African Violets and Gesneriads: spring 'Secret Easter Bunny' trade, 1 by critterologist

critterologist wrote:
The sign up list for this trade is now CLOSED. My apologies to any who missed the deadline, but there will be plenty of other spring trade opportunities.

THE DATE FOR THIS TRADE HAS BEEN CHANGED!!!

This is the thread for the 2005 Secret Easter Bunny Trade (because you can't call it a 'Secret Santa' in April!).

THE DATE FOR THIS TRADE HAS BEEN CHANGED!!!

I will make changes and updates to the top of this thread when necessary, so please check here first!

This trade has a minimum requirement of seven different varieties of African Violets, to include at least two plantlets and at least 5 pairs of leaves from other AVs. Extras are certainly permitted but not necessary. Some people do not mind "no ID" plants, and some really prefer named varieties. You do not have to try to find everything on somebody's wish list, but hopefully everyone will post a wish list to give their Easter Bunny an idea of what might especially delight them.

There was a secret plant trade last spring that chose to use a 3 plant minimum, and it worked out really well... many people were willing & able to include more than that in their boxes, but I don't think anyone felt cheated if all somebody else had to send was the required 3. This allowed wider participation by people who were just starting their gardens, and it gave those with established gardens a chance to share their plants with somebody they knew would love them. I didn't participate, but I had fun following the thread.

After some thought, this trade was limited to US members to avoid potential problems shipping across borders. Although newcomers to DG were welcome, only those with positive trading feedback at signup time could participate. Since this is my first time coordinating this type of trade, I tried to stack the odds in favor of everything going smoothly.

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More details about this trade:

1. I have an address for everyone who is participating, but not everyone has posted a "wish list." Giving even a general idea of your preferences will be helpful to your Secret EB, so please post if you haven't done so.

2. I matched up traders & preferences as well as I could, with a good degree of random chance in the process. I Dmailed all participants on December 1, 2005, with the names & addresses of their secret trade buddies. Please, keep the name of your buddy secret, as the surprise and anticipation are part of the fun. Check their posts on the forum to get an idea of their haves/wants if you like.

3. Put down leaves ASAP for plantlets to send, if you haven't done so already. You could also purchase a plant in spring and share leaves with your buddy, or even take leaves for yourself and send the mother plant. (This may give you a backup plan in case of a propagation disaster.)

THE DATE FOR THIS TRADE HAS BEEN CHANGED!!!

4. In the first or second week of May, weather permitting, you will mail your leaves/plantlets directly to your AV buddy and be sent leaves/plantlets by somebody else in the trade. Please ship your box by or before May12., preferably by May 2. Use a quick ship method such as USPS Priority Mail, and send me the confirmation number via Dmail. (If you purchase & print postage online, USPS confirmation is free.)

5. Include your DG name inside your trade box so the recipient knows who to thank. I'll start a thread in April so we can all post pictures and descriptions of the contents of our box!

6. Your trade box should include a *minimum* of 7 different varieties, with at least 2 well grown plantlets (they don't need to be blooming size, but should be large enough to be quite sturdy for shipping) *and* at least 5 pairs of leaves from different AVs. Extra AVs or other goodies you might want to include are of course permitted but are not necessary.

Links to other useful threads on packaging & shipping, starting from leaf, etc, will be posted below:

Here's a "wish list" thread! http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/560624/

This thread has links to several sources of information on propagating AVs from leaf: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/557527/
This thread is about propagating AVs from a leaf rooted in water rather than in soil: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/512722/#new



This message was edited Mar 20, 2006 8:53 PM

This message was edited Mar 20, 2006 8:54 PM