So, I decided to order more seeds this week (only my second time) in order to have the next batch started as soon as the current ones go into the flowering stage. I'm specifically looking at low odor Autos. After reading many reviews, I arrived at Nirvana's Blue Mystic and Dutch Passion's Auto Duck.
The next decision to make was which seed bank to buy from. Of course, I read the Seeds Page by NebulaHaze first.
There is a bewildering array of outfits claiming to have seeds from virtually every breeder on the planet. Who to trust? The obvious first choice would be to go directly to the breeders. Although, that would mean paying shipping fees twice.
In my travels, I came across a site claiming to be Nirvana Canada. Obviously, avoiding customs is preferable. It's cheaper, faster and far less likely to be intercepted. However, the site got my spider senses tingling immediately. It seemed amateurish. A quick email to Nirvana confirmed they are aware of the site. But, they say it is difficult to do anything about the copyright infringements from the other side of the pond. I've no idea whether the site is even selling real Nirvana seeds. I'm not willing to give them money regardless.
Speaking of possible counterfeiting, Dutch Passion has moved to a very expensive 4 color metal packaging in order to make it prohibitively costly for the apparent proliferation of people selling fake DP products. Dutch Passion will not ship to Canada. However, they do provide a list of 4 or 5 recognized Canadian seed banks they deal with. Of those, most were either off line, left me unimpressed or had shipping policies I didn't care for. At this point I was beginning to worry about ordering at all.
It was about then that I began to consider just going with the Northern Lights from Crop King Seeds in BC. That's where I got my current White Widows. Delivery to my mailbox was a week to the day from placing the order. CKS seems way to focussed on marketing to me. My order arrived with very expensive marketing materials that were essentially the web site printed on heavy paper stock. It would have been cheaper for them (and better for me) to toss in a spare seed instead. There are so many reports of screwups on their part that it is nearly impossible to feel confident that what I received is even what I ordered.
I looked at a slew of Canadian seed banks. There always seemed to be some policy or cost that just didn't sit well with me.
So, overseas it is. There are plenty of well establihed legit seed banks in the UK and NL. Which one to use? It really came down to freebies, if I'm honest. As I am commited to Autos, that was a definite factor. In the end, I chose Seedsman. I feel pretty good about the choice since it made the short (very short) list from NebulaHaze
Frankly, I think I made out like a bandit. Taking advantage of the Loyalty Points I earned from signing up, which saved me $6 Can and paying an extra $12.50 for a tracked, signature required shipment, the total for 3 Auto Ducks and 5 Blue Mystics was $110 Can.
What makes this deal so damned sweet is the Freebies. Although it was a tad confusing at first, I signed up for Bitcoin. This added another $5 to the bill. However, paying with Bitcoin qualified me for 8 free seeds (my choice of Fem, auto or regular See photo) from well known breeders! On top of that, the other promotions on the site gave me 10 more seeds. 15 of the free 18 are Autos. Paid for 8 but will get 26! Less that $4.50 Canadian per seed all in. If, that is, they make it through Customs. Fingers crossed.
Gears
The next decision to make was which seed bank to buy from. Of course, I read the Seeds Page by NebulaHaze first.
There is a bewildering array of outfits claiming to have seeds from virtually every breeder on the planet. Who to trust? The obvious first choice would be to go directly to the breeders. Although, that would mean paying shipping fees twice.In my travels, I came across a site claiming to be Nirvana Canada. Obviously, avoiding customs is preferable. It's cheaper, faster and far less likely to be intercepted. However, the site got my spider senses tingling immediately. It seemed amateurish. A quick email to Nirvana confirmed they are aware of the site. But, they say it is difficult to do anything about the copyright infringements from the other side of the pond. I've no idea whether the site is even selling real Nirvana seeds. I'm not willing to give them money regardless.
Speaking of possible counterfeiting, Dutch Passion has moved to a very expensive 4 color metal packaging in order to make it prohibitively costly for the apparent proliferation of people selling fake DP products. Dutch Passion will not ship to Canada. However, they do provide a list of 4 or 5 recognized Canadian seed banks they deal with. Of those, most were either off line, left me unimpressed or had shipping policies I didn't care for. At this point I was beginning to worry about ordering at all.
It was about then that I began to consider just going with the Northern Lights from Crop King Seeds in BC. That's where I got my current White Widows. Delivery to my mailbox was a week to the day from placing the order. CKS seems way to focussed on marketing to me. My order arrived with very expensive marketing materials that were essentially the web site printed on heavy paper stock. It would have been cheaper for them (and better for me) to toss in a spare seed instead. There are so many reports of screwups on their part that it is nearly impossible to feel confident that what I received is even what I ordered.
I looked at a slew of Canadian seed banks. There always seemed to be some policy or cost that just didn't sit well with me.
So, overseas it is. There are plenty of well establihed legit seed banks in the UK and NL. Which one to use? It really came down to freebies, if I'm honest. As I am commited to Autos, that was a definite factor. In the end, I chose Seedsman. I feel pretty good about the choice since it made the short (very short)
list from NebulaHazeFrankly, I think I made out like a bandit. Taking advantage of the Loyalty Points I earned from signing up, which saved me $6 Can and paying an extra $12.50 for a tracked, signature required shipment, the total for 3 Auto Ducks and 5 Blue Mystics was $110 Can.
What makes this deal so damned sweet is the Freebies. Although it was a tad confusing at first, I signed up for Bitcoin. This added another $5 to the bill. However, paying with Bitcoin qualified me for 8 free seeds (my choice of Fem, auto or regular See photo) from well known breeders! On top of that, the other promotions on the site gave me 10 more seeds. 15 of the free 18 are Autos. Paid for 8 but will get 26! Less that $4.50 Canadian per seed all in. If, that is, they make it through Customs. Fingers crossed.
Gears
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