Got my mail at last
In mid-May, I ordered some Haworthia seeds from another South African grower and I said it was ok for him to use the Post Office because they can be very unreliable but I work with people doing mail order and up to now, the service has been acceptable. They were posted, moved quickly to the main Northern sorting hub and then, nothing. I tried calling but never could get through. I went to my local post office to enquire and was told "there are problems at the Johannesburg sorting hub". In the meantime, we started getting complaints from our mail order clients but then things started moving again.
My seeds stayed in Pretoria and never budged. In July, there was a general strike, which lasted a week or two so I resigned myself to waiting. By the end of July, I had given up on ever getting my letter and just wished that I had used another service.
On Thursday, I was checking tracking numbers for a client who was asking about his order and on a whim, decided to check mine. To my surprise, it had reached the Johannesburg hub the day before! Yesterday I saw that it had arrived at the local post office and I went off to collect it. That took just less than 12 weeks but I am grateful that it did eventually turn up.
They are seeds from the these plants, some are species and some are hybrids. The pictures show the parent plants of the seeds that are hybrids.
Top: left - Haworthia beukmanii “Emerald Giant” X Haworthia bobii
Top: right - Haworthia PP32-x-ChockWonder X Haworthia splendens
Bottom: left - Haworthia mutica S. Drew X Haworthia badia Sandfontein
Bottom: right - Haworthia splendens GM452
I ordered 4 packets of seeds but the seller included some really nice freebies:
Top: Daiginjo-x-NobleStar X Haworthia maculata Audenberg
Bottom: “Matrix” X Haworthia mundula
Some of these are complex hybrids, meaning that they have more than 2 parents so all bets are off as to what the offspring may look like but I look forward to seeing how these turn out.
There were also free Hoodia gordonii and Tulista pumila seeds. Tulista is a new name for some of the species that were previously classified as Haworthia but genetic studies have shown that they aren't that closely related even though the flowers look the same.
I haven't grown Hoodia before but I was always interested in trying, they are spectacular plants.
I went today to get some pots and trays to sow the seeds in and I will do that tomorrow because they have been waiting too long as it is, thanks to the post office. They should still be viable but the weather is warming up and it's a good time to sow Haworthia
Congratulations!
Beautiful!
I'll wait for your photos of germinating seeds !!!
Very interesting what Haworthia grow out of the gift.
Good luck!
You are going to see pictures until you are tired of them ;)
Ha-ha-ha !!!
And do not expect - I will not tire of it !!! :-)))
I didn't think so :)
In vain! :-)
just less than 12 weeks...
Not bad. Not bad at all :D
They have such cool colous!! And Hoodia gordonii... boy oh boy.. I'd love that one.
Happy sowing! Get those cacti going too ;)
I could have walked to this man's house and back (about 400km away) to fetch my seeds in the time that they took and there were times I wished I had.
Now I can't find the cacti seeds, lol so that will have to wait for another day.
Hoodia would do really well on your balcony: they love heat and don't mind cold, so long as you don't let them get wet in winter. Seeds really should be fresh so I'm a bit dubious about these after the postal delays but we'll see. If you can get a local source of fresh seeds, try it!
The most local would be my balcony :p
I sowed 2 years old cactus seeds and they sprouted pretty well :) I think there is a chance for some success.
The winter rains usually cause some troubles.
These may be 4 or 5 years old so it would be optimistic. But I have sowed them anyway
Unfortunately the post is not working well not only for you. Our mail does not work better. It happens that postal items generally disappear.
It seems all postal systems are terrible unless they are run by private companies
Thats great you finally got them, I look forward to them sprouting
I can't wait!
The parent plants look amazing! The complex hybrids are going to be a suprise for you as to how they are going to turn out.
I am itching to get started!
Is it normal that Post Office work that way in South Africa?
I have heard that it is problematic and slow, but I just can't imagine that I cannot count on receiving something if I order it from Europe. Also in Croatia it is functioning normally, maybe one-two day delayed, but it is ok to me.
No, it isn't normally this bad, only when there are strikes. They don't strike as much as they used to. Before, it was at least once a year but they have a bad reputation. Usually, I am happy to use them, especially Speed Services, which are cheap and reliable
If I ever wanted to order some seeds from South Africa is there a chance it will come here in EU?
Yes, definitely. Just make sure that you use Airmail, never surface mail. There are other services but they cost a little more. I work with someone who does mail order and we haven't lost any books sent with Airmail and some were very quick. I can recommend people to buy from, what would you be interested in ordering?
Thank you for recommendation! I will remember- Airmail.
At the end of winter (February, March) will be the best time to order. I'm interested in mesembs, stapeliads, haworthias and caudiciform plants. They are best to sow in May here.
For sure I will not order much at once, but I would like to find good source of that kind of seeds, from which I could than order every year.
These people have a very good reputation and sell a huge variety of seeds - not all South African sellers post internationally but they do. Here is their profile on Bid or Buy which is a local version of eBay
Start here: https://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/358836621/Anacampseros_Mixed_Species_10_Seed_Pack_Indigenous_Succulent_Worldwide_Shipping_NEW.html
Thank you very much <3
I will order some seeds at the end of winter, to test it.