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The price of hemp!

Neil Blood

Neil Blood

Senior Member
Where are people currently buying hemp seed from?

I've normally forked out a bit more and bought from Hinders or CC Moore in the past, as their hemp is always prewashed and doesn't end up crawling with all sorts of bugs after a few months in storage. I've found this a common problem when buying cheaper hemp from local seed merchants. One particular batch was crawling after just several months in storage, you could see the hemp seeds moving around in the large storage container! I've found that cheaper hemp doesn't always split too (old dead seeds).

Hinders want £70 for 20 KG (WTF!) and some of the reviews are not happy about the grain size! Must confess that I'd be seriously annoyed if I spent £70 on hemp and it was pin sized!

I realise that we have inflation currently, but the hemp situation is silly!
 
I’ve got a previous couple of 20kg bags from Hinders, which lasted me a fair while. One batch was fine; average grain size was good and spilt perfectly after a 24 hour soak then in the slow cooker. The other bag was crap; small grain size but (worse in my book) a terrible split ratio, no matter how long I soaked and cooked it for.

Once that was all gone, I took a punt on some Copdock Mill ‘Huge Hemp’ and got 20kg for £56.99 delivered from fur2feather (currently out of stock). It was advertised in the description as being 4.5-5mm in grain size! Once received and inspected, I’d say 5% of the stuff was that size. The rest was average & small in size. It was also about 10% sticks/beans/unidentified matter. Again, crap split ratio. And to top it all off, it reeked of manure (accentuated when cooking).

My most recent batch was a 5kg from Hinders again (think it’s the Chinese stuff, which was all they had in stock at the time). I did a couple of pints a few weeks back, but didn’t have much time to soak, only 12 hours prior to cooking. That didn’t split at all (maybe the odd grain). That was £19.50. Hoping the rest is better after a longer soak…

Personally, I don’t mind the smaller stuff. But it really narks me when it doesn’t split. Not sure if the Barbel are as bothered, but it’s a confidence thing.

Hoping somebody can suggest a banker of a supplier!
 
I’ve bought hempseed from local pet suppliers it was £40 for 15 kg aimed at the bird feeder market the supplier to the pet shop is Albert E James from Barrow Gurney near Bristol. The seed size was average not the smallest I’ve seen but no where near jumbo or giant size it was also reasonably clean.
 
The last lot of Dry Hemp I bought from Hinders was crap , I also bought 20kg from Monster Particles (think they’ve stopped now ??) that was crap and dusty too. Ended up with too much waste. I don’t bother now and just buy the 3kg Crafty catcher stuff or the Dynamite stuff now. Lot less grief especially from the missus 😂
 
Sorry was wrong. Just had a Black Friday deal pop up in my emails 5kg of Dry Hemp £12.50 , 100kg of prepared hemp £140 !! 😱
 
I got 10kg from Hinders at the start of the year , it was fine , split ok after 12 hour soak and 20 mins boiling
Think it was £30 in the sale , I’ll be watching prices now !
 
Neil Blood said:
At these prices, why aren’t British farmers growing it?
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It's on the increase slightly. I had a client in south Cheshire grow it last year, it has a lot going for in addition to the commodity price. It's good for soil structure and carbon sequestration. Not necessarily the easiest crop to grown however, but it's probably the licensing procedure that deters more farmers from growing it. It's lengthy and time-consuming I believe.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
It's on the increase slightly. I had a client in south Cheshire grow it last year, it has a lot going for in addition to the commodity price. It's good for soil structure and carbon sequestration. Not necessarily the easiest crop to grown however, but it's probably the licensing procedure that deters more farmers from growing it. It's lengthy and time-consuming I believe.
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Thats reminded me, I seem to recall a news story from a few years back, where a UK farmer had to destroy his entire crop, as it wasn’t properly licensed!
 
There's been an on going problem with hemp, re size and price. I've been stuck with the tiny seeds for over a year now, it's pants, but still splits.
I also buy sunflower hearts by the 20 kg sacks and that too has gone up in price, from about £17.50 per 20kg, to £35.50 this year. I wonder if like sunflower hearts, hemp mostly comes from Ukraine.
 
last lot I got in september, was £35.95 for 15 Kg from local seed merchant . No problems, but well up in price
 
Chris Guy said:
There's been an on going problem with hemp, re size and price. I've been stuck with the tiny seeds for over a year now, it's pants, but still splits.
I also buy sunflower hearts by the 20 kg sacks and that too has gone up in price, from about £17.50 per 20kg, to £35.50 this year. I wonder if like sunflower hearts, hemp mostly comes from Ukraine.
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Hemp comes from Russia with 57% of the worlds supply!
 
I gave up on hemp over ten years ago. The price was rising and quality dropping then. For bulk feed and pre-baiting, I switched to stewed wheat or barley. Do I believe it's as attractive as hemp? No. However, it's cheap enough (or even free, if I ask nicely) that I'll use it just to get waterfowl to clear a weeded area if I feel the need. It's also far less of a faff to prepare. A coolbox and some hot water work perfectly. No boiling the bejasus out of it for hours and stinking the house/garage out.
 
HJ Lea Oakes @ Wheelock . Small but 40/50% split from a 24hr soak in boiling water , bulk it out with aniseed flavoured pigeon conditioner a sack of which is around £20 from the same source . .
 
Chris Jones said:
I gave up on hemp over ten years ago. The price was rising and quality dropping then. For bulk feed and pre-baiting, I switched to stewed wheat or barley. Do I believe it's as attractive as hemp? No. However, it's cheap enough (or even free, if I ask nicely) that I'll use it just to get waterfowl to clear a weeded area if I feel the need. It's also far less of a faff to prepare. A coolbox and some hot water work perfectly. No boiling the bejasus out of it for hours and stinking the house/garage out.
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I started using plain 2mm carp pellets,when hemp quality dropped,found you could flavour them to suit your hookbait aswell.
 
Marco Tokarski said:
I started using plain 2mm carp pellets,when hemp quality dropped,found you could flavour them to suit your hookbait aswell.
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Hi all please don’t shoot the messenger but I have it on good authority that the main reason behind the price hike and also the quality drop is that the best quality hemp is purchased by the cosmetics industry and in simple economics our better halves are more prepared to pay for its use than we are!
 
Kevin Siddle said:
Hi all please don’t shoot the messenger but I have it on good authority that the main reason behind the price hike and also the quality drop is that the best quality hemp is purchased by the cosmetics industry and in simple economics our better halves are more prepared to pay for its use than we are!
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That and health food industry among other things. The last consistently good hemp I purchased was bartholomews brand. Whether they get quality supplies year after year is another matter.
 
Anyone bought 10KG+ of hemp lately, which is a good grain size and splits? I’m completely out and am nervous about spending £40 to £60 on something, which is crap. I notE hinders have been out of stock for some time.
 
I bought 10k from Hinders but that was Christmas in the sale , splits fine as well
They’ll have some more in the next 2-3 weeks
I asked them
 
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