When seeds online look too good to be true — because they are

Take, for example, “700+ Giant Teddy Bear Sunflower Seeds, Heirloom Non-GMO,” promising blooms in vibrant shades of pink and purple. Or “50 Iris Seeds Flower Plant (much less money than bulbs) – FRESH SEEDS – Limited Supply – Order Soon – Thank You,” featuring a bloom with colors so bright that, sure, could be real — if you were on psychedelics.

My personal favorite: “50 Honeycrisp Apple Tree Seeds – FRESH SEEDS – Limited Supply – Order Soon – Thank You,” the seller of which also promotes seeds from other apple varieties, despite the fact that apples do not grow true to seed. I reached out about that conundrum and, admirably, received a response within six minutes:

“Hello, They are seeds, the seeds come from an Apple, you plant the seeds and an Apple tree grows, whether people decide to graft or not is up to them. Just to be on the safe side, you should probably buy a full grown tree, with the type of apples that you want already growing on them. Thank You”

If you read the reviews for any of these seeds, something is obviously amiss. And if you look at the photos, they appear obviously altered, whether by photo editing or AI. But how much of a scam is it? Would these seeds even germinate and grow? To find out, I acquired a packet of “Purple Enchanting Giant Teddy Bear Sunflower 50 Seeds – Double Blooms, Non-GMO, Open Pollinated, Perfect for Cut Flowers & Gardens,” sold for $10.34. As promised, a small packet of sunflower seeds (more than 50, a bonus since about a third of them were broken) arrived eight days after ordering, though the return address on the envelope was an address in Staten Island, New York, not Hialeah, Florida, as the listing stated. On an unseasonably warm day in Denver, Colorado, I planted 13 seeds in a large, clean yogurt container, put the container inside an old plastic produce bag (a makeshift greenhouse), stuck them under grow lights inside my office and waited.

While it’s tempting to say scam garden seeds are a new AI-driven phenomenon, seeds sold in an unscrupulous manner are nothing new, says Renee Shepherd, founder of seed company Renee’s Garden. “The problem with that is that people will get seeds, put them in little plastic bags and sell them, and you have no way of knowing how old they are, what variety they are,” she says. “None of the protections that consumers have would apply.”

Unsolicited seeds are again arriving through the mail, a facet of the brushing scam that was prevalent during the Covid-19 pandemic, adds Shepherd. As far as artificial intelligence, the seed packet industry is more concerned about people using AI to duplicate legitimate websites and create fake versions to scam buyers, she says.

Selling repackaged or otherwise inferior seeds makes for a good scam, unfortunately. The buyer may be suspicious but willing to spend $5 to $10 on something novel. By the time they plant the seeds, if the seeds germinate and grow to maturity, months — or even years, depending on the plant — have gone by. If nothing grows at all, it’s easy for the buyer to blame themself. After all, if the plant isn’t as expected, would you bother requesting a refund? Even if you did, depending on the seller or website, you might be outside the time limit or other requirements to get your money back. And if you reported the seller to a site like Etsy, it’s likely nothing would happen. I emailed Etsy’s press contact and despite three follow-ups, they did not respond. Etsy’s customer support chat wasn’t helpful either; though they promised to report the suspicious sellers to their superiors, the support person on the other end neglected to take any listing URLs.

Weeding out fakes

“My favorite seeds that I saw that for sure were counterfeit were mushroom seeds,” says Heather Grady, who runs the gardening-focused Instagram account @homesteadingindenver with her partner, Terrance. (Mushrooms are grown from spores, not seeds.) “I’ve seen neon blue flowers that you just know nothing is that color in reality,” she adds.

The seed industry is fairly well regulated by the Federal Seed Act, which requires specific labeling for seeds shipped between states, Michael Guidi, manager of horticulture research at Denver Botanic Gardens, informs me in an email. Labeling requirements include seed purity percentage, germination percentage and varietal identification. “Unfortunately, when shopping for or purchasing seeds online, this information isn’t visible or required before purchase, so you might not know what you’ve gotten until it arrives in the mail,” adds Guidi. My “Purple Enchanting Giant Teddy Bear Sunflower” seeds came with none of this information.

“There’s a couple things that we always look for,” says Grady. First, always do the sniff test — if it looks too good to be true, such as flowers in the shape of cat heads, it probably is. “But a seed package should always have some basic information, like, are they organic? What’s the germination rate? Things like days to maturity, and the basic information I would expect to know should all be on that seed packet,” says Grady.

Reputation matters

Generally, if you’re shopping for garden seeds, it’s best to buy directly from established businesses, whether that’s via their own websites or in garden stores. “On the one hand, it’s a bummer that this turns folks away from super-small businesses that might be selling legitimate seed, but ultimately, places like Etsy or other e-commerce platforms where individuals can sell stuff are not reputable sources for seed,” writes Guidi.

If you buy seeds from an e-commerce site, it’s definitely buyer beware, adds Shepherd. “We all in the seed packet industry hate it, because it makes people give up really easily. They buy something, and it doesn’t grow, so they say, well, ‘I can’t grow. I am not going to be a good gardener.’”