CactiGuide.com

Hello all - Not sure where a thread goes about seed sources, but "places" sounds like a possibility.

As I wander the wonderful, wild, wacky, world wide web (yes, I am happy with that alliteration) for sources of cacti, I ran across this place. Not having purchased from them before, and only just learning which sources to trust, anyone have any thoughts or opinions on this source? Reliable for seeds? Thanks!

*I have import permits for everything but CITES 1 and I don't mess with those species for import ever. Ever.

I sometimes order from http://cactusstore.com myself. Based in Arizona.

I've ordered from Gerardo before without issue. Seeds had great germination.

http://www.seedscactus.com is where I order my cacti seeds.
They have some pretty cool cacti if you live in the EU.

The best quality and service I've had was from Mats Winberg at www.succseed.com
Aymeric de Barmon at www.adblps-graines-cactus.com and Jaromír Dohnalík at www.cactus-hobby.eu are also good sources (but you have to be patient when ordering from the czech suppliers).

The one problem with SuccSeed is that many rarer species they'll ship only to EU countries.

Thanks all! No I not only have more confidence in the source I was inquiring about, but also have some other options to check out. Much appreciated!

And why is it that the Czechs always have the best plants?! This seems to be true for a number of different groups of plants. I've never been, but I imagine Czechia to be a dreamland where exotic and wonderful plants line the boulevards and everyone happily tends amazing collections of plants all day. Also, there is free candy and beer. You know, while I am dreaming.

Thanks again!

toadstar wrote:I sometimes order from http://cactusstore.com myself. Based in Arizona.

I have ordered seeds from this place several times and shipped to Canada. No problem and their service is excellent!

I have bought seeds from Mesa Garden located in New Mexico.

Minime8484 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:16 am I've ordered from Gerardo before without issue. Seeds had great germination.

do you happen to know if this guy is really slow ? I ordered 8 weeks ago and haven't heard anything. Being that I have never bought from him before I'm a little nervous, but maybe it usually takes that long.

I only ordered once, but I placed the order online on Feb 29, 2016 & received them in the mail March 24, 2016. So, def less than 8 weeks...but, I'm just not sure if that is the normal turnaround time or if I got lucky on my first order.

It seems that might relatively short order-to-reception time was a fluke.

I placed a small order on November 20, 2019, and I've still yet to hear anything (and as others have noted, they don't respond to order inquiries in the interim).

Anyone with a recent reception of seeds from gerardo.cz to give me some idea of what time frames we are talking about nowadays?
Was hoping to get some of these seeds going before Spring....

This is a curiosity question. I know in this day and age everything is done by website and e-mails. Which allows people to put you on ignore. Me, being a 63 yr old male find that after a few weeks of being ignored I pick up the phone a call. Is that not the way of doing things now? I find I get answers really fast that way.
Mike M

theclosetguy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 29, 2020 1:14 am This is a curiosity question. I know in this day and age everything is done by website and e-mails. Which allows people to put you on ignore. Me, being a 63 yr old male find that after a few weeks of being ignored I pick up the phone a call. Is that not the way of doing things now? I find I get answers really fast that way.
Mike M

Normally, I would, but in most cases I'm ordering from overseas in a country whose language I don't speak (in this most recent case, the Czech Republic). Not ideal.

From my experience Gerardo.cz is one of the worst for seeds because of a complete lack of communication and length of time it takes to get seeds. Paypal just refunded my order with them last week, which I placed in July 2019. I sent several emails at about a month interval apart inquiring if my order was processed (money was taken) and when I could expect it. Even after Paypal stepped in, they didn't even reply to the Paypal inquiry.

This is a very common occurrence with Czech sellers in general. It seems like they rarely answer emails, have very specific and archaic ordering systems, and take a long time to delivery. That said, the quality is often considered the best and the prices are very fair. I completely skip Czech sellers now.

These two are my favorite:

http://www.kakteen-piltz.de/
http://succseed.com

They process and ship fast to North America (often less than 2 weeks), have fair prices, and friendly (responsive) customer service.