Vossner's time to cry?

I bought some Nepal Lily bulbs on ebay from rarebulbs. I have bought from this vendor before, and all except lily Miss Lucy have come up.

Are species supposed to be this small? They are not exactly shrivelled, but they are a little moldy and beginning to sprout. The bulbs were cheap at about $3.10. I had looked for some in the past but they were at least $10 ea. Is this a case of "you get what you pay for" or was I ripped off?

Since I'm relatively new to lilies, I don't know how to judge. The seller was communicative and prompt. The other two items I bought, amaryllis, were small but fine and cheap. But I'm not too thrilled with the Nepal lilies.

I cringe everytime I hear somebody say "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". I think I HAVE to say something about this. 1) to vent 2) to warn others 3) to put pressure on seller to do better. If I acomplish those things, then speaking up seems like the right thing to do. I'm not saying it is a license to be ugly, malicious, rude, etc. but you have to talk, even if it isn't all nice, with sugar and spice. It may be discreet, but I don't see it as a crime to discuss in an open forum. How else are others going to know?

I fully intend to discuss this with the vendor, but I want to think about it overnight and get some input from you guys. Great wisdom abounds here and I want to sound intelligent and reasonable (not pissy) when I talk to him.

Your comments on the lilies will be greatly appreciated. I am holding off my ebay feedback waiting to hear from some of you.

another view

I ordered from one of the watchdogs, not so great a vendor, last year (spring 06) and mine came smaller by half. I kid you not. It was the size of a pea. I almost tossed it, but planted it up and it now is growing and 24" tall with three thin stalks in a pot. No buds yet. Wallaby1 is who you want input from as she has grown a beauty plus she just knows bulbs. Patti

thanks Patti. Janet is sleeping right now. She's 7 hrs ahead of us. I'm counting on her comments.

Vossner, Here is the thread that Janet responded to my concern about my pea sized bulb. Patti

http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=3673294

thanks Patti. I remember reading about this. good to know that little is not bad. thank you for the link.

Well, they shouldn't be molding, but you otherwise got a very good deal. Nepalense is sought after, and from the looks of the bulbs you have the real thing. And the sprouting, not ideal, but anything this late in the season (or near this late), you need to give some leeway. Spending 8-9 months in cold storage has got to be hard on bulbs. Hybrids can take a lot more abuse, but species in general, not so forgiving. The size of species are usually smaller than "normal" also. Don't fret that part.

Cost of species bulbs can vary greatly, as they should. Some are relatively easy to grow and multiply, like davidii or pumilum. others very difficult, or just plain scarce.

BTW, I had two species bulbs that I planted early spring last year, and they didn't come up. This year they did, and they're not martagons. One is nepalense (although suspect as the foliage doesn't seem quite right), the other Lilium fargesii.

I cringe every time someone complains about plant prices. I am so glad you (and most DGers) are not one to jump to conclusions. People seem to think you plant a seed, and it magically grows to a salable product without doing anything. No watering, no fertilizing, no maintenance or treating for insects or disease, no fatalities along the way. Apparently, no labor or labor costs whatsoever. The "dirt", it's free of course. And what's pasteurized soil? Don't forget, it's a perishable product.
A CD costs something like 25 cents to produce. I don't hear anyone complaining about the $18 they just shelled out for their last music disc.

Sorry about that. Sometimes I need to vent too.

Agreed, Lefty.
I am no species expert, but I admit being disillusioned with a hansonii bulb I got last fall, small, moldy, soft. It came up fine this spring, it won't bloom, but I didn't expect it to. I was relieved when it showed up, but the more I learn about the species here and on the web, this is completely normal.
The other thing is, this is a labor intensive business, so, if everything goes well, as I think it may, vossner, you got a great deal. I think we are spoiled by the look and condition of the hybrids we often purchase and perhaps we shouldn't really compare them.
Lefty has a lot of good points, I think.

Good morning everyone. Well, I'm rested from all the venting. I even went outside w/ the gazillion mosquitoes and planted my little nepalenses. I will Give Aaron Schnevely, aka rarebulbs on ebay a positive feedback.

Thanks everyone, like I said, lots of widsom around here, which I appreciate greatly.

Wallaby, wallaby, where are thou?

The amaryllises I got from him are H. Pardonii and the exotica. All planted also. I will try to set him up in the watchdog. I don't know if it takes ebayers but I will certainly try.

I'm done crying. Going off to visit my neighbor and feast on some fish tacos. yum!

Hi Voss, haven't dropped in for a while, been so busy with taking pics of bugs, researching etc. etc.!!!

The size of the better one you show looks OK, the others are difficult to see as they are so mouldy. L. nepalense grows new bulbs off runners and they can be very small, so if you got one good sized one with some smaller that's not serious as they would grow but may take a couple of years to settle down as Lefty stated.

Lilies really should not be planted now, anyone selling them like that should have their heads chopped off! I certainly would not sell (or give away/exchange!) dried up or mouldy bulbs, it seems the seller really doesn't know what they are doing.

Late autumn to early spring is the normal time for lily planting, and although stores selling bulbs have no real option but to sell them in little bags with sawdust to try to keep them moist they should NOT be allowed to dry out if the bulb is to have a good chance of establishment.

The colour is worrying, L. nepalense has pristine white bulbs, 1/2 to 1" diameter is normal. They may have formed a dark skin with drying. My L. nepalense is about to open flowers, although they are late to grow they do grow quickly once they come through. They also grow sideways so you shouldn't worry if it seems to come up some distance from where you planted the bulb.

I really don't know how to advise you on what to do Nery, but personally I would not like to accept them as they are.

Hi Miss Wallaby. Well, I have already planted them, will hope for the best. I believe this man is a wholesaler not a grower, so no telling how long he's had them. Maybe that is why they were so cheap. in view of what you've said, I will express my concerns on the nepalense and hope for the best. I will also give him positive feedback but I will somehow mention the less than perfect bulbs. I'll figure out something.

As far as the planting, i don't know if this is the same, but summer of 2005 at about this time, I planted some Muscadets that did nothing. Well, they bloomed beautifully late spring of 2007. Maybe I have at least a 50/50 chance of them making it.

PS: fish tacos were divine. My sweet neighbor made them w/ bass her hubby caught recently.

Nery,

I just sent an email to rarebulbs last night about 3 Rhodophiala Bifida bulbs, 30 Triteleia Corrina bulbs and 10 Nerine Bowdenii bulbs I paid for on Jun-28-07 and have yet to receive. Now I'm not so sure I want to receive them....


Donna

Okay Wallaby, if I am wrong about the bulb color, then which one is it? I remember us talking about a bulb with dark maroon color, and relatively few and tightly held scales. I thought it was nepalense, but . . . .

Lefty, L. majoense is very dark but also much larger.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=2908393

Nery, the shooting one will probably grow, at least you won't have thrown away a lot of money if not.

The 'wholesaler' most likely buys up left over stock from the big guys.

Hmmm . . . . . . . . majoense . . . . . . . . . maybe . . . . . . . . .

the vendor contacted me and gave me a 50% store credit forthe Nelapenses. I am more than satisfied, he seemed really sincere in trying to make right by me. I will buy from him again.

http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/6162/

Funny you should post today. I just received an email from him last night and all but one of the sets of bulbs I ordered arrived today. Some of the bulbs are a bit small, but he sent multiple extras of each AND sent 2 different sets of bonus bulbs. The email was to tell me that he couldn't in good faith send the other type of bulbs as they were just not in good enough condition. He offered a refund or a replacement.

I gathered from his email life had overtaken him, but he has more than made up for it. I, too, would order from him again.


I'm glad we both had a good outcome!

And thanks for adding him to GWD. I'll add to his profile.

Found it. From Ed McRae's Lilies, talking about Lilium nepalense:

I wonder if there are differences in the different types of L. nepalense bulbs. I dug one this spring, and it was white just like the original. There are, I think, 4 different variations.

In fact I meant to put that in my last post: Nepalense has such great flower variation, why couldn't there be variation in bulb color too.

I am becoming delightfully apprehensive with my suspect nepalense. The buds are not at all elongating like it should. They are staying quite stubby. Maybe almost as wonderful, I am thinking it is, or is a close relative of, Nomocharis. I had ordered also from Chen Yi, Lilium henrici var. maculatum. The likely scenario is that the labeling got mixed up: the bulb labeled nepalense is henrici. However, the bulb labeled henrici is definitely not nepalense. The only lily I have from Chen Yi that has foliage even remotely like nepalense is this, but the flower is certainly not nepalense-like: