String of pearls - real and fake

I love string of pearls plants (Senecio rowleyanus), I think they look amazing.  I grow a few and find them delightful.  There are a few different types.

Unfortunately, ebay thieves sell fake seeds of string of pearl plants that do not exist.  They sell thousands of dollars worth of fake seeds and keep getting away with it.

First, let me show you what types of string of pearls plants exist, then let me show you some of the fake seeds that thieves are selling through ebay.  Hopefully I can prevent at least one person from being stolen from.

All of the following pictures were found on actual online ads.  They are not my pictures. 


String of pearls plants that DO exist
Healthy string of pearls comes in green.  There is a variegated form (green and white), there is a giant form (also green), and that is all.  String of pearls ONLY come in green.

As string of pearls can be grown from seed, there are likely some forms that are slightly more pointy, and others that are slightly more round, but they are all green (or green and white).

If string of pearls is about to die or has some nutrient deficiency it may turn black, not a glossy nice black, more of a sickly about to die kind of black.  Mine get a slight purple tinge over winter when struggling through the cold, but they still look decidedly green.

 String of pearls giant form next to normal one - not my photo

Microbats eat 1,200 mosquitoes per hour? No they don't.

Microbats in Australia don’t eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes in an hour.  This is a common myth that has been spread for far too long by people who should know better.  Like many myths, this one is well meaning but does more harm than good.

Microbats are great, their habitat is shrinking and I think that more people should build and install bat boxes and other artificial shelters for them, I even found some nice free plans here to build one and would like to encourage you to build a few. 

Far too often people are taken in by this microbats consuming huge numbers of mosquitoes nonsense, they build a bat box, then when it doesn’t reduce the number of mosquitoes at their BBQ they tell people not to bother building bat boxes.  This is where the damage is done.

Let’s look at the reality of microbats and you can decide if you still want to build a bat box.  Build them because microbats are great, not because you have misunderstood these creatures and expect them to do something that is impossible for them to do.  I think if you understand the reality of these lovely little animals that you will be just as likely to build a roosting box for them but will be far less likely to convince others not to build them.

In Australia we have less than 90 species of microbat, there is some controversy over the actual number.  Depending on your location there may be 1 or 2 that are native to your region, or there may be 30.  Australia is a big country, not surprisingly it has a lot of diversity in habitat, vegetation and wildlife.  Not surprisingly, different species of Australian microbats have different diets.

Most species of microbat in Australia don’t eat mosquitoes at all.  Several species of microbat that are native to Australia can and do eat some mosquitoes, they just don’t eat them very often and when they do they don’t eat many of them. 

Very few species of microbats in Australia actually eat mosquitoes, most species only eat larger things such as moths, beetles and spiders.  Of the few species of microbat in Australia that ever eat mosquitoes, on any given night the majority of individuals will not consume any mosquitoes at all.  Of the individual microbats who do eat mosquitoes on a given night, the vast majority of their diet will usually be made of moths or beetles, and mosquitoes will only ever be a very small percentage. 

Eastern bentwing bat - picture from Department of Environment and Heritage

We know what microbats eat from a few studies conducted to figure out what microbats in Australia are eating.  If you are curious how they tell what a bat eats, they capture some from the bush and do a DNA analysis of the bat poo.  This test can detect tiny amounts of insects even in a small sample and completely removes all guess work and conjecture.  This test has also disproven the myth that microbats eat thousands of mosquitoes each and every hour. 

Most studies that I have read indicate that very few species of microbat ever eat mosquitoes, but all species of microbat in Australia eat a lot of moths and beetles.  In one study in a QLD grain growing region it was found that 100% of the diet of microbats was grain weevils (weevils are a type of beetle).  This alone disproves the microbats making a noticeable difference to the local mosquito population myth.  If you have ever been to grain growing regions you will notice that there are a lot of mosquitoes, so microbats could eat them if they wanted.  The microbats just prefer to catch larger, slower , more nutritious meals.  It doesn't mean that you shouldn't still build a nice box for bats to sleep in, just that they don't eat significant amounts of mosquitoes.

So far I am yet to find any research where mosquitoes made up a large percentage of a microbat’s diet anywhere in Australia.  If you are a bat researcher or know of any study that indicates otherwise please let me know as I would love to read it.  This has to be a peer reviewed study, not notes someone wrote after claiming to read a study, or some unverifiable and unrepeated observation written for BATS magazine that has been misunderstood and plagiarised by milkwood.

Ever wonder where the microbats eating 1,200 mosquitoes an hour myth first came from?  The ridiculously high numbers of mosquitoes potentially being consumed was extrapolated from a student in Sweden who reported once observing a single bat successfully capture “up to 20 mosquitoes in a minute” using a stopwatch.  One minute, not an hour, not averaged over an entire night, just one minute with a stopwatch in the field and a best guess.  Have you ever watched microbats feeding?  This method is far from accurate.

It gets worse, the field observations were made in northern Sweden during the summer where the sun only dips below the horizon for 90 minutes per night.  During this time the larger, slower, more nutritious insects were not common.  That means that even if this number was accurate it would not be transferable to Australian microbats.

There is no point having a two dimensional simplistic view of the world.  In Australia we have different species of microbats than they have in Sweden, many larger and easier to catch food insects are present here, and our nights are far longer.  All of this means that even if it were true, this unrealistically high number of mosquitoes being consumed is not applicable in Australia. 

Mosquitoes are small and fast and require a lot of energy to catch.  Due to their tiny size a mosquito provides very little return on this large investment.  It is easier to catch fewer but larger food items and have some time for rest, drinking water, searching for roosting sites, courtship etc.  Catching a mosquito every three seconds for hour after hour when there are larger slower food items around just doesn’t happen, it is illogical to ever think that it would.  So please don't be taken in by it.

In Australia, mosquitoes are more of a convenient treat for some microbats rather than a staple food, microbats much prefer to eat moths or beetles.  Notice how I keep talking about microbats in Australia?  I don’t care what happens in other parts of the world, me building a bat box only effects microbats that I may encounter here in Australia.

Why bother encouraging microbats if they don’t eat many mosquitoes?  To put it bluntly, I attract many animals to my yard that don’t eat mosquitoes as they have other benefits, why wouldn't I do the same for microbats.  Many people buy insect zappers with those blue lights, they don’t attract mosquitoes yet it is a thriving industry.  Lowering the numbers of moths and beetles is fantastic and well worth encouraging microbats into your garden.  The microbats don’t just eat the insects, they also disrupt mating which reduces the number of insect eggs laid which has an even larger effect on pest populations. 

Don’t ever be so gullible that you are fooled into thinking that microbats only eat pests, they also eat many beneficial arthropods.  This is the same as spiders and birds eat pests but they also eat beneficial insects.  This is nature, there is no way around it, no use in pretending it isn’t happening.

Strangely very few studies have been done to see how much of a difference microbats make in protecting large scale crops from pests.  I have heard of a few studies that claim microbats significantly lower damage from coddling moth in walnuts, helicoverpa moth in cotton fields, and grain weevils in grain crops, but would love to read more studies.  Again I stress that microbats are great to have around, they just won't make a noticeable difference to the local mosquito population in your back yard.

I have often wondered if encouraging microbats to live near bee hives would reduce the damage from wax moth.  Would running poultry under the hives during the day and encouraging microbats at night reduce pests significantly?  Unfortunately I can find no research (or even anecdotal evidence) that has tested this.  I guess people are too caught up in thinking microbats only eat thousands of mosquitoes per hour that they can’t think of ways to utilise them to actually reduce pests.

Let me stress that I want to encourage people to build and install bat boxes.  Just remember that microbats are great to have around, but they won’t make a noticeable difference to the mosquito population in your area.

Fake blue pampas grass seeds

Pampas grass is a bit of a weed in Australia, I would not recommend that anyone buy or grow it.  If you do grow it, first make sure that it is allowed in your state or territory, secondly NEVER buy seeds from ebay.

Below are some pictures of actual ebay listings for fake pampas grass seeds.  None of these are my pitcures.  While they look great they DON'T actually exist and you will be funding ebay thieves.

When buying fake seeds from ebay thieves you will be sent some kind of seeds, but they will not grow into anything that looks like these pictures.  You may be sent pampas grass seed, or you may be sent any random seeds that the thieves have on hand.  By the time you grow them out and realise that you have been stolen from months or years will have passed and it is too late to do anything.  Ebay makes a fortune from fake seeds so they won't remove any listing no matter how many times you report it.

Blue pampas grass
Blue pampas grass does not exist.  The colours have been digitally altered.  The second picture has been altered, but to make matters worse it is not even a picture of pampas grass!

Blue pampas grass does NOT exist

This was listed on ebay as blue pampas grass seeds.  This isn't even pampas grass!!!

Green and Yellow pampas grass
Q: Why not grow yellow and green pampas grass?  A: because it does not exist.  These bay thieves have used the first blue pampas grass picture above, but instead of clicking blue they made it yellow and green.

Where have I seen this picture before (hint: above in blue)

Bonsai pampas grass
Firstly, look at the size of these plants, they are huge, clearly not bonsai.  Secondly and more importantly most of these colours don't exist.  If anyone lists this please don't buy anything from them.  You won't get what you paid for.

Bonsai pampas grass does NOT exist

Mixed pampas grass
Mixed any seeds are a bad idea if some of the pictures don't exist.  Some of these pictures are the same picture with the colours altered (pink, purple, the bottom left), which means that the seller is happy to deceive you.  Who knows if you will even get pampas grass seeds?  The top right hand picture, the green one, is the same as the first blue one I showed you.  Please don't fund ebay thieves.

Mixed pampas grass, these colours do NOT exist

Purple pampas grass
Purple pampas grass does not exist.  It doesn't matter how much you like the look of it, it doesn't matter how cheap they are, it doesn't matter that it has free postage, or that it is a bargain, or that the seller has 100% positive rating, or anything else, they don't exist so you should not buy seeds of them and you should never buy any other seeds from anyone who sells them.

Purple pampas grass does NOT exist

Red pampas grass
Red pampas grass does not exist.  Don't buy fake ebay seeds.  Don't fund criminals.

Red pampas grass does NOT exist

Multicoloured pampas grass
While this looks great, it doesn't exist.  I think this picture was not made for fake ads, but somewhere a thief saw it and copied it.  Don't buy seeds of these.

Multicoloured pampas grass does NOT exist

Wholesale pampas grass seeds
These don't even look real, but they still trick people.  Most of these colours do NOT exist, most of these are the same pictures with the colours altered.  Anywhere that has the same picture with different colours is an ad made by thieves.  Don't buy anything from them.

Wholesale pampas grass, most of these coulours do NOT exist

I have written a few other posts of ebay seeds that don't exist.  I have labelled them with "things that don't exist" on the right hand side of the page so they will be easy to find.  Please do some research before buying seeds to ensure that they exist.

Fake Blue Banana Seeds

More ebay thieves selling fake seeds, this time they are selling banana seeds.  These are not my pictures.  Below are a bunch of pictures that I found on actual ebay listings, not one of these things exists.  The ebay thieves make thousands of dollars from selling seeds that do not exist, they post seeds to the buyer, and by the time you have worked out that something is wrong it is too late to get your money back.

Blue Bananas
Blue bananas don't exist.  There are heaps of pictures of them on the internet, someone has taken a picture and digitally changes the colour.  There are some varieties where the unripe bananas are green/blue, but no vibrant blue varieties.  Please never buy anything from anyone who sells blue banana seeds as they are thieves and won't give you what you paid for.

Blue banana do NOT exist

Bonsai Bananas
How cute do bonsai banana plants look!  Being tiny means even in a cool climate I could grow them as I could protect them and keep them somewhere warm.  Unfortunately bonsai bananas do NOT exist.  These plants are not real, the picture is of a pretend plant.  It is not alive, it is fake.  Please never fund these ebay thieves, never buy anything that they are selling if they sell bonsai banana seeds.

bonsai banana does NOT exist

Giant bananas
Seriously, people bought fake ebay seeds for these?  I am tempted to say something nasty about the type of person who would be taken in by this kind of lie.  Bananas don't have the genetic potential to ever reach this size, I don't see why anyone would think that they do.  Even with GM technology bananas will NEVER get this big

Giant banana do NOT exist and will NEVER exist

Various coloured bananas
These ebay thieves are not even trying, they got one picture of bananas and have changed its colours digitally.  Other than the unripe green none of these colours exist, please DON'T buy seeds for these!

Multicolour banana - same picture recoloured

Banana melons
At first this add made me wonder if it was an ebay thief, or just a confused seller.  I read through the listing and found they were the former.  This is a picture of a yellow zucchini, nothing terribly rare.  The description talks about sweet melons.  Zucchini are far from sweet, if anything they are very bland.  This seller is selling seeds of several other things that don't exist, which helps show what type of person they are.

People sometimes assume ebay seed thieves are located in China, but there is no reason that they are not from any other country, including ours!  Just because these thieves are located in Australia, and they will send you seeds quickly, it doesn't mean that they are not trying to steal from you.  When you leave your house you lock it to keep the thieves out, so you understand that there are thieves in our country too.

Banana melon?  This is actually just a normal zucchini

Photoshopped coloured Bananas
No surprises here, they have done a dodgy job of changing the colours and are selling seeds of bananas that don't exist.  If anyone is selling any seeds that don't exist please never buy anything from them.

As pointed out in a comment below, pink bananas DO exist.  Musa velutina grows pink skinned bananas that look amazing.  The pink in the picture below has been altered digitally.  Do some research and be certain that what you are buying is a real colour and was not photoshopped.

Blue bananas don't exist, and this pink was photoshopped

Rainbow bananas
It is very rare (but certainly not impossible) for anything to have multiple coloured fruit on the same plant.  Sure some chillies do it, but not bananas.  I have never seen that blue on any fruit or vegetable.  These ebay thieves have changed the colours, these bananas look amazing, but they don't exist.  Please don't buy anything from these ebay thieves.

Rainbow bananas do NOT exist

Ebay thieves everywhere
I have written several other posts on ebay seeds that don't exist.  The more I look on ebay the more seeds I see listed for sale (by local and premium members with 99% or higher ratings) that don't exist.  Just because seeds are cheap, and they have free postage, and that the seller has a great rating, doesn't mean that they are selling you something that even exists, please do some research before buying any seeds from ebay.

All of my posts on fake ebay seeds have been labelled "Things that don't exist" to make them easier to find.

Fake Blue Venus Flytrap Seeds and other FAKE ebay seeds

I have written several  posts about commonly sold ebay seeds that do not exist: blue and black strawberries, blue roses, blue watermelons, and more fake ebay seeds.  Please have a look at them, they may help you stop ebay thieves selling you seeds that don't exist.

I have had a few messages about fake ebay seeds, so decided to do yet another post in the hoped that perhaps I can help people not get taken advantage of.

Below are some pictures that I have found on actual ebay listings, many of them have made a lot of money from selling fake seeds that don't exist.  Others claim to sell seeds of things that do exist (such as orchids), but they will actually send you some other seeds.  By the time you grow them out and notice something is wrong it is far too late for you to do anything about it.


Fake Blue Venus Fly Trap Seed
Blue venus fly traps look awesome, unfortunately blue venus flytraps DO NOT exist.  Someone got pictures of green venus flytraps, digitally tinkered with the colours, and then use them to steal money from people.  I know a bit about breeding venus flytraps, and I know a little about breeding blue things, and I can say with complete confidence that blue venus flytraps not only don't exist but they will never exist.

Some people buy these fake ebay seeds in bulk and then on sell them at a profit.  This is illegal as they don't exist.  If you do this you are not only profiting from someone else's crime, you are also committing a crime.  Being ignorant doesn't mean that you are not acting illegally.  Stop doing it!

Blue Venus Flytrap do NOT exist

Blue Venus Fly Trap - beautiful and does NOT exist

Amazing colourful berries
Some of these colours exist, but many don't.  Anyone who is selling seed of things that don't exist can't be trusted.  Blue raspberries kind of exist, as do purple ones but they look nothing like these pictures.  Red raspberries and yellow raspberries do exist.  Unfortunately people sell seeds of red raspberries and claim that they are yellow, and by the time you work it out it is too late to do anything about it.

This blue and this purple and this green do not exist!

Rare Buddha fruit tree
There are several listings on ebay for seeds of rare buddha fruit tree seed and similar things.  The photos are genuine and mostly have not been tinkered with.  These fruit have been grown in plastic moulds, as the fruit grows it squishes into that shape.  Spending lots of money to buy seeds is a waste of time, you can buy moulds of heaps of shapes!

Rare Buddha fruit seeds do NOT exist

Plastic fruit moulds DO exist, feel free to buy and use them

These pumpkins were grown in moulds to make this shape

These plastic moulds CAN turn cucumbers into fun shapes!

Amazing colourful pumpkins
Ebay thieves sell pumpkin seeds and show the following picture.  The blue, green, purple and this yellow do not exist.  As the seller is selling a mix of different types and some don't exist who knows what they will actually send you.  If you want random un-named pumpkin seeds please don't fund these thieves, get a pumpkin from the supermarket and plant its seeds.

Blue pumpkins don't exist

Hybrid fruit
Hybrid fruit does exist, almost all fruit you know of is a hybrid of a hybrid, but the picture below is not of hybrid fruit.  I have seen this picture in legitmate places and I have seen someone on ebay take the picture and claim that they are selling seeds of it.  Hopefully people are smarter than to be taken in by this.  This image has been changed digitally

Hybrid fruit like this do NOT exist

'Watermelon man' seeds do NOT  exist

Rainbow eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta)
Also known as the rainbow gum tree.  This tree exists and grows in tropical places, it is the only eucalypt that is native to the northern hemisphere.  As the bark peels off it leaves patches of colour.  The colous are never very brilliant outside of its natural range.  Most people who claim to sell seeds of this are selling fake seeds.  In the off chance you get actual seeds it takes many years before you see any colour at all.  Don't fund ebay thieves, don't buy seeds of these! 

Blue Bamboo
These Ebay thieves claim to be selling seed for blue bamboo. Don't the pictures look stunning?  Unfortunately blue bamboo does not exist.  Most bamboo rarely flowers and sets seed, some types only flower once every 100 years!  Who knows what seeds these ebay thieves will actually send, the only thing you can be certain of is that it will NOT be blue bamboo.

Blue bamboo does NOT exist

Blue bamboo - beautiful and digitally enhanced

Orchid seeds for sale
Wow, where do I start...the short version is NEVER buy orchid seeds from anywhere EVER.

There are some amazing orchids, and orchids can and do produce seeds, this is true so far.  Technically speaking, orchids can be grown from seed.

In reality, growing orchids from seed is incredibly difficult.  Many require aseptic tissue culture techniques, others require intricate mycorrhizal interactions to ever germinate, others need various treatments with specific acids in the right dose at the right time etc.

Some orchids look amazing, and while they grow in the wild they have never been grown by collectors or enthusiasts.  The flying duck orchid (Caleana major) is an example of this.  I have seen them in the wild, they are lovely, but have never heard of anyone being able to grow them successfully long term.  If someone does grow them successfully they will NOT sell seeds of them as germinating orchid seeds is beyond the abilities of a backyard grower.  I don't need to tell you but if you have the skills and technology required to grow orchid seeds you certainly won't be buying them from ebay.

Actual orchid seeds are tiny, very tiny, so tiny they are difficult to see.  If you ever get fooled into buying orchid seeds, and the seeds are not ridiculously tiny, then you have been sold a fake.  I found a picture comparing actual orchid seed to some ebay fake orchid seeds.

NEVER buy seed of tiny orchids

You won't grow orchids like this from seed

Fake seeds on the left, real orchid seeds on the right (look how tiny).  Look close, they are tiny specks!

Flying duck orchid (Caleana major) exists, do NOT buy seeds for them as you won't get them to germinate

Fake Berry seeds on ebay
Will the ebay thieves stop at nothing?  They claim to sell seeds from one type of berry, but show a picture of another.  They change the colours digitally.  They offer growing notes that are nonsensical garbage.

It drives me crazy as berry seed is not difficult to produce if you have a plant, and many berries are not overly difficult to grow from seed, but it is difficult to find anyone that actually sells berry seeds.  Please don't buy any berry seed from ebay!

EDIT TO ADD: I have recently found out that in some places mulberries are also occasionally called 'blackberries' and that sometimes this may cause confusion.  The pictures below were from people trying to use this confusion of common names to deliberately deceive people and steal from them.  The descriptions from the ads below were clearly referring to Rubus plants and NOT any form of trees.  These people are the worst kind of thief, they know that there is confusion and they try to cash in on it.

The ebay thieves call this "Thornless blackberry" seeds - but this picture is of mulberries!!!

Ebay thieves were selling seed of "Long blackberries" - these are also mulberries!

Another ebay thief selling "Thornless Blackberry seeds" - two are the same picture of mulberries that have had colours digitally altered, one picture is of raspberries, what seed will these ebay thieves actually send?

The thieves call this "wholesale mulberry seed" - these are not mulberries AND the colours have been altered

The list goes on and on...
This list is not by any means all of the fake seeds that are being sold on ebay.  I have made a few other posts on fake ebay seeds, they are all labelled with  "things that don't exist".  If you click on that label on the top right hand side of this page you should be directed to the other posts I have made on fake ebay seeds.

This kind of theft frustrates me.  It means that it is more difficult for me to track down rare or unusual plants.  It means that people are less likely to buy any of the unusual plants or seeds I sell.  By putting up blog posts like this my page seems to have dropped way down on google searches (probably because of all the photos of fake things that I got from actual ebay ads).  Hopefully I have helped a few people not get taken advantage of!

As always, if you are one of these ebay thieves, or someone who works for ebay, feel free to leave a comment and try to justify your deception. 

Blue flower seeds and other things that don't exist

There is a famous quote believed to be from Edmund Bourke which says something along the lines of "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".  While it is very romantic and poetic I don't think I agree with it.  I think that perhaps this should read "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for people to think they can get away with it".

Let's look at ebay, thieves steal money from people by selling things that do not exist.  The people who run ebay could stop them, at the very least they could remove listings and ban people who are reported for selling seeds that do not exist, but they don't.  Both the sellers and the people who run ebay are criminals.  Lots of good people try to stop them by trying to report these fake ads, but nothing happens.  These ebay thieves think they can get away with it (currently they both CAN and DO get away with it) so they continue to do it, and evil prospers.

Below are a bunch of pictures that I have found on ebay listings, many of them have made a lot of money from selling fake seeds. They are not my pictures.

I have written a few other posts about commonly sold ebay seeds that do not exist: blue and black strawberries, blue roses, and blue watermelons do NOT exist.  Please have a read of them, they may help you stop ebay thieves selling you seeds that do not exist.

Lily of the Valley seeds
I love lily of the valley, it is extremely difficult to grow it from seed, but not impossible.  It is also difficult to get it to produce seed, again it is not impossible.  Lilly of the valley comes with white flowers, some varieties can be pink flowered, and I am told that there is a variegated leaf form.  That is all.  None of these multi coloured ones exist and they never will exist.

 
It gets even worse, the following disclaimer was on the fake seed lily of the valley ebay page, they don't consider themselves liable for selling fake ebay seeds!!!

"Triple Phoenix shall not be liable for any instances where sold items are found to be inaccurate, erroneous, defective, deceptive or misleading, whether caused by negligence of  or any other cause whatsoever. 

Triple Phoenix will not be held liable for misuse or any health problems relating to or using any one of the products sold through this eBay store."

Make no mistake, the people who run Triple Phoenix ebay store are thieves.  Writing a disclaimer does not change the fact they they are deliberately misleading people.  What they are doing is known in legal terms as theft by deception.  Please never buy anything from anyone who does this.

Amazing multi-coloured  Butterfly Bush seeds
I don't know a lot about this plant but am told by some dedicated butterfly bush growers that this does NOT exist.  The thieves who made this ad steal tens of thousands of dollars from people each year through selling fake seeds.  Please do NOT buy them.

Rainbow butterfly bush does NOT exist

White Dove Orchid seeds
Apparently there is a plant called the white dove orchid (possibly Habenaria radiata or Pecteilis radiata), its flowers are rather beautiful.  Unfortunately the images below are photoshopped.

Orchids are notoriously difficult to grow from seed and many require aseptic tissue culture or complex mycorhizal interactions to germinate.  You should NEVER buy ANY orchid seeds from ebay.

Flowers such as in the images below do NOT exist.

This flower does NOT exist

This flower also does NOT exist

Blue or Black or Purple tomato seeds
Wow, with so many thieves making so many fake ebay ads where do I begin?  Some are based on real things, others are completely made up, you need to know what to look for in order to prevent ebay thieves from selling you fake seeds.

The below picture was for sale as "Black Russian" tomato seeds.  Black Russian tomatoes do exist, they are more of a muddy brown tomato, they are a substandard yet extremely popular heirloom variety.  Tomatoes the colour in the picture DO exist, I currently grow a few of them.

When the seller is claiming that this picture of a tomato that does exist, yet their picture is a completely different variety, you know they are up to something.  Chances are these thieves have simply got some tomato seeds from a red tomato and will send that to you.  In five month time when your seeds fruit it is far too late for you to do anything.

This tomato exists, but the seller will NOT send them to you as they claim it is 'black Russian'

Real blue and purple tomatoes do NOT exist.  There are plenty of varieties that are named blue or purple which exist, I grow some, but they look nothing like these photos.  Even the Genetically Modified (GM) blue tomatoes that you will likely never see and never have access to their seeds do not look anything like these colours.  Do NOT buy seeds of tomatoes that are these colours.

Tomatoes this colour have never and will never exist!

These seeds are for sale as "purple tomato" seeds.  This is not even a tomato!

Ripe tomatoes do NOT exist in this colour and likely never will

Amazing Rainbow tomato seeds
Rainbow tomato seeds do NOT exist.  The seller will probably send you tomato seeds, but they will not turn out to be anything like in these pictures.  Different colours on the same truss is not possible, green and red (or whatever the ripe colour is) yes, but more than one ripe colour on the same truss no.

If you want unknown tomatoes seeds, just go to the market, buy a tomato, and plant its seeds.  It will be cheaper, you will get to eat the fruit (minus the seeds), plus you will not be funding these ebay criminals who are selling seeds that do not exist.

Rainbow tomatoes do NOT exist.  Being local from Australia does not stop them from being thieves

Some of these colours do NOT even exist in tomatoes, multi colours on the same truss do NOT exist

White asparagus seeds
White asparagus kind of exists, you may have eaten some, but seeds for white asparagus do not exist.  White asparagus is produced by putting something over the soil so when the spears emerge they do not have access to sunlight, the result is sweet white spears.  You can do this to any/every variety of asparagus.  I have done it with green varieties, I have done it with purple varieties.  You can NOT buy seeds of white asparagus as there are no varieties of white asparagus.  There will never be any white asparagus varieties, any albino asparagus can not survive as they would not be able to photosynthesize.

When an ebay seller is selling seeds of white asparagus you may be sent an inferior unnamed variety of asparagus or possibly something else that is not asparagus at all.  Never buy anything from thieves who sell white asparagus seeds.

Seed for White Asparagus do NOT exist

Vegetable seeds that look like things
These ebay thieves are selling radish seed and claiming they will grow to look like a foot.  They will not.  There are several different ones of these being offered by ebay thieves.  The radish in the picture grew odd, then the photo was slightly manipulated.

Radish does NOT grow to look like this

Amazing coloured radishes
Some amazing coloured vegetables exist, which makes this kind of theft work so well.  Radishes do not come in blue like in this picture, they never have and they never will.  Some of the other colours exist, but they have re-coloured the picture so it is unlikely they have ever seen them.  These thieves buy bulk radish seed for cheap and repackage it to send to you.  You have no way of telling what variety you will get, but you do know they will NOT look like the ones in the picture!

This thief sends you seeds fast, but some of these colours do not exist so they will send you something else

Carnivorous plants
I like carnivorous plants, when I was a teenager I learned a great deal about them.  Unfortunately most people know very little about carnivorous plants so ebay thieves easily take advantage of them.  I have heard of people buying what was claimed to be 'giant venus fly trap' seed, only to be sent Gypsophila seed.  To be safe, I would not buy any carnivorous plant seed from ebay.

Blue Drosera do NOT exist (but I wish they did)

Blue Pinguicula do NOT exist

This doesn't even look real, but ebay thieves make big money selling fake seeds

So many ebay thieves, so little time...

Blue String of Pearls Plant (Senecio rowleyanus)
I love string of pearls plant and think that they are amazing.  I am growing some lovely green ones at the moment.  In real life most are green, and there is a delightful and rare variety of variegated string of pearls plant.

Unfortunately blue string of pearls plant does NOT exist.  It never has and it never will.  These thieves make me so angry because this plant is so pretty that they don't need to lie about its colour.

Blue string of pearls plant does NOT exist

Multi Coloured Succulents

How amazing do these multi coloured rabbit ear succulents look!  Unfortunately they do NOT exist.  In real life rabbit ear succulent (Monilaria obconica) are green and look amazing.  Thieves sell seeds on ebay by changing the colours.

The picture on the right is the real colour, the picture on the left is where they have changed colours and listed this on Ebay.  Take a close look, that is part of the same picture.  I want to grow these one day, but am not willing to buy seed through ebay as there are so many thieves who have changed colours in an attempt to steal from me.  Hopefully I find plants for sale in real life one day.

Rabbit Ear Succulents are NEVER multi coloured

Monilaria obconica are all green, thieves have changed the colours in this picture to try to steal from you

Multi Coloured Flowers
These look amazing don't they, unfortunately they do not exist!  There are heaps of different fake multicoloured seeds and bulbs for sale on ebay.  Most of these pictures are white flowers that have had their stem divided and put into coloured die, the die travels up the stem and goes into the white petals staining them.  Some of these pictures are photo shopped.  If you ever see any multi coloured flowers, do some research to see if they are real, the pictures below are fakes.

Fake ebay seeds

More fake ebay seeds and bulbs

Blue Lily
Someone kindly mentioned to me a little while ago that they are trying to warn people about not buying blue lily.  I don't know much about lilies, but I know that blue ones don't exist.  I had a look and ebay is filled with seeds and bulbs of blue lilies, there is page after page of blue lilies.  I feel depressed from seeing how many thieves are taking of advantage of people with these.  Unfortunately they do NOT exist.

These ebay thieves will send you some seeds or bulbs, and if you grow them long enough they will flower, but they will not be blue.  By this time it is too late for you to do anything about it.  Please never buy anything from anyone who sells seeds or bulbs of blue lilies as they are thieves!

Blue lily do NOT exist

Blue flowers or fruits
There are very few true blue coloured fruits or flowers.  If you see any that look amazing, the chances are high that they do not exist.  Some flowers, like cornflowers are kind of blue.  Please do some research before funding ebay thieves.  It does not matter how cheap they are, do NOT be so ignorant as to fund ebay thieves without at least trying to do some research to see if they are real or not.  While you can never be certain that you are buying the real thing from ebay, if you are buying something that does not exist you will certainly not get what you paid for.

Blue dahlia do NOT exist

Blue dahlias look great but are NOT real

Blue Raspberries kind of exist, but they are never this colour

Bonsai seeds
Seriously, what is wrong with people?  There is no such thing as a plant that has been bred to be bonsai, almost any tree seed can be grown out and made into a bonsai.  So anyone selling bonsai seeds are just selling tree seeds and are trying to steal from you (remember, the legal term is "theft by deception").  These ebay thieves have taken this a step further and have re-coloured bonsai images.  The blue maple below does not exist.  You may get a maple seed, if you grew it out it would never turn that colour.

Blue bonsai maple seed does NOT exist

Too many thieves on Ebay
This list is no where near complete, there are many pages of fake ebay seeds.  Please do a little research before buying anything and be extra careful buying seeds from ebay as ebay is full of thieves.

The bright blue and purple do NOT exist, don't buy ANY seeds from these thieves

If you are one of these ebay thieves, especially if your company name has been included in the picture or description, feel free to write a comment and try to convince me that your deception is justified.

I know sometimes people buy seed in bulk, repackage it into smaller packets and sell that.  If you have done this and are selling fake seeds then you are just as bad as the people who you bought the seeds from in the first place!

Often I hear people say that if something looks too good to be true then it probably isn't real.  Unfortunately in this case it does not help as most of the vegetables I grow and eat look and sound too good to be true!  If you want to see the perennial vegetables, annual vegetable seeds, berries, and edible herbs I have for sale please click here.