New Members wanting seeds

I have gotten several emails from just new non-subscribing members that want seeds for sase. Don't get me wrong, I love sharing. But I don't like being used. I would like to know if anyone else is getting emails asking for sase. I am wondering if they are going thru the members list, asking alot of us for seeds for sase. The email I got tonight said They would like all of the seeds that I had for sase. Others have said All that I could send. It is really making me think, that they just signed up to see how many of us would send seeds. I do go and check out their page and this one tonight had just signed up. I would like to know what you think. Maybe I am just being paranoid.

Yep.(It's not me, but someone else is)

I am getting hit with them too. It is never subscribed people. I am trying to figure out now, how a person that just signed up today, has a member number more than 20 higher than what is posted on the population?? LOL Anyway, you are not alone Debby. Honestly I don't mind when strangers ask for a few things but I don't care much for the 'I want' emails. :(

Has happen to me also.
People without list and a no subscription, asking me for natives seeds that i do not have in my list, also they have asked for bigger quantities and thay offer to pay for the postage , this is 1 example: when sending the response and the information about a shrub and my absolute NO to anything but trade, I did receive this replay :
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Thank you for the information as supplied by your email. I have found it very interesting and has pointed me in, maybe not the right direction, but a different one from which i was going. However, i still find it difficult to source a meagre supply of jasmine. I can whole heartedly appreciate your position of trade only but would once again ask if there were any alternative to this position. My problem with trade only is that i am currently designing the garden in my new home and at present have little to offer by way of trade. I do have a few alpine seeds which i have propagated for next summer and various local shrubs which i have slipped but nothing ready for immediate consideration. If you can make an alternative suggestion i would be most grateful.
Yours sincerely,
(name witheld)
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I will not continue to answer, that is all.

The bad thing is that then you do get another one......

cristina

I email them back and try to 'visit' a little with them to see how serious they are about it. I don't get many requests though, since I'm also a new gardener and don't have a lot of unordinary things, but I try to get to know the person. If they will take the time to email me back and visit, then I figure I might have made a new friend and a new candidate for a subscriber.

I understand though, that those of you that have some of the more coveted items might get tons of unwanted solicitations. I don't know how I would handle that, because I would spend all my online time 'visiting' via email with inquirers.

I had an unsolicited email from ~~over there~~ asking for brugs. She sent an extensive "have list" with alot of nice stuff on it, but right now, im not looking for anything. I still have too much to try to find a place for.
i told her, heck, bring a bucket, i have a shovel. she seemed shocked that i didnt want anything in return.
i guess its my turn to "pay it forward"
I very seldom get requests for seeds, may be because i dont have any listed, eh? lol.

Sheesh, that's a shame. I say, send postage now, and THEN I'll send you seeds. It makes you wonder how many people are wanting them just so they can sell them on eBay or something.

i have rcvd. requests for seeds and cuttings from non subscribed members. similar to Joan, i wrote them back and tried to be in 'friendly terms'. so far, i have been lucky to have encountered good friends or traders ... who eventually became subscribed members. lucky in a sense that i have had good trades in return, unexpectedly of course.

i tried to have a positive attitude and found new friends or traders in the process. my garden is fairly new, thanks to a lot of DG members who helped me build it up to where it is this days. if not for the DG members who had endowed me in sharing their plant/s and seeds, i won't be able to replace the garden i once had and lost.

every individual is different in character and attitude. do the best u can under the circumstances. good luck!



This message was edited Tuesday, Aug 13th 7:15 AM

I haven't had any emails like this... only about coin swapping, In december I got about 5 "euro emails" per day asking for Finnish euro coins - before I didn't even have any! I was so sick of the emails that I didn't answer to any of them. I hate the "I want" attitude :}

It's the "one of each" requests that bother me... what's that all about? But if someone has an INTEREST in some particular plant, that's fine. Usually I'll go by the effort put into the message, if it shows some sincerity, and there is an 'offer' of postage, I'll probably send it.

Ok John is that a hint?? You know I want "one of each of your Hibiscus" LOL
I myself have recieved e/mails from where people have seen my entries(which is very few) in the PDB, they ask me for seeds, and I told them that I would post on the seed trading forum when and if I have these available. But that is the only one I have recieved like that.
I usually try to do like JoanJ and get to know them a little better before I run out and send them some seeds.

I had a couple not too long ago who were apparently going through the past threads. The list that they were requesting from was 2 years old and I had gotten rid of most of the seeds. I wrote back, told them to send me the sase and I'd send what I had from that year. Didn't get any sase, didn't send any seeds, went back and totally wiped my lists. I love to trade, I have gotten some incredible things that way, but at this point, I don't have the time or energy to play these gimme games. I don't mind trading with people who are serious about using the seeds themselves and sharing what they have down the road, and I usually make that pretty clear. If you're a subscriber, I'm going to be just as generous as I can be. If you are just sliding through looking for a free ride, I'm not picking up strangers! LOL, to use a rather odd analogy.

That's why I don't post what I have to trade anywhere but in the forums. You want my trade list, you got of me, at least. This is the real world, and there are a tremendous amount of freeloaders, out for what they can get in the garden, and in life.

"eyes"

Eyes - don't forgrt they can still read your first post, except here on "Parking Lot". I've had 3 in the past 2 says, as you say, they just signed up. One is from Calif. - wondering about sending her plants?? I always wait for the postage to come, and never "trade" with non-subscribers.

Your right everyone. I found this site by asking about a plant I didnot know. WaLa I read that you can get seeds for free just by asking + postage. Wrong I did not try first you must earn them. Joined the club and first must get to know someone and learn from each one of you. Hope to see some of you at the Texas Round Up. I live on Lake Texoma and will help with anything needed.

Welcome aboard, Ted!!! I'm very excited about your offer and your attendance at the Texoma Roundup!!! Bless you!

"eyes"

I have not received emails of the sort being discussed here, but I too would try to draw them out to see their intention for the seeds. Certainly I look forward to the day when I can share with others as members of DG have so warmly shared with me. But I also respect DG folks for their hard work and investment put into their seeds and plants that are offered. I do not want the kind gentle gardeners of DG to be taken advantage of and abused by individuals who do not have the appreciation and respect for what they are receiving. When I ask for and recieve plants or seeds, it is with the intention of raising them up to their best and to in turn share to continue the joy of gardening, and helping that beginning gardener. That is one of the first impressions I formed of this group - and it was echoed to me by MaVieRose, what good people are here. Let's watch to keep each other aprised of who would take advantage of a good thing.

Wonder why no one bothers to ask me for anything? What? Oh...you have to have a LIST? LOL...Someday I might just fool ya'll and have seeds for something other than Mesquite and Prickley Poppies! Jo

taroger5 and swoznick, you are the kind of people we really love sharing with. We can tell you're serious because you committed to DG and to me and many others, that means something. You don't have to 'earn' the right to trade, with me anyway, if you are a subscribed member. Now, it is possible that someone could join, set up trades with everyone in sight, and then vanish, but I'm willing to take that chance rather than tell a new member 'no, you gotta be here a while'
And there is a way around the fact that anyone can see the first post. You can put a period in the first post, and the offer in a reply to that post. Or you can ask everyone to post in the thread and email you both.
I've run into a lot of people wanting to do the secret swaps because it is in the first post. It's not fair to the other people in the swap if I give their name to someone who isn't subscribed. I hate to turn people off, and when I get requests for trades or the swaps, I try to gently tell them that it's for subscribed members only and hope that they will read enough to realize what a special place DG is to join and they can take part in the next one.

Tig - I when we start a swap, wouldn't it be a simple thing just to state in that first post that these swaps are for subscribers only.

Over the past couple of years, i've sent out boxes of brug cuttings. Much to my surprise, i found out some were being sold on ebay.
Should i be offended? Upset? To a point, i was. Kind of made me want to NOT offer brug cuttings this fall, but what else am i going to do with them? To introdcue 1 person to them, is enough to keep me sending them out.
I just wish people in their own greediness would stop to think of the consequences that might happen to the honest ones that really do want it for their garden, not to make a profit on ebay.
to clarify a bit, the ones i sent out we're offered to people that didnt have them, or didnt have the ones i had. this one in particular requested numerous cuttings to share. just kinda forgot to put to share on ebay. no big. I really want to express that i did not intend to offend anyone with this thread.
Mavie, i still have you in mind for this fall. youre not going on vacation again, are you, lol?

This message was edited Tuesday, Aug 13th 6:12 PM

tiG... to those few who have written me privately for some seeds or plant cuttings, after a few correspondence, they surely did sign in to become a permanent member. sorry can not name names as i do not want to place them in very compromising situation.

Ms Jen... there are always good and evil in this world. follow ur gut feelings. that is what i do. so sorry about evil doers. they sure do spoil the pot sometimes. a few bad ones can always be outnumbered by the good ones!

Azalea, I've posted before that seeds or swaps, whatever were for members only, and still people write and I have to do the checkup.

I don't want to be misunderstood or come across as greedy. I am happy to share and happy to give away seeds for postage. Heck, I'll even pay the postage to share with friends! :) I am only offended when I get an email that starts with "I want", no hello, no how do you do, no would you mind, simply "I want" and they go on with how they will reimburse postage, or how they want some of everything, etc. I am a very generous person but I can't pay people to take my extras. When I had more time, I was well known for accepting postage only from ten people at a time for 25 packs of seed. Usually I do reply to the friendly ones and ask for postage and never hear from them again. Honestly I do delete rude and demanding ones. I don't believe anyone has to earn them or be part of the club either. My point is that friendliness goes a long way. I think a little 'please' and 'thank you' is good for everyone.

i WANT, need, gotta have seeds for the money tree..anyone got any extras they can send??

i got ONE, only ONe MsJen.

edited to add some more info

sorry i wasn't specific enough. i have one rooted Money tree

This message was edited Tuesday, Aug 13th 7:12 PM

LOL!!! Jen, I'll take you cutting the minute I find one.
Seed, you are the best, and no one could ever think bad of you!!!

Hey Guys, thanks for all your responses. Wow, what a can of worms I opened up without knowing. I don't mind if they are subscribed or not to trade or sase with them. It is when they get so darn greedy, rude and so demanding about it. I've given away seeds for whole gardens before and have had to add more postage to the package. Which I was glad to do. All they have to do is be a little friendly about it.

Well, now I have send several letters with blue poppy seeds in them. The postage is only 60 cents from here so I thought maybe I don't need postage.... Now I just hope thta the seeds won't get radiated. :/

Yes, it's a can of worms. Most of the folks on Dave love to share what they have, and they've done it many times. I've read lots of postings thanking someone for a cutting or a plant or seeds. That's such a good thing. I think most of us like to share and like to be appreciated.

I've only had a few requests for seeds from people I don't know. I've checked the membership to see who they are, and yes, to see if they've subscribed. I'd most likely send any thing I've got to a subscribed member, since they've made some sort of committment to Dave's. If an unsubscribed member asked for seeds, I'd go with my gut feeling. Did they offer anything in return? Did they offer postage? Did they identify themselves?

I know I've gotten in a can of worms over this before, but I really think that subscribing to Dave's Garden is the best deal I've come across in a long time. It doesn't take much to spend $15 these days, and what you get seldom lasts a year and offers so much. I'd be all for closing the trades forum to non-subscribers, or offering a forum that is closed for those of us that prefer to deal with people we know.

Y'all think it's bad here, I was looking for someone I promised a cutting to and posted to a group I belong to. Geez, couldn't believe how many people said "I'm not him, but I'll take it". One girl was really nice, loves brugs but only has one or two. She's gonna start me something I've been wanting and I'm starting her some brugs. I'm trying to get her to join here.

cala, i had a dream last night about pink butterfly ginger.
>>i was walking around the yard and saw pink butterfly ginger and started doing cartwheels (really was a dream cuz i cant do them irl) hoopin and hollerin that i finally found something that you wanted>>>
just thought id share that, lol

I bet you could do a cartwheel if you tried!! Do you really have it???(bet you'd like it if I finally sent your corkscrew plant, know when I thought of it? I wrote myself a note and everything and still forgot it.) Wonder how many others there are out there that I forgot?

no, sad to say, no pink butterfly ginger...the white is in full bloom tho : )
lol, youd probably be just as happy if id send the pink ginger, eh?
email me so we can work it out (again) lol
jen