Seedsman is best known as one of the largest cannabis seed banks in the world, but in the US they now also ship live rooted clones from a warehouse in Illinois. So this is a real clone-to-clone comparison, not seeds versus cuttings — and the interesting differences are in the terms, not the plants.
Checked against their own published support pages on 24 August 2026.
| The Clone Emporium | Seedsman (US clones) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per cloneCost of one rooted plant | ✓$40, every strainAny five you like. | ~Sold in bundlesTheir launch pricing listed 12 clones for $399 and 16 for $499 — roughly $33 and $31 each, but only at those quantities. |
| Minimum orderSmallest order accepted | ✓5 clones, $200Any mix of strains. | ~4 clones"We require 4 clones min per order." |
| If it arrives dead or damagedThe single biggest difference | ✓Replaced free by usPhotograph it the day it lands and replacements ship on the next shipping day. | ✗You claim against the carrier"Seedsman is not liable for any products damaged or lost during shipping." "If you received your order damaged, please contact the shipment carrier to file a claim." |
| Time to report a problemYour window | ✓Day of deliveryPhotograph it when the box opens. | ✗24 hoursDisputes must be raised within 24 hours of delivery. |
| What you actually get backThe remedy | ✓Live replacement plants | ✗Store credit"We generally offer a discount or credit toward your next Seedsman purchase." "All Clone sales are considered final and we do not accept returns/refunds." |
| Catalogue sizeStrains available | ✓854 strains | ✗30 varieties at launchTheir seed catalogue is far larger; this is the clone range. |
| HLVd testingViroid screening on mother stock | ✓Every mother, Tumi GenomicsResults on file. | ?Not stated for clonesWe found no HLVd or pathogen testing claim on their US clone pages. |
| Who grows the plantsWhose mothers the cuttings come off | ✓We doOur own mothers, in our own building, tested by us. | ?Not publishedTheir US clone pages describe fulfilment from an Illinois warehouse. We found no nursery, no named grower and no propagation detail on any of them. |
| Shipping speedTransit | ~Monday to Wednesday dispatchSo the box never sits in a depot over a weekend. | ✓Overnight"Our Clone orders are shipped through USPS or UPS overnight." Genuinely faster than us. |
| Where it ships fromOrigin | ✓Our own nursery | ✓Illinois warehouseUS clone orders are domestic. No customs, no international transit. |
| CoverageWhere they will send it | ✓Nationwide | ~US and territoriesNote their seed sales are currently suspended to Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina and Wyoming "due to ongoing regulatory review." |
| Scale and historyCompany weight | ~Brand since 2015, one nurseryTwenty-plus years of growing behind it, but one nursery against a global retailer. | ✓Two decades, globalOne of the largest seed retailers in the world, with roughly 16,900 reviews on Reviews.io at 4.5 out of 5. |
Overnight shipping. Their clones go USPS or UPS overnight. We ship Monday to Wednesday so nothing sits in a depot over a weekend, which is the right call for a live plant, but overnight is overnight and theirs is faster.
Scale and a long track record. They have been selling genetics for around two decades with tens of thousands of public reviews. We have been a brand since 2015, and we are one nursery rather than a global retailer. If buying from an established international company matters to you, that is a real point in their favour.
Seeds, if seeds are what you want. Their seed catalogue dwarfs anything we do, because we do not sell seeds at all. Seeds keep for years, ship easily, and give you a population to pheno-hunt through. A clone gives you a known plant today. Different tools.
Lower per-plant price at 12 and 16. At their bundle sizes the maths beats our $40 flat. If you want exactly twelve plants of the strains in their bundle, they are cheaper.
Their clone pages do not state who grows the plants, and they do not mention hop latent viroid at all. We looked. That is not an accusation — plenty of sellers simply do not publish it — but for a live plant those are the two facts that decide whether the thing you are buying is worth the bench space.
The plants are not the argument here. The argument is what happens when a box of live plants arrives badly, which is the one risk that actually matters when you buy clones online.
Their published terms put that risk on you: not liable for damage in shipping, contact the carrier yourself, 24 hours to raise it, and store credit rather than replacement plants. Ours puts it on us: photograph it the day it lands and we send new plants free.
For a big established company that is a defensible policy — carrier claims exist for a reason. It is just a different deal from the one we offer, and it is worth knowing which one you are agreeing to before the box arrives.
The second thing worth weighing is provenance. We grow our own mothers and test every one of them, and we will show you the paperwork on the specific plant you are buying. Their clone pages do not say who grows theirs or whether it has been screened.
Browse all 854 strains · How we ship live plants
All pages accessed 24 August 2026. Retail terms change without notice — check theirs before deciding. Quoted material is verbatim.
Clone terms, minimum order, overnight shipping, damage and refund policy: Seedsman support, "Clone Sale FAQs (USA Only)". US fulfilment from Illinois and domestic transit times: Seedsman support, "FAQs - US Orders". State suspensions: their shipping-restrictions notice. Seed germination terms: their 60 Day Germination Policy. Launch clone range and bundle pricing are from trade coverage of their US clone launch dated 9 May 2024 and may since have changed. Review score and count from Reviews.io, a merchant-invited review platform. Their own site gives conflicting founding years on different regional pages, so we have not stated one. Where this page says something was "not published" or "not stated", that means we searched their clone and support pages on the date above and did not find it — not that we know it to be untrue.