Comments regarding Fruit Lover's Nursery

Buying from Fruit lovers was a decent experience for me. They have a wonderful selection of tropical fruits for sale, and it was easy to see what was currently available without having to go into each plants description, which was nice. The ordering and shipping seemed a bit unfriendly, all I got as an order confirmation was a Paypal reciept, and when my order shipped it was entered into the system as part of a batch, so I was unable to track it until my postman received it on delivery day. I live in a hot climate so the seeds ended up cooking a bit in the mailbox. Being mostly fresh seeds they came in plastic ziplocs with a bit of moist vermiculite, which was thoughtful, and one batch was so eager to be born they were already sprouting, and being they were the most expensive seeds of my purchase I'm happy with their exuberance :) All in all I would order from them again.

About six months ago, in April, I ordered a mix of seeds and plants from Fruitlovers. I'll describe only the plant-related issues here.

There were some problems with the shipment. Fruitlovers was unable to send me all the plants I ordered -- they informed me of this after the shipment had been sent. Also, they delayed the shipment for a while (due to weather, which I appreciate) but then sent the package without informing me first. By the time I got the shipping notification, I couldn't rearrange my day to be home for the package delivery, which required my signature (this signature requirement was noted nowhere on Fruitlover's website or in their communications.)

So the plants got stuck at the post office overnight. I'm pretty sure this explains their condition -- some of the plants actually had crispy leaves. Make sure to pick your plants up on time! However, some of the plants' injuries were probably not the fault of my tardy pickup -- the mangosteen, for example, had their taproots truncated. This is very nearly a death sentence for mangosteen unless the grower is very experienced. As the plants were droopy-leaved as well, there really wasn't any way to save them, though I certainly tried!

The lychee which was sold as an established air-layer didn't seem to have grown roots outside the main ball at all, and no trace of actual dirt was evident (just the tight-packed moss that air-layers start in.)

When I emailed and described the problems I was having, the response was that since mangosteen are self-fertile, if I could get one to survive, I'd still have fruit. I was also told that the air-layered lychee really was well-established and to keep the humidity high. Neither communication helped much at all.

About a month ago, I asked for a refund for the plants and seeds that could not be shipped, plus the extra shipping cost I was charged for them. (Originally I asked them to keep a credit, as I hoped to find something else from Fruitlover's I wanted to purchase.) To my knowledge, the refund has not been provided (though it's possible their check may still be in the mail.)

Overall, not a particularly great experience. I know other people have had much better success, but I'm probably not going to be a repeat customer.