful selection of Adenium Obesum and great ebay reviews. However, after a few days of purchase, I noticed he had neither shipped the seeds out nor had he contacted me. I contacted him several times with no response.
I then asked for refunds. He finally responded that he would not be able to send the seeds out until weeks later when he was back in town. Needless to say it took a very LONG time for me to receive the seeds. He gave me a partial refund. 90+% germination rate.


3) Ebay seller adeniumcenter - This seller is out of Thailand. I ordered some cool ones like Thai Soco Golden Bell and Arabicum RCN. Shipping was fast considering they came from overseas. 90% germination. Seedlings are HUGE compared to the others. I think it must be because of the type.


4) Ebay seller adenium_ko (aka Mr. Ko) - This seller is out of Taiwan. I ordered a few varieties of Adenium Obesum. Shipping was pretty fast. 90% germination, but they seemed to take a few days longer to sprout than the other seeds I purchased. Seedlings are also generally smaller than others grown around the same time. I'm not sure why that is, (maybe it is something I did but don't realize) but they look healthy.


Aloha,

Kate, adenium newbie enthusiast


PS. I just ordered some from ebay seller kingadenium. I have to figure out where I'm going to put everything. They've taken over my house :)


These are assorted seeds from the awillis21. I'm going away for a few days so I'm trying out different ways of keeping the soil moist while I am away. So far so good.



These are seeds from Mr. Ko. They are smaller in general than the others... I'm comparing to the other adenium seedlings around the same number of days after being planted.



These are from realflorida101 and adeniumcenter. Those Thai Socos are ginormous!!!


Comments (28)

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Therealflorida Is the one I bought from a several years ago. He advertises as exotic colors (not "parent plants or crosses" but "this is what will bloom" I didn't know better at the time)...and ofcourse they bloomed basic pink. Now I know that you very rarely get anything exotic from seeds but it really irritates me that they sell them in a way that makes new growers think otherwise.

    Mr Ko will have a much higher chance of producing an interesting flower, from what I've heard. I believe he hand pollinates and "line breeds", if I read correctly.

    Kate thanked Candice (Houston)
  • 6 years ago

    Aloha Kate.. So far I am having great success with Mr. Ko's seedlings.. They may not produce the same flower as shown on his website but so far I am very impressed with what I am seeing.. Every new flower is a complete surprise, but that is what makes growing from seed so fun.. I live on Maui.. Where are you?

  • 6 years ago

    I know what you mean Candice. Therealflorida101 was shady from the get-go. I'm sorry you ordered fromhim as well. I didn't spend much money, so it's ok....more adenium to experiment with.


  • 6 years ago

    Thanks paradiseprincess51! I've heard good things generally about Mr. Ko. It would be nice to get a least a few that are like the parent plant, but I agree, it will be fun being surprised. I am just happy nearly all of them have sprouted. I live in Honolulu. Maui....beautiful. It's been a long time since I've been there. I hope you all aren't too affected by the fumes coming from Big Island.

  • 6 years ago

    One positive is that they were fairly fresh. I got 90% germination. But they are basic pinkkkkkkkkkkkkk. ><

    Kate thanked Candice (Houston)
  • 6 years ago

    I ordered seeds from that Willis on eBay almost 2 weeks ago and still no seeds.they will be coming from Texas.and no tracking number? Seems strange

    sharon

    Kate thanked ssk22 Ohio 5b
  • 6 years ago

    There is a very informative You-tube video about Adenium seed selling scams, and frauds, and shady vendors that do business on eBay.

    Frank

    NYC/7b

    Kate thanked bronxfigs: New York City/7b
  • 6 years ago

    Thanks, I’ll go look it up

    still no seeds. He said the usps lost them probably

    sharon

  • 6 years ago

    There is zero reason to buy from a seller that won't provide USPS tracking. Even first class postage can have tracking info attached.

  • 6 years ago

    I purchased my first batch of seeds from therealflorida as well. As a newbie to adenium I was thrilled that the seller was in my own town. And though I guess I understand, I was a bit annoyed when the seller would not meet me somewhere to pick up the seeds and I had to pay shipment costs. I asked whether the seeds were tested true to color and he responded, " I've never had a complaint". I got the seeds quickly and the germination rate was 90+% but I won't know for a while what colors they are. I have read that as small seedlings you can sometimes tell whether they will be either white/yellow or one of the darker colors by the color of the stems. I did notice that some stems on my seedlings were reddish and some were light green, so we'll see. My review on therealflorida's eBay store was that delivery was quick, germination was good, but that I would add to that review when they finally bloom. Again, we'll see. He was a bit rude, in my opinion. I'll order from Thailand next time. Heard great things about www.orient-adenium.com .

  • 6 years ago

    Sharon ssk, Did you eventually get your seeds?

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Christine, did you see my comment above about TheRealFlorida? They all ended up pinks. I complained to him too, so he's lying about "no complaints".

  • 6 years ago

    The problem is that it takes long enough for the plants to mature and flower, the actionable time for making a claim on eBay has passed.

  • 6 years ago

    This is true^

  • 6 years ago

    This has been discussed many times on this forum ko & orient adenium come up consistently i tried ko it took way to long for seeds to arrive in his defense he was having troubles with seed supply, im still waiting on the results from that batch. Rinoa (orient adenium) starting to get results nothing like the parents yet but colours i dont have i will post pics when they are fully out in the next day or two so stick to what is recommended on the forum it takes alot of guessing out of buying we all make this mistake thats y i hate common old garden variety pink i didn't know about this forum and i bought hundreds of seeds of rip off dealers all pink:×)




    Kate thanked Peter Newcastle Aust spider mite breeder
  • 6 years ago

    Kate,

    never saw your question. But yes,I emailed the seller.he re sent more seeds. They both came and seller said I could keep both packs. I made out.

    sharon

  • 5 years ago

    I purchased abour $200 seeds in two lots from http://www.asi-wa.net.au . so far 6 have flowered and they are all the common pink - think it may be a bit of a scam. And I was so careful to make sure I numbered and catalogued them and ever so disappointed.

  • 5 years ago

    Rozpowell i made that mistake years ago all pink from the same place.

  • 5 years ago

    Rozpowell i emailed him and told them the seeds were all pink so he sent me more and they were pink also.

  • 5 years ago

    Hi Peter I cross pollinate many flowers and still get lots of pink it’s just in the plants genes I think some flowers that are not close to pink will still turn out some pink use to to think that the sellers were ripping me off untell I started using my own seeds

    roger

  • 5 years ago

    I have 1 seed that is about 1cm high but is pink with pink leaves. How will this one develop? Any thoughts? Looks like adenium shape... but albino

  • 5 years ago

    Probably won’t make it most die

  • 5 years ago

    Question for anyone that thinks might be able to help or at least input thoughts or confirmed ideas: When an adenium is pollinated with another flower of the same color, will it most likely produce seeds of the same color as the 2 flowers used for the pollination? or will it produce seeds of a basic color? also, does the color of the seedpod say anything? I'm pollinating my own plants and have seen at least 3 different color of seedpods and also a few different sizes and shapes of seeds once they are harvested. everyone is welcome to comment, please and thanks.

  • 5 years ago

    I have ordered 100 seeds from Kingadenium and I havent recieved it for quite a time which means it is really delayed. So, I emailed the guy fo ask some advice on what to do in case my order will never arrive. Well I was a little surprised when he said that " I told you before that i am not responsible for delay & it’s your own risk. I am not gonna send anymore to your country from now on. " Wow, all I can say is what a jerk. This guy is insensitive to his clients and arrogant. I would not recommend this seller.

  • 3 years ago

    Leonardo - King supplied me with a fake USDA confiscation certificate. Angry, yes! Immediately confrontational, yes! He refunded me 100% .


    As for KO, don't get hung up on choosing from his hundreds of flowers. You'll get 40% common, inexpensive, single pink flowers and 40% 'others'. I'm being generous if I said 20% were what I actually ordered (and paid for). I carefully tagged and documented each bloom. Unfortunately, it takes time for this process to unfold and most sellers get away with whatever they want.


    That said, it's still exciting to see what blooms next.

  • 3 years ago

    Has anyone purchased the grafted plants on ebay from Thailand? If so did they arrive ok and did they bloom the color that was on the picture?

  • last year

    Mr.KO adenium seeds review.

    I ordered 32 different kind of Adenium seeds from Mr.KO. The seeds arrived a month after, it is OK. Most of the seeds were very small, some of the has only husk. Soaked them right away on 28 C. After few ours rinsed them and put them on moist (not wet) non treated paper towel on 30 C. To cut a long story short, after 14 days the results was devastating! Only 38 seeds of 480 germinated! Note: I saw, raise and form Adeniums for over 14 years, right now I have over 2000 from age 1 to 14 years old, on special setups for overwintering. So can say I have some experience. Wrote a mail to MrKO about the results, with pics and a precise number of germinated seeds by species. After 10 days, no answer, no any sign of respecting their own policy about low germination resending. As far as I concern, I am very unsatisfied with Ko Adenium, and their way of doing business. I do NOT recommend their seeds and trading with them at all! On the pics you can see part of my plants (overwintering at the moment), the setup for germination, and the "high quality seeds" of Mr.KO.