I want to order Piel de Sapo (aka Christmas or Santa Claus Melon) seeds. I usually buy seeds at a local nursery or order them from Burpee but I’ve not been able to find them. I’m concerned about ordering from Amazon, I’ve been hearing sketchy things about their seeds nowadays.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
BG: While I was in Idaho, I stopped at a roadside fruit stand and just happened to buy a Christmas Melon because I’d never seen one before and I’m the sort to buy and try strange produce just because.
It looked pretty disappointing when I cut into it, but it was super good and I’d like to try growing them here.
I like J. L. Hudson, Seedsman though the website is clunky. They seem to have things nobody else does. The melon seeds you’re looking for are on this page, about halfway down under “MELON”.
I’ve ordered seeds from J.L. Hudson for many years. Good quality seed, reliable company (with an entertaining catalogue).
Amazon and eBay sellers include a high percentage of scam artists. Lots of listings for seeds of plants that do not occur in nature or commerce (for instance, with flowers in nonexistent colors that are obviously the result of photoshopping).
The Garden Watchdog is a good place to check reviews of seed and plant sellers.
Until a few years ago, Stokes had the biggest selection and the most scientific, or at least scientific-sounding, descriptions. They no longer sell small quantities for home gardens, and recommended Johnny’s on their way out.
Baker Creek invited Cliven Bundy to speak at their spring planting festival in 2019. The appearance was canceled a few days after the announcement when word got out.
Not learning from that experience, Baker Creek invited RFK Jr. to the following year’s festival which got canceled due to Covid-19.
Due to this stuff (plus their grotesquely inaccurate and self-serving views on GMOs) I don’t do business with them any more - the only instance where I’ve dropped a business for other than product or customer service reasons.
Reliable seed companies test their batches annually, store them properly, check that they’re getting the correct varieties from the supplier, work with suppliers who they’ve found reputable. Many of them test varieties in the field and some grow some of their own supply.
A random seller on Amazon is unlikely to be doing any of that. Some people selling on Amazon might be, I suppose – but how is a buyer going to tell?
I once grumbled to a friend about the disappearance of a particular variety from the market. She announced with great glee that she’d found it on Amazon. The variety was a hybrid; Fedco Seeds (an extremely reliable seed company, though they’re not listing Piel de Sapo) had explained that the company that owned the hybrid had quit producing it, several years previously. Whatever was being sold on Amazon was either very old seed unlikely to germinate, or else was not that variety.
For what it’s worth, I’ve bought some seeds on Amazon, simply because it was convenient and they had the varieties I wanted.
But the seeds were obviously originally packaged by a “real” seed company, and I had no problems with any of my orders. Everything germinated fine.
Now, I have seen bullshit like “seeds” for roses that are supposedly a neon teal blue. C’mon. First of all, who the hell grows roses from seed, and second of all, they don’t friggin’ come in that color!
Just use common sense and you can avoid the stupid scams.
Well, that’s unfortunate! Guess I’ll have to fall back on Siskiyou Seeds–they’re an Oregon company and if anyone knows anything terrible about them KEEP IT TO YOURSELF lol.
Were they dated, and if so within sell-by date or within less than a year of germination test; and how had they been stored?
That last is really important, even if the date’s correct. Again, some people on Amazon may be doing it right, and if you had good germination on everything that particular seller may be OK; but few buyers are going to be able to tell who’s selling good seed.
And, these days, worker-owned.
Not the cheapest; but a fast reliable shipper.
Most of my order goes to Johnny’s, Fedco, and High Mowing; and some to Southern Exposure, though a lot of their varieties aren’t suited this far north. I do order some elsewhere, but that’s the favored companies.
Rusty Blackhaw (my alter ego on Substack) says the best seed companies are J.L. Hudson, Jellitto, Swallowtail Seeds, Pinetree Seeds and Select Seeds.
Pinetree is especially good for people who don’t need/want a large amount of seed, as they offer smaller packets for considerably less than other outlets.
Johnny’s prices are at the upper end of the scale, and they charge more for shipping than just about any other company I’ve looked at. I suspect customers are paying for that big full-color catalog (in general, seed companies and online nurseries with the most elaborate catalogues have the highest prices - looking at you, Wayside Gardens and White Flower Farm).
Yes. If you only want a small amount of seed, Pinetree’s excellent.
And they ship fast more consistently than just about any other company I’ve used – others match them some years, but not every year, and it’s rare for anybody to ship faster.
That doesn’t matter to everybody, of course; it doesn’t always even matter to me. And I’m sure some of it does go into the catalogue. Some of it probably goes into salaries in the shipping department; but Fedco is also a co-op, and is usually cheaper; but often a slower shipper.
Fedco’s paper catalogue is black and white and smallish print, but probably the most fun to read; especially if your politics lean left (though political jabs are quite a small percentage of what’s in there.) Sometimes I do want to know what a variety looks like, though.
ETA: Turtle Tree’s even more expensive, but usually has some varieties nobody else does, even though their overall selection isn’t large. And their seed business is secondary to, and helping to support, a non-profit community including people with various developmental differences; which is why they’re so expensive.