Aloha Catz!
I suggest you contact Bob Sherman at Middleton place Plantation in Charleston, SC. They grow and harvest the cotton and the seeds there. I know many cotton farmers, but no one grows that strain.
Maybe write him a letter?
Good luck!
Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: Middleton Place Contact info

Thanks, Laurie!

I'll send him a note and see what happens. I'm starting to get the spot for the cotton cleared out so in a couple of weeks, there'll be space for it. There had been a stickery King sago palm that had been just huge so someone was willing to come take it away. Yay! Craig's List is so useful. That should be a good cotton spot and much more useful than a stickery plant.

I found a seed source online called "Tropilab", they claim to be selling seed from South America/Amazon although they are based out of Florida. Seed was ordered from there last week, so it may show up sometime soon. I also have some seeds from Southern Exposure that I got last year. Those were grown and they did produce nice cotton, but not as long of a staple as Sea Island White is supposed to have. This year Southern Exposure doesn't have the Sea Island White, but a hybrid of SIW & some sort of brown cotton.

The Sea Island White from Southern Exposure grew in the raised bed vegetable garden and pretty much took up half the garden so now I'm prepping a spot outside my vegetable spaces. Of the four plants that were grown from the Southern Exposure seed, there was quite a bit of diversity in the fiber. I don't know if that's typical of cotton?

Either it didn't grow true to the descriptions I've been hearing of Sea Island White or perhaps the descriptions are a bit off.

There are a few folks who spin yarn on the island looking to grow their own fiber, so if true seed can be sourced, there will be multiple folks growing it over here. I would think that would be helpful to have it growing in another location to keep the seedbank alive and well.

A hui hou!

I just checked ars-grin. There is one accession listed as Gossypium Barbadense.

http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1008285

Thanks fusion_power! I never even knew ars-grin existed! It's amazing! I've sent a request for the seeds, they seem to be going to mail them to me. Woot!

Hopefully these will be the official Sea Island White and I'll be able to spin some really nice cotton. There's some other spinner folks around here hoping for good cotton, too. The nice thing about cotton is that there's loads of seeds to share. If it is coffee, everyone wants to keep the seeds for themselves.

Hello all,

I am also looking for these seeds. Please let me know if you have any luck! Thanks, Deanna

Columbus, Ohio

The beginnings of this quest for sea island cotton was in 2014. Neither the plantation nor ars-grin were helpful. However, occasionally the cosmos pays attention and things happen like one would hope for.

I raise English angora rabbits for their fiber. Occasionally, some of them are sold. Someone from Maui came over to this island (Hawaii Island) to get a bunny so he could raise fiber to spin with his - guess what? You got it, sea island cotton! Yup, just the next island over! I'd been searching much too far away.

Apparently, this fellow had been doing genetic experiments when he was in college in the 80's and since the cotton genome is pretty well mapped out, he chose cotton to for his experiments. He got a list of cottons from the USDA seed bank and chose a couple dozen to work with. One of them was named 'Bleak Hall Sea Island White' which he thought was an intriguing name so he got some of that seed.

He did all the genetic experiments, graduated from college and quite a few years have gone past - but the seed has been in the back of his refrigerator all this time. The seeds were still viable and when he came to get his bunny, he brought me six Bleak Hall Sea Island White plants! WOOT!

They've been planted out now for about a year and a half.

Soft, silky, has a slight sheen and a staple length of around or over 2".

That's the first boll spun into yarn.

Here's the current spinning of it from this January:

http://hillsidefarmhawaii.com/index.php/2017/01/02/first-yarn-for-2017/

There's some more bolls picked this past week and I'll probably pick the seeds out and spin the fluff sometime soon.

Would you be willing to share some seeds? I live in South Carolina and not having any luck finding true SIW seeds.

But didn't Sea Island cotton start there?

Southern Exposure, who is one of the only cotton seed suppliers I know of outside of big commercial enterprises, says they can't send cotton seeds to South Carolina, I'm not sure why, but if they're not doing it, I probably shouldn't either. That's on your end, on my end, I have to take the seeds so an agricultural inspection station and get them inspected before they get sent away. It used to be by a laundromat in Hilo town, but they moved it somewhere and I'm not quite sure where it went. Somewhere near the airport, I think. But, if it weren't for the restrictions on your end and the restrictions on my end, it would be a lot easier.

I don't suppose you have a Hawaiian vacation planned anytime soon?

Karin Hillery, it's illegal to grow cotton without a permit in SC. Your local extension office should have the information even though that isn't the governing agency.

I was in charge of the planning, planting, and care of an historical garden plot on Dataw Island, one of the sea islands that made the species so famous. I was able to procure some seed from another on going historical area outside of Charleston, but I had to obtain a permit, agree to inspections, and hang boll weevil traps.

Aloha, I have a somewhat related question. Earlier this year, I bought a couple of bags of Hawaiian cotton at the Japanese Culture Center rummage sale. I bought it because Seller said it was some of the last Hawaiian (Oahu) cotton grown (I assume) commercially. I am a crafter, didn't know what to do with it, but thought it was worth what I paid. It's the equivalent of 3 bags of quilt batting.

I'm reaching out for ideas on how to use it. So far, only suggestion has been stuffing pillows. I was hoping for a somewhat "artsier" project to show off the cotton.

Mahalo for your time and assistance.

Jana

I've just started looking for cotton seed. Has anyone ever seen the Sea Island Cotton that has a yellow tint? It was grown on Kingsley Plantation in NE Florida. I've toured the plantation and seen it and am now interested in growing to help continue the source. I have looked at SESE but they are only showing the light brown.

Thanks in advance!

Dana B

I am interested in finding some seeds as well. I live on Edisto Island in South Carolina where it was originally grown. Any suggestions?

I have sea island cotton seeds. grown in Jamaica. How many do you need?

Mark

send me your contact details please here is my contact mail reis1451@aim.com