Comments regarding Cultivariable Seeds

I've been ordering from Cultivariable for years and never had a bad experience. The tubers are always great quality and grow well. Yes, the owner doesn't respond to emails quickly and they only ship a couple times a year. But I've never not received what I ordered, it just takes patience.

This year is the first time I've ordered from Cultivariable Seeds. The site has lots of information about growing tuber crops. The owner is the only mass seller I could location online for many of the types of tubers he cultivates.
If you order from him, he clearly indicates his business practices - and he rather bluntly states he doesn't want any customers that have expectations higher than what his business practices indicate. From what I read, everything he does makes sense. He deals with tubers which are dormant but can't sustain freezing temperatures so they ship the same way trees do - by the weather of the sender and the recipient. If I log in, I can see the status of my order so he likely isn't going to email me quickly if I ask about my order until the freezing temperatures subside. However, he sent seed to me promptly because they aren't damaged by freezing temperatures.
This seems like the owner is a guy like you and me who had a hobby that went viral into a business. He isn't interested in being Amazon or anything - he is highly interested in the science of growing unusual (for the US market) tuber crops. And he isn't keeping information proprietary. He is sharing all his information. I don't know how he keeps up with his website, farming, and sales/shipping operation. I'm sure there are more people involved behind the scenes but there is something sort of satisfying for supporting this sort of operation.
For instance, he had an unexpected freeze that killed a large portion of his crops this year. He posted it and froze all of his orders temporarily while he sorts out what he can fulfil versus what stock is available for his production this year and what was still available. He is posting updates to his site every couple of weeks where he is putting stock back available.
I have emailed him a question and he hasn't responded. In fact he may never respond directly to me but he is posting on his blog which is attached to the site you order from. I expect he will address my question at some point on the blog.
He does ask that you not order and cancel before the freezing weather is over and before you've discussed any issues with him. And he will put you on a warning list or even block you depending on the situation.
I could not find anywhere that sells True Potato Seeds in the US at the variety that cultivariable supplies. It is the only site I found that has all the information in one place for growing them.
I gained interest in a couple of the other tuber crops and I can't even find distributers of those tubers in the US. I can find individuals, but like 1 or 2 - and they do not provide any details on their varieties. This is the only seller that tells you what the end tuber is like. He also has a lab running for propagating varieties and for removing disease. He publishes how he does this in his blog.
I like to grow plants that aren't readily available to me in the stores - or are just too expensive to buy. For tubers, I don't think this company has any competition. And he sells his product VERY reasonably priced for what goes into his work. I wish I could find more outfits like this for other crops.

Posted on March 23, 2018, updated March 23, 2018
Posted on March 22, 2018, updated March 23, 2018
Posted on March 21, 2018, updated March 22, 2018
Three orders over three seperate years.

First order was great and I received what I ordered.
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Second order failed to arrive. Owner responded to my email in a timely manner with a screen shot that he claimed to show the package was delivered. I chalked it up to a mail problem and let it slide (close to $100 order). No act of restitution was asked for or offered.

Third order (also close to $100), owner is unresponsive (multiple emails over 60 days) to request order status update. Dates on generic order status page have come and gone and no delivery to show for it.

After the first year I pumped this guy to many of my gardening friends, now I'm regretting that.

I can unfortunately not longer recommend Cultivariable Seeds and that's unfortunate.

I’ll add that I DON’T think or intend to suggest the guy is a scammer, but I DO think he does not take seriously the responsibilities with running a business and the duty that comes along with taking peoples money.

ordered oca and masua tubers as well as seeds of sea kale. quality of tubersis excellent, seeds look good. it took 3 weeky from the usa to germany. professional service!