for-sale Plants for sale

[AJ Drew]

Scuba Steve - Must first say that I commend you for being brave.  I am scared shitless to sell plants by mail till I can figure it out.  People here are great and understanding.  People elsewhere, like Ebay, oh my they will rip a person to pieces.

Really hoping to learn from this.  Hoping Scuba Steve isnt going to call it quits just cause the first try failed.  Thinking this is an excellent opportunity for folk who want to sell plants by mail to learn, improve, and become valuable resources.

Have ordered a few things from members here.  I think it was Pexpeppers who shipped in a cardboard box that had built in separators for each bottle of hot sauce.  That would stop side to side movement.  Thing is, the root ball could slide forward squishing the plant. I think an additional insert with a slot to prevent the root ball from moving forward.

I am willing to bet that an insert could be designed to fit the small flat rate box. 

Thoughts?

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I am going to post up the pictures, and some suggestions and pictures of how 3x other people have done it far more successfully =)
 
The worst problem is that w/ 3x having come completely free and ended up loose in a pile of soil, I don't know which they are because they look so similar ...
 
I've kept everything so clearly labeled this time around, that that aspect is the worst part for me ...
 
But yeah, the inside of the box was a massacre, I'm afraid ...
 
We'll see how they look tomorrow, after getting repotted ...
 
PS - It didn't seem the rootballs were rooted to the soil in the cups, really ... were they plugs that you potted up to ship, or is the soil just that dry? ...

Those 3 are 2x naga morich and a devil's tongue. Hope that helps, they should be very distinguishable once they pod at least. Again, sorry.

 

[AJ Drew]

This is the most affordable option I have found.  Bottom left on page 2.  Use small flat rate box, put root bundle in plastic bag.  Wrap plant with craft paper in a cone with small end above root bundle on the plant.  Length of cone and root bundle about equal to the length of the box.  Then put into box in alternating directions (unlike picture).

http://www.fedex.com/us/packaging/guides/Flowers_fxcom.pdf
 
The few times I have ordered living plants from large nurseries, they were well over ten bucks a plant and then there is shipping.  Each plant was in its own box, with its own insert so I understand the expense.  At the time it was the only way I could find for the Amish Paste tomato I wanted.  So I went for it, but damn I would have bought more if it didnt come to nearly twenty bucks a plant.
 
Thoughts? 

 

[grantmichaels]

A refund would be boring ...

Right now they're getting some R & R

In the forensic style ...

two plants, no cup ... break the internet!

Busy day at the ER

Keep them in your thoughts tonight! =)

 

[Yellowfin2na]

I think they will all be fine. Had a few hydro plants knocked over the other day. Sitting in the hot sun roots all exposed and dried out... they looked like dried dead piles of gloop....... Lol not really sure if gloops a word but point is they all bounced back.

 

[AJ Drew]

Grant, gotta admit that the plants look nice for being punted as many times as they obviously were by the post office.  A couple of them do look like they have some transplant shock, but damn.  I think there is a hats off to Scuba Steve for growing some mighty fine plants.  Hats off too to Grant for being civil, willing to help, and willing to bring them back to par instead of demanding a refund.  Very stand up thing to do.

So what went wrong?  My first observation is maybe the mass of a solo cup filled with damp potting soil was enough that when the box was put into motion and then suddenly stopped, the cup of potting soil continued to move with enough force to cause problems. 

Once purchased large volume of strawberry plants from an Ebay person.  They were plants, but more or less bare root.  Roots were damp.  Much smaller plant, bundled into ten with the roots in a plastic sandwich bag. Then into a box with newspaper wrappings.  They grew very well until I killed them.

Ye, I tried a strawberry farm once.  I can not grow strawberry.
Ye, I tried a blueberry farm once.  I can not grow blueberry.
Thank god for peppers and water melon.
Yellow, last hospital stay... came home... wife was so very proud of how well everything in the grow room looked, how well everything in the kids rooms looked, how very well everything in the living room looked (all south facing windows).  She watered them duty-fully by filling a pitcher from the kitchen sink and carrying the water to each tray of plants.

The plants on the windowsill, the ones behind that sink she visited several dozen times to water the other plants, ye they were gloops.  Drooped over, tangled with each other.  Water, mist, low light, warm temp and a couple days they were fine.  Peppers can be some amazingly resilient plants.

 

[sirex]

Needless to say, I will never try this again.

Don't say this man!! Its not what happens to us that determines who we are but rather how we respond to it!!!


If this is something you want to do then do it dammit. Learn from your mistakes!

It might not be my fault that I fell down but it is my fault if I dont get up!

You wouldn't be a contributing member here if you didn't enjoy this and have some passion for it!!

Don't give up! Don't do it!!?

 

[grantmichaels]

SS - get w/ juanitos on his square pots package taped together, and all to the box ...

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I missed a question you asked Grant. No they were not recently transplanted. At least 2 weeks. More so on the scorpions.
Square pots are obviously a must I now see.

 

[juanitos]

yeah don't think the round pots will work in there without some packing material like squished up paper or peanuts better to just buy square pots =].
 
My first shipment was crap, soil everywhere, one all bent up, you live you learn.
after that for testing i just made a box and threw it around for a while, when i opened the box and everything was still in shape i knew it would be good packaging.

Asdf

lol you still haven't potted those out to garden!? 

 

[grantmichaels]

lol you still haven't potted those out to garden!? 

 
They're chillin' again because they took 45 mph wind driven rain briefly the other night, and honestly, I'm doing a test of that spot, because I'm thinking about growing in the dirt just beyond that table, under roof, w/ only the reflected light from my neighbors house ...
 
I want to see how plants behave in low stress this round ... I'm totally OK w/ them having low/slow production, because I plan to keep them perennially ...
 
Also, the other part of my experiment this year will be at the end of Fall, when I plan to replant JHP's trimmed root-balls in my backyard =) ...
 
You know - just doing my little experiments - like always ...
PS - Those dense white bullet hab's  ... it's so dense that the wind carries it quite well ... it was 2/3 the way to my mailbox in the morning ...

 

[D3monic]

I'm surprised anyone even ships with the dirt. Most places I have ever ordered plants from ship bareroot with wet newspaper around them. Minimizes weight, damage ect. I've never ordered peppers but crap tons of tropicals, ferns, vines, orchids ect. 

 

[grantmichaels]

I'm surprised anyone even ships with the dirt. Most places I have ever ordered plants from ship bareroot with wet newspaper around them. Minimizes weight, damage ect. I've never ordered peppers but crap tons of tropicals, ferns, vines, orchids ect. 

 
Goes fine if you secure the plants to the box itself, well ...
 
Hirt's, CCN, piedmont, and juanitos' plants all made it fine ... as did CHS's, who shipped his as you've described ...
 
I like the pots, personally ... more than having to pot upon arrival.

 

[AJ Drew]

Don't say this man!! Its not what happens to us that determines who we are but rather how we respond to it!!!

What sirex said, Ditto. Tried to express that earlier but didnt have the perty ay of putting it.

D3monic - Strawberry, grape, blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry have all come bare root.  Have had tomato come potted but they were top dollar and individually boxed.  I am thinking high end are more likely to be potted, but like you I do not remember ordering pepper plants.  The only tomato I have ordered were the ones I just couldnt get seeds for.  Thinking it was Amish Paste back in the day.

 

[AJ Drew]

Found the box I was looking for.  Hot Sauce Box looks like it would be great for shipping plants.

http://hotsaucebox.com/

 

[grantmichaels]

 

[D3monic]

Good to see they survived the transplant. Looks like they are doing fine. 

 

[grantmichaels]

fiji and aspirin works for them too, go figure!

i love a happy ending!

 

[Plecodude]

I ordered a box of plants from http://www.superhotchiles.com and I guess they do ship bare root.
I know this guy is highly recommended by many and maybe shipping plants in pots of soil
is possible but likely needs very special packaging. Photos anyone?
 
My box from this post was pretty bad. The outside of the box looked like somebody was
using it for field goal practice. And yes I agree the frustrating part is if I can salvage
anything, I have no idea which species they will be since they arrived so disrupted.
Here's the inside of the box upon arrival.

 

 

[AJ Drew]

I ordered a box of plants from http://www.superhotchiles.com and I guess they do ship bare root. 

That is Jim Duffy's site.  Great reputation.  I do no -think- he ships bare root.  Could you mean plugs where the roots have absolutely filled the small container and then they were removed from the container?  If so, the root bundle will resemble the inside of a container.  Usually with four sides tapering down but sometimes six sides.

Mr. Duffy seems to have completely mastered the art of timing plugs / trays for sale.  I have seen pictures he posted to facebook with plants I would think impossible to grow to that size in a standard tray of plugs, but there they are larger than life and beautiful most every one.  With plugs, if you time it just right you wind up with a perfect root ball for shipping.  Go a bit too far and the poor plant starts showing signs of being root bound.  He seems to have figured out the perfect time to start germination to be ready to ship right when it is warm enough.