The Crap Plants Sold at Lidl - a game of skill X marks the roots.

The Continental Op · 18-03-2022 4:13pm #1

Had a space in the veg patch so when I saw Lidls Fruit Bush offer a couple of weeks ago I went mad and bought one of each.

Well went to plant them today and as you can see they aren't even rooted cuttings.

Now I've had some good deals for plants from Lidl before but got totally burnt this time (receipt long gone). Bought 8 plants in total, one had a bit of root but that was what was left from when it was field grown and had no new roots. If it wasn't for the 4 canes in each pot the ""plants"" would have fallen out.

And before anyone says I didn't kill off any roots by overwatering.

Basically these plants weren't ready for sale.

looksee · 18-03-2022 5:44pm

I bought a couple of (left over, price reduced) fruit trees the year before last from either lidl or aldi just to be trees, not for the fruit as I would buy named varieties from a reputable source for that. However they are doing fine, no idea whether they will produce fruit but as I say, it doesn't matter. I am a sucker for buying plants but I mostly don't bother too much with supermarket plants, apart from the odd tray of annuals, as they are too badly abused in storage to be bothered with.

The Continental Op · 18-03-2022 6:05pm

It was one of those regrettable spur of the moment purchases.

As I said have had "some" great plants from them but along with these also had some other disasters. A good few years back I bought a load of plants from Lidl labeled as Sea Buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides. They were in the Lidl catalogue and the plants had the usual massive labels with pictures of Sea Buckthorn. I wasn't totally convinced but how could they possibly be wrong? Anyway instead of Sea Buckthorn growing down at the bottom of are garden next to the sea we have some form of Cotoneaster.

ednwireland · 18-03-2022 6:17pm

my Victoria plum, greengage came from lidl stock like that. 10 years later I had 8 plums and one greengage last year. hoping for a crop this year.

you just need patience 😀

looksee · 18-03-2022 8:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118802852#Comment_118802852

You were probably better off with Cotoneaster, Sea Buckthorn has now been declared as invasive http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=353

I am a fan of Aldi, especially, but with a few exceptions their (and Lidl's) plants are not up to much. You will only get really bog standard varieties - which is sometimes suits the purpose, but a lot of the time they are not great.

The Continental Op · 18-03-2022 8:53pm

OOPS! Just planted 27 of them.

blackbox · 19-03-2022 10:07am

Very surprised at this. My experience with Lidl plants has always been good.

Deub · 19-03-2022 10:19am

Are they the 2.50€ ones?

The Continental Op · 19-03-2022 10:45am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118804904#Comment_118804904

Can't actually remember but the price I seem to remember paying for all of them would make me think I paid somewhat more. I think they were €3.99 but without the receipt can't be 100% sure.

If I thought they were €2.50 I probably wouldn't have bothered photographing them and sending Lidl the pictures and then posting some here.

Jellybaby_1 · 21-03-2022 7:49pm

If you use the Lidl App on your phone then your receipt is recorded there and you never lose it. My problem with the App is that I only use it with Wifi and Lidl don't share their Wifi. However this doesn't affect the recording of your receipts as they still appear even if you don't use Wifi. If you haven't got the App I would suggest you get it anyway for the receipts and the odd (very odd) €1 off!! 🙂

The Continental Op · 21-03-2022 7:57pm

Unfortunately don't use the Lidl app. I'm actually happier to make a complaint to head office than take the usual refund route. I think its far too easy for a company to lose connection with what it sells when they take the refund fixes everything route.

After sending them the photos above Lidl have got back for more information, which I've sent so I'll update on how I get on.

Jellybaby_1 · 21-03-2022 8:05pm

I bought a Hydrangea in Lidl a few years ago and it's taken a long time to take off. It seemed to look quite sickly for ages. Funny enough, a small piece that broke off which I planted in a pot did much better than the parent.

22-03-2022 6:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118803455#Comment_118803455

I have some planted with the hope of berries

Dempo1 · 22-03-2022 6:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118802911#Comment_118802911

Your patience remarkable 😁

HorseSea · 22-03-2022 6:35pm

I have given up buying plants from Lidl, even if they look healthy when you buy them, they have often been dried out and suffer, taking a long time to get going and the worst thing was a dozen cyclamen I bought last year all had vine weevil in them. Disaster.

The Continental Op · 30-04-2022 9:41am

Just an update. After contacting Lidl by email they said they'd investigate and get back to me but it might take a couple of weeks. That was well over a month ago (see my post above dated 21-3-22) and I've heard nothing back. I just wanted to let them know how bad I thought their plants were and I think I have done that more than adequately.

The Continental Op · 25-05-2022 12:20pm

OK so fairplay to LIDL I got a letter in the post today with a gift card for €40.

I will get back to them and thank them.

rovers_runner · 25-05-2022 1:55pm

Patience is a virtue, I brought a raspberry one also early in the year, was basically a twig, after a couple of months I checked it and roots had sprouted so left it and in the last couple of weeks it's really come to life.

The Continental Op · 25-05-2022 3:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119112532#Comment_119112532

True, but the expectation when you pay 4 or 5 euro for a plant is that the plant nursery does the growing roots part not the customer :-)

The Crap Plants Sold at Lidl - a game of skill X marks the roots.

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