Amishland at it again!

[PaulF]

In most businesses if the seller had a product from a manufacturer, say a rototiller, advertised the rototiller as a rare and special piece of machinery after taking the original nameplate off and replacing it with a different one (say Brand X) would be committing not only a breach of ethics, but also a crime. The buyers of that rototiller thinking the new brand was pretty darn good would tell all their friends about this new product. If no one really paid attention, Brand X with some fancy marketing, may become a good seller with people saying it does as well as the tiller it really was. Tomato seeds are not rototillers and laws concerning the sale of seeds don't apply as they do for patented machinery, but I am sure you get the idea.

Do I really care about the history of a tomato as much as I care about the taste? I don't think so, but I would rather do the right thing by purchasing seeds for that tomato from a retailer who is ethical and follows the rules of respectability and fairness. Renaming the real thing brand X just to make a few dollars would make that tomato not taste as good as it should if it had the true name. A rose by any other name would just be a stinky flower.

[Ruth_10]

Re-naming a plant variety and making up a history is the sock-puppetry of the plant world. On the internet, sock puppets are shunned/banned/scorned as being deceptive and just plain dishonest. Same goes here.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


For Wikipedia policy on sockpuppets, see Wikipedia:Sock puppetry
A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception. The term—a reference to the manipulation of a simple hand puppet made from a sock—originally referred to a false identity assumed by a member of an internet community who spoke to, or about himself while pretending to be another person.[1] The term now includes other uses of misleading online identities, such as those created to praise, defend or support a third party or organization.[2] A significant difference between the use of a pseudonym[3] and the creation of a sockpuppet is that the sockpuppet poses as an independent third-party unaffiliated with the puppeteer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29

[babice]

Originally Posted by travis

Really, none of that makes any difference to me when I'm out in the garden mid-August, admiring a particularly handsome plant loaded with tomatoes in all their beautiful stages of development. Or when I bite into a big, thick slice of juicy tomato meat fresh out of the garden. How about you?

Well, heck. It kinda does on principal because I really do think it's very cool to possibly be growing something my great-great may have been growing. So if she or the other sites say it's from the 1800's I get all excited and want to try it. Of course, I DO still want to eat delicious tomato! But, I understand why it's disturbing especially because she's been asked to practice different ethics. On the other hand, how's she gonna compete? But, she really could be more upfront about it though for the people it really matters to.

It would be great if there could be some kind of designation similar to OMI for organic purposes. Like - "Carolyn Approved" or "Tania Approved".
And from what I've been reading here and there, some folks strictly will not buy something if it's not OMI-rated; while others do like the OMI-rated stuff but also know that their restrictions are high and there might actually be a product they want that's not OMI-rated but still, really a good product for organic purposes. (sorry for the bad grammar there) Ya know?

[feldon30]

If Lisa can't sell tomatoes honestly, maybe she shouldn't be selling them. To me, it's no better than a snake oil salesman. I believe in labeling things properly, and standing by my word.

[tam91]

There are plenty of reputable sites selling old heirloom varieties without resorting to lying. I support those business, and my small way, help them be profitable and stay around.

[travis]

My point was, if you want to roll the dice on variety from Lisa that's been reported to be a wowser, beware the hype, grow the tomato, enjoy it, and don't share the seeds tagged with the same hyped up history. If you want to preserve and share true heritage tomato varieties, along with accurate histories, stear clear of her site.

Pretty simple concept, huh?

I've grown some of her seeds, and the results in both cases were incorrect leaf shapes and incorrect fruit color, but darned good plants with great tomatoes. I have no earthly idea what they really were. She said they were Lancaster Pinks, or some such thing.

[mdvpc]

Babice

"It would be great if there could be some kind of designation similar to OMI for organic purposes. Like - "Carolyn Approved" or "Tania Approved". "

One way to ensure this is to buy from Tania-who is very reputable, and, as you know, a member here.

[babice]

Originally Posted by mdvpc

Babice

"It would be great if there could be some kind of designation similar to OMI for organic purposes. Like - "Carolyn Approved" or "Tania Approved". "

One way to ensure this is to buy from Tania-who is very reputable, and, as you know, a member here.

Okey dokey - I know this NOW - but, truly, while I've been gardening for around 15 years or so, last year is the first year I grew toms and this is my first go 'round with growing toms from seed. So, I'm really, truly giving you, fellow TV's, a perspective from an absolute, complete newbie. I didn't even know the diff between a hybrid and a heirloom until I started reading relentlessly about a month ago. So, I'm quite the eager little newbie and soaking up as much as I can (some would say I'm obsessed). So - I got interested in heirlooms and I went searching for Purple Dog because I read someone say how good it is - landed on her site. Got all starry-eyed reading all those incredible descriptions. Really had no clue - ordered the Purple Dog and 3 others. Then I guess I came back home to TV and was all excited and started searching for those others...lo and behold I came upon this thread.

So I have given a lot of contemplation to possibly buying those same 4 seeds from BlueRibbonTomatoes because I can see she has a lot of rave reviews here. But, of course, I "supposedly" have 10 each of those 4 on the way..."supposedly". Haven't actually gotten any confirmation since I ordered them except from Paypal so....ah heck. Maybe I should just go ahead and order more. See my dilemna? So - I wasn't just sad to read (literally about 15 min after I ordered) that there's some ethical issues with that site but also that I might not even get the darned things in time to use this year.

You dun have to worry, though! I will definetly buy from one of these great sites that are recommended here from now on!! Gare-on-tee!

[livinonfaith]

As I recall, it took about three weeks to get my seeds from her, but she did get in touch to let me know they would take that long. I honestly can't remember what the deal was, but I let her know that it wasn't a problem and they eventually got here. That was in the late Summer. (or early Fall?)

Maybe you could shoot her an email and ask how far out she is in her orders. It couldn't hurt!

[gardenfrog]

I think that changing tomato names and history creates problems like what would happen if you changed names and events in our history books. I want to know that the integrity of my textbooks is ironclad. Preserving our heirloom diversity heritage is very much a matter of integrity. Why do we want companies like Monsanto to be honest in what they do? Because it matters. We matter!

[stonysoilseeds]

i found the company to be very greedy i placed 2 orderswith them and the orders were c ombined in one package which is fine but i did not like the fact that i was charged $7.00 for the shipping fee plus no free seeds as promised instead of the$3.50 fee i contacted them but recieved no reply

[livinonfaith]

She sent me a free package of Little White Rabbit seeds in my order. She didn't have the blue podded peas, so she put the refunded cash in the envelope.

I honestly don't think she is evil or sinister or anything. My order was fine, a little late, but not too much. She was polite. Most of the seeds are quite nice. And I have to admit that, even knowing what I do now, I still secretly yearn to try several of her varieties because they sound so cool! (and RARE! OMG, She's the only source in the WORLD!)

But besides her prices being a bit high for what you get, I am figuring out how hard seed companies have to work to keep their businesses fair and honest and accurate.

I'm not trying to punish her or even boycott her. I honestly don't have a thing against the woman. It just seems smarter to reward the companies that work so hard and make the sacrifices to do things the right way.

You live and learn.

[babice]

livinon - you made me laugh! Well I did email her Tuesday. Haven't heard anything yet. I'm sure I'll git em eventually!

[muck4doo]

How cute. She now has her sock puppets out to white night her. Hey Lisa, this could all go away if you just be an honest grower.

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by PaulF

In most businesses if the seller had a product from a manufacturer, say a rototiller, advertised the rototiller as a rare and special piece of machinery after taking the original nameplate off and replacing it with a different one (say Brand X) would be committing not only a breach of ethics, but also a crime.

This is so common with manufactured goods that it is almost impossible to list all of them. Ford sold Mazda B2000s as Ford Couriers, Mazda later sold Ford Rangers as Mazda B whatevers, I think they were B3000's.

Hype type marketing is hype type marketing, It's been around as long as there's been people selling things. Generally it's a turn off for me. However in reality there's probably less than 10,000 people in the US that gives a hind quarter of a rattus norvegicus what their tomato seed is called. Talking home growers now, they grow the oversized plants that Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes or whoever sells or pick out seeds from the seed rack based on the pictures on the packets or because someone somewhere said it is a good variety to grow. Never mind that the person that said it lives in Florida and the person buying live in North Dakota.

If you read her home page you should be able immediately tell that he is an intense selfpromoter. There are 72 I's in 127 lines of print. Anytime I see some term like rare or unique used that many times, it is going to cause me to call BS. I've never ordered from her mostly because the seeds seem very expensive, The hype turns me off, and there are better sources for what she sells.