Is Koehres open?

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Minime8484
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by Minime8484 »

I placed an order at the end of June 2020, and almost immediately received an email stating this:

"Due to the increasing spread of the Corona virus and the associated derivation or delivery restrictions, delivery to this destination is currently not possible.
We don't know how long this will be going on so we kindly ask you to reorder when things are back to normal.
"

However, last week I was chatting with a friend here in town who indicated he just received seeds from Koehres that he ordered only 2 weeks ago. So, I emailed Koehres to confirm they were now sending so I could re-order. This is the response I got:

"we can only ship with DHL premium paket,cost is euro 53,-."

Sure enough, I confirmed with my friend that he paid the premium price of 53 Euros for his shipment.

I think I'm going to wait. :wink:
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Aiko
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by Aiko »

They make it sound they don't want any business going on at all. Could it be they get financial support from the German government as victims of Covid-19 by not being able to make any money?

Up here there are companies that simply closed down to become elligable for financial support instead of opening up business and be able to do some business at 20% speed (due to Covid-19 restrictions such as keeping 1.5 meters distance et cetera) they normally could do. It was easier and more profitable to just close things down competely, as staying open would cut down the financial support you would get.
esp_imaging
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by esp_imaging »

Aiko wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 7:42 pm They make it sound they don't want any business going on at all. Could it be they get financial support from the German government as victims of Covid-19 by not being able to make any money?
I'd guess that for Koehres, sales to outside Europe are a small part of their business?

I think delivery of international mail has been affected by Covid, including services in and out of the USA, so this may be a bigger factor in their actions.
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MikeInOz
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by MikeInOz »

Minime8484 wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:54 pm
"we can only ship with DHL premium paket,cost is euro 53,-."
They told me the same thing. I said that was a ridiculous price, and that Ulig Kakteen does not seem to have the same issues because they just put the darn seeds in a padded envelope and send the darn things and I get them. They even asked me what Ulig was doing and I told them. But ...nothing..
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teo
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by teo »

I have now sent an order (and got the invoice following day) to Koehres. Everything was normal (including cost of p&p). At least within EU it seems to work.
esp_imaging
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by esp_imaging »

teo wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:29 am I have now sent an order (and got the invoice following day) to Koehres. Everything was normal (including cost of p&p). At least within EU it seems to work.
Me too, I ordered last night, got the invoice first thing this morning, very efficient (although they seem to print the order, scan it and email it to me, not a very efficient IT system). I'll pay later today and let everyone know what the service time is.
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teo
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by teo »

I agree - the scanned paper invoice is a bit funny (but I'm not complaining) :-)

---

Have you ever reported back on germination rates (as they like you to do) - and if so what was the response. I find them a bit low but I don't know if the problem is on my my side?
esp_imaging
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by esp_imaging »

So I got my seeds last Thursday. Paid on 13th, received in UK on 20th, so very efficient.
All species ordered were available, too, and all seeds per packet look to be correct or more generous than listed.
A very good experience so far.
A small diverse collection of Cacti & Succulents
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Jaybizzle
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by Jaybizzle »

teo wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2020 9:52 am I agree - the scanned paper invoice is a bit funny (but I'm not complaining) :-)

---

Have you ever reported back on germination rates (as they like you to do) - and if so what was the response. I find them a bit low but I don't know if the problem is on my my side?
I emailed them that I had very poor germination with their succulent (non-cacti) seeds--they were not very sympathetic. Also I had one Adenia species that was clearly mis-identified. For these expensive succulent seeds, it would be really helpful if they could do an in-house germination test to at least see if they could get a rough idea on the germination %.
Pd1973
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by Pd1973 »

Jaybizzle wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 3:55 pm
teo wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2020 9:52 am I agree - the scanned paper invoice is a bit funny (but I'm not complaining) :-)

---

Have you ever reported back on germination rates (as they like you to do) - and if so what was the response. I find them a bit low but I don't know if the problem is on my my side?
I emailed them that I had very poor germination with their succulent (non-cacti) seeds--they were not very sympathetic. Also I had one Adenia species that was clearly mis-identified. For these expensive succulent seeds, it would be really helpful if they could do an in-house germination test to at least see if they could get a rough idea on the germination %.
it's not a bad idea, but it's difficult to implement because they are cactus seeds. In general, the germination percentage of some cacti is low, eg Lophohora. I have ordered from them several times, and I can say that they are ok. Last time, in August. Even correspondence via email is perfectly fine. What gets on my nerves is that their trichocereus are mislabeled, but again, I don't think it's so much about them as it is about the chaos in the market.
LateBloomer
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by LateBloomer »

Fresh lophophora have very high germination rate koehres seeds are the issue. The thing is they do offer relatively cheap seeds and sometimes in large volumes. From my understanding they don't grow all the seeds they offer so can't have maximum control over quality... that said I still use them once in a while but have gone to other sellers that are slightly more expensive but high germination rate and the different in price makes up for it.

Many years back I bought a lot of trichcocereus Scop but they were completely off after that I only buy mixed seed lots from koehres

Edit: I bought from them last month and the seeds arrived promptly... as far as germination rate I'm only a couple days in so I'll have to report back but I bought a 1k seed pack of turbinicarpus mixed seeds
Pd1973
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by Pd1973 »

LateBloomer wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:09 pm Fresh lophophora have very high germination rate koehres seeds are the issue. The thing is they do offer relatively cheap seeds and sometimes in large volumes. From my understanding they don't grow all the seeds they offer so can't have maximum control over quality... that said I still use them once in a while but have gone to other sellers that are slightly more expensive but high germination rate and the different in price makes up for it.

Many years back I bought a lot of trichcocereus Scop but they were completely off after that I only buy mixed seed lots from koehres

Edit: I bought from them last month and the seeds arrived promptly... as far as germination rate I'm only a couple days in so I'll have to report back but I bought a 1k seed pack of turbinicarpus mixed seeds
now, I buy trichocereus seeds from growers who pollinate the plants by hand, precisely because of the control of the final product.
LateBloomer
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Re: Is Koehres open?

Post by LateBloomer »

Pd1973 wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:20 pm
LateBloomer wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:09 pm Fresh lophophora have very high germination rate koehres seeds are the issue. The thing is they do offer relatively cheap seeds and sometimes in large volumes. From my understanding they don't grow all the seeds they offer so can't have maximum control over quality... that said I still use them once in a while but have gone to other sellers that are slightly more expensive but high germination rate and the different in price makes up for it.

Many years back I bought a lot of trichcocereus Scop but they were completely off after that I only buy mixed seed lots from koehres

Edit: I bought from them last month and the seeds arrived promptly... as far as germination rate I'm only a couple days in so I'll have to report back but I bought a 1k seed pack of turbinicarpus mixed seeds
now, I buy trichocereus seeds from growers who pollinate the plants by hand, precisely because of the control of the final product.
Those are nice but very overpriced. Trichocereus "clones" have gotten out of hand using a numerical naming so you can follow the lineage would be better but recently any cactus that flowers is getting a name and many clones are getting over hyped and overpriced... people do what they want though.
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