Buying seeds

Can anyone recommend a good website (non-eBay) for buying seeds?

The best selection would have to be from this bloke:

http://www.cactus-seeds.com/

..And he's just outside Melbourne.

Thanks Lach, I am a bit over looking on eBay atm.

I have limited stocks of seeds that might be of interest to you too.

www.seedsaustralia.net

Thanks watertrade.

Do you want any help with e-commerce websites? I can help you with a free one if you're interested, let me know. I just noticed on your website you were planning on upgrading it

Thanks Olga,
someone else just offered to help me with the website actually - I agree that my existing site looking like it really needs it

Hi Olga... just saw this and thought it might be handy to add this link as well. It's the AQIS allowable imports list for Mammillaria. Also at the bottom of the page is a new search option that you can enter different genera into. I keep this open when looking at o/s seed places like Botanical-Archive to make sure they are on the allowable imports list (just bought some Mam. duwei, albicans, perezdelarosae and Echinocereus scirius from them yesterday... will see how they go ).

Allowable Mammillaria Imports List

I'm with Lachy, I've always had pretty good results with Vlado's seed & his seed is reasonably cheap.
Not as cheap as some of the OS suppliers but then you don't have the customs or quarantine hassles either.

good to see you are going to give seed raising another shot olga... i am sure you will enjoy it.

regards
Darren

Couple of suppliers of seed>


http://www.koehres-kaktus.de/index1gb.htm


http://www.mesagarden.com/


http://stores.ebay.com/BOTANICAL-ARCHIVE



All sell to Australia, just be mindful of AQIS restrictions.

HN.

On the matter of Botanical Archive, do you have any experience with growing seed from them? I have been saving my pennies for months to get a few seeds from them that I can't find anywhere else, but I'm wondering what their overall germination's like, as I'll only get 5 seeds for each of the species that I'm looking at.

In a way it's lucky that not all of their inventory is on Schedule 5!

I'm looking at Koehres too... if anyone's interested in placing an order, perhaps we could place one large order? Drop me a PM if so... it'd whittle the cost of the postage down a bit. And on the subject of Koehres, are the phyto certificates that they offer (at € 18.00!) mandatory? I've never gone O/S for seed before, so I'm a bit of a noob with the protocols.

Drat this spikey addiction!

Can't comment on Botanical Archive, so you'll have to be our Guinea Pig

Koehres are good and no, you don't need the Phyto for seed from Germany. However if ever you should order from a US supplier you would need the phyto...

WoodDragon,

I find Botanical Archive quite expensive for what you get. If you search hard enough you will probably find what you're after for much less. That being said I have ordered from them before, no certificates, and no worries it all arrived not a problem.

I would avoid bulk orders, a friend of mine got a heap of people together and did a bulk order. It was stopped by quarantine who charged them more than the total price of the seed to check over the contents. Once it was checked all was fine and nothing was taken out, the fee for quarantine's time and effort was not refunded. Beware.

Thanks for that HN.

What constitutes "bulk" in "bulk order"? I'm looking at quite a few species from Koehres, because some of them are so cheap, and I wouldn't want my own personal order to look big enough for the Q boys and girls to spread it out on their tea room table!

Not if they're going to charge me for the privilege...

Yes, you need to avoid the look of your order being commerical quantities, or AQIS may charge you to inspect. In the past I've ordered 80 packets at a time without problems, but now I usually try to keep orders to 40 or so max as it keeps postage down as well.

Be aware that Koehres will also charge you a credit card surcharge of 3.6% if that's how you're paying...

Thanks navajoa i am thinking of importing small amounts of seed but ive never done this before i might just give it a go had friends that have bought seed from mesa gdns and kores no probs but that was several years ago.

Quote :

In the past I've ordered 80 packets at a time without problems, but now I usually try to keep orders to 40 or so max as it keeps postage down as well.

Nava, when I read this I thought "how could he order 80 at once?"! Then I counted the species that I'd put on my list, and it totalled 106... Now I'm wondering if 53 packets would look "commercial", or if I should break it into three lots of 35. It's all Koehres' fault, of course, for having such a delectable range on offer...

In the end I did get a few from Botanical Archive, because they have some that I just could not find anywhere else. It hurt - I really choked at paying the outlandish prices for five seeds that they have on some of their items, but if I can grow even one of each to maturity it'll be worth it in the end.

On the matter of BA, I really like this plant that can't seem to make up its mind if its astro or ario!

heh heh, yeah, it get's away from you doesn't it ? And they seem cheap, but it all adds up in the end !

I think you'd probably be okay with 53. I don't know if AQIS have an actual criteria they work by, or whether it's just a matter of how busy they are, as to whether they put it aside for a chargeable inspection. Personally I've never been charged for an inspection, but know of others who have !

Don't forget to confirm they're all allowed in on ICON....

Good Luck !

What happens if say out of 50 packets 2 or so contain seed of a species that is not permitted and all the others are? surely you get to keep all the others right?
and the penalty for having not permitted sp.? do you just get a notice saying that the illegal seeds are illegal and have been destroyed blah blah?

They SHOULD just destroy those not allowed and send on the rest with a letter/warning as I understand it. However I don't know how many chances you get and I'd reckon that if there was any hint it was deliberate you'd be in strife...
I assume the charges would be similar to bringing in something through the airport that was allowed - from a few hundred dollars fine to serious legal action I guess.

This is something I've been concerned about recently too. On the few occassions I've bought seed from OS I have received free seeds as well. Now I'm careful to only import seed that is on the allowable imports list but I have no control over the freebies sent and can pretty much assume they aren't checking ICON before they chuck them in... so far so good *taps head* but sooner or later I reckon it will happen... I've started to ask them not to include the freebies now

Probably wise TasV, but if it got really serious I think they'd have to prove that you actually ordered the seed (or you just need to prove you didn't) otherwise people could just get stuff sent to others to get them in trouble...

This has been my correspondance with an AQIS employee over the last few months, thought you might find it interesting:

Quote :

Individual lines or lots of seed with a combined weight of 10 kgs or less is what we call a non-commercial quantity of seed.
If you are importing non-commercial quantities of permitted seed in commercial packaging that is botanically labelled though the mail or the airport, the material will be inspected but there is no cost involved. If you are going to import commercial quantities you should contact AQIS in your state for information on inspection costs and arrangements http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/about/contact/regional

Since the species are CITES listed (except the seed) it may be worth while having the relevant part of the CITES agreement highlighted and sent/carried with the seed so there is no confusion about their CITES status when they are inspected.

Interesting indeed...

What were you looking to import, Cooky?

anyone looking at a bulk buy of assorted trichos can count me in