Mr. Ko Adenium Seeds Review: Good or Bad?

Recently, we have just bought some adenium seeds from Mr. Ko, a seller from Taiwan. You may be checking out this seller and considering whether he is a trustworthy vendor or not.

Because he's selling seeds online and overseas, it makes some buyers skeptical about the quality. Let's explore & let us share with you the insights from our very own experience.

Update: Because of the Covid-19 situation, some countries restrict international airmail. If this is the case for you, we refer you to the local stores at this time.

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>> Link Blog post: Adenium Sellers List

There are some countries that still accept international airmail.

Countries that are open for international airmails (with * means EMS only):

Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, Cambodia*
France, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Belgium*, Switzerland*, Czech Republic*, Italy*
Mainland USA, Australia*, New Zealand*

If this is the case, then you can more confidently shop for your favorite adenium seeds.

Update: Mr.Ko seems to be open for orders from all countries again. Please consider, choose the seeds and place your orders if needed.

Getting the Seeds

Buying the seeds is pretty straightforward. Mr. Ko owns a shop on eBay, which you can look at if you love to have some fun with the auction feature.

We have just been informed that the eBay store is currently inactive due to some policy changes. Luckily, he still has another Shopify online store.

They have hundreds and thousands of choices that you can choose from. Literally, you may feel overwhelmed. But here are some quick tips to get around the jungle:

If you want	Then choose
Many different flower colors	Adenium Obesum
Big, fat, chubby caudex	Adenium Arabicum
Long, straight, tree-like trunk	Adenium Somalense
Unique adenium	Pollination seeds

If you’re unsure of the different varieties, check the pictures on the website. Or check out this detailed Adenium Species List.

A question many buyers ask is:

Will the Seeds Have the Same Flower Color Like the Picture?

We found out that this is a probability game of gene. The offspring may have the exact flower color like its parents or they may not look the same at all. Sometimes it's 70%, sometimes it's 90%.

Many times people say, you won't know the color until the flower opens. This is why many customers say it's like playing the lottery. When the flower opens its faces, it's like the lottery opens its numbers. You may need some luck to have seeds that look exactly like the mother.

Now you can understand any claims to know the flower color beforehand is mostly false. So keep this in mind before purchasing so you won't get disappointed with any expected results. But it will be okay if you're into some surprises. Adenium flowers are still very beautiful in any shape and form.

Please also check out the comment section below this post. Many buyers / previous customers share their experience from buying from Mr. Ko aden seeds. It's interesting. You'll get a balanced point of view.

With that said, let's get shopping shall we:

After looking around for some time, we ordered:

one giant Adenium Arabicum Brazilian
one Noble Concubine of the Obesum family
one Arabicum Tiny Ding Dong

Compared to the market average, their price is acceptable.

To keep you informed, the price for one adenium seed is about $0.10 to $0.25 depending on the common/rare specie. It may be cheaper if you buy locally (less shipping costs). Very expensive species like hybrids of Arabicum (Thai Soco, MKMK, KHZ, etc.) may be $0.50 to $1.00 per seed.

As a side note, we actually didn’t know the other meaning of “ding dong” before hitting the order button. So, you see now we have a family of tiny ding dongs and some noble concubines. Great!

Now, let's see the shipping fees & all that next:

The Shipping Fees & Delivery

shipping-delivery — Delivery of adenium seeds | Source

Shipping costs $4 bucks flat rate. If your order is over $50, the shipping is free. The delivery time depends very much on where you are located and the date of the week you place your order.

For folks living in the Asian region, if you place the order near the start of the week, say Monday or Tuesday, then you will receive the package in around 7-8 business days (excluding Sat & Sun).

Note also that they do have a turn-around time from 1-3 days. If you live in the U.S. or other countries in Europe/Africa, then it might take about 2 weeks for the parcel to arrive.

They have had some issues shipping to Australia & Brazil due to the strict inspection laws which could hold your seeds for months. If you're in those areas, it may be better to shop for seeds locally. These are some good places to start your searching:

https://www.facebook.com/Adenium.Desert.Rose.Queensland/ (Australia)
https://www.apoloniagrade.com.br/enxertos/ (Brazil)

For us, the delivery was faster than expected. Almost forgot, they will send you a tracking code on the Taiwan Post website to track your shipment & see whether there are any "hiccups" along the way. Be sure to switch to English if you don’t understand Chinese.

Now, bada-bing bada-boom, it's the moment everyone has been waiting for...

What’s Inside the Package?

inside-package — Simple packing of adenium seeds

Our package arrived on Nov 5 2019. So that’s about a week after ordering. Pretty quick for international shipping, isn’t it?

What’s cool about this store, I think, is that they complete all the paperwork– all the not-so-sexy stuff–with the Plant Health Department before exporting.

This way, we can be sure that our receiving end will get the package without any more checks or clearances.

Inside the bag, you will find the Health Inspection Paper (Phytosanitary Certificate) and also an invoice. They are in Chinese and English, which you can have a look if you like.

But the main star of our story right here is the seeds. They arrived safe and sound. Nicely packaged in Ziploc bags with name tags inside. The seeds look clean, dry, and are in good conditions.

adenium-seeds-in-zip-loc — Seeds in Ziploc bags with name tags

Let's have a closer look. Here are the Arabicum guys:

Here we have the smaller Obesum ones:

Okay and... Now What?

So now you get the seeds and then what? We asked Mr. Ko for his advice and got some very valuable information.

If you buy the seeds around the wintertime, you need to check the weather forecast for the next 7-10 days. If it’s probably going to rain or snow, then it’s not a good time for sowing the seeds.

If, however, the weather will be nice and sunny for the next 10 days, then your seeds are ready to be sown.

What if the seeds are not ready for sowing? What should we do in such case?

You can store the seeds. Here is a proper way to do so.

Storing the Seeds

For the seeds that are not ready to be out in the wild yet, we need to store them properly.

Find a glass jar or a mason jar in your kitchen, preferably the one with an airtight lid. Place your seeds in the jar. For better protection from moisture or water droplets, put in some desiccant or moisture absorbing gel.

Put the jars somewhere dry and dark. The cupboard in the kitchen is a good place. It's not advisable to store the seeds in the fridge though. You could experiment with this if you like. Also, be sure to store them in places that are not too hot. Keeping the temperatures below 86F or 30C would be awesome.

After the rainy or cold season passes, you can start to sow your seeds. It’s best to use them 3-6 months after storage. Because the older the seeds get, the more it can affect the germination rates. I've had some old aden seeds that wouldn't germinate past this time frame.

Here's an Instructable post showing you how to save the desert rose seeds:

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>> Link Instructables: Save desert rose seeds

Overall, would we recommend Mr. Ko? As you may have guessed, yes! We are satisfied with the price, the delivery, and especially the seeds. They also provide great tips on sowing and cultivating the plants. We were actually surprised to get an email at 7am in the morning from them answering one of our concerns.

All in all, we had a pleasant experience and can’t wait to get our babies rocking. We’ll keep you posted on the process. If it turns out well, we’ll definitely be coming back for more.

(Psst: Our post on how to start desert rose from Mr.Ko seeds has been featured on Instructables. We're so excited to share this with you.)

Print out this simple, step-by-step guide to make your own DIY version:

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>> Link Instructables: Start desert rose from seeds

On Feb 17, I ordered another batch of adenium seeds. Received it about 10 days later. Love it.