Buyer Beware!

I look forward to this time of year, when the GCs stock up with bulbs. I like to see the 'new' introductions and different species that pop up each year. I go home and read up on the bulbs that have attracted my attention and then choose which I'd like to grow.

As always, a giant fly always drops in the ointment of life and in this case it's wild bulb (and plant) trafficking. This isn't a small black market, it's a huge, global problem with many plants being lost from various areas in the name of profit. Here in Britain they use more than shovels and can cut huge swathes of plants from an area in a single night. We are losing our famous bluebell woods and snowdrops due to this illegal trade. The bulbs collected in this manner rarely do well in our gardens, lasting maybe a year or so before they die.

Packets that state 'Grown in (insert country name here)' or 'From Cultivated Stock' cannot always be trusted. Look at the bulbs, are they smooth skinned, clean and disease free? If they are surprisingly cheap, overly large, wrinkly or rough skinned and/or having some fungal or other disease going on they are likely to be wild collected. The cultivated bulbs tend to have such a smooth skin because they are grown in well drained, disease free media, wild bulbs aren't so pampered!

Some bulbs are legally collected from the wild for the trade, if so they should be clearly labelled as such or the people selling them should know all about it. If in doubt of the bulbs origins leave well alone and inform the authorities.

Some countries depend on the bulb/plant trade for their livelihoods. It's too easy for people like me to sit back and denounce this practise. Instead I can refuse to buy illegally wild collected stock but look out for those that have been cultivated in these countries, so helping (albeit in only a small way) these people to keep their trade AND their wild flowers.

http://www.plantlife.org.uk/html/news_green_gard_abigail.htm

An excellent point BAA, I hope more people will be on the look-out this year.

All the best

Wintermoor

Thanks Wintermoor!

I'm always a little worried that people might think I'm just on a rant but I feel to stand back and not say anything is as bad as condoning the illegal trafficking. It just seemed the right time to bring it up.

Wow, makes you wonder about those bulbs bought on e-bay, eh?

Woodspirit

Good point you raise there!

My question would be which bulb sellers are collecting wild bulbs. I would like a list of a bulb sellers who's bulbs could be trusted. I would assume that if you buying from one of those very big sellers such as Dutch Gardens, that the bulbs are safe, but I guess one never really knows the truth until some investigator looks into the matter. Sounds like a good topic for a news show like 60 minutes.

There is a list somewhere of bulb sellers who don't have anything to do with the wild trade I will see if I can find it. It's been a topic in the news here on and off for a while.

As for the large companies ... you can't always trust them Jaques Armand had to answer some very alkward questions on the souce of some of their bulbs a few years ago.