Buying houseplants on eBay

I've been looking at some nice plants on sale from Austria - lots of different Philos and Monsteras that I've never heard of: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/gartenbaureisenberger/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340.
Several options are given, rooted and unrooted stem or head cuttings. Can someone tell me what the main difference would be between a stem cutting and a head cutting?

The prices they are asking, some are less than here, some aren't available here very often, and some are higher than here. I am assuming that it is about 2USD to 1pound. I don't know what the difference would be as I don't know what a head cutting means, but it would be worth asking the seller to make sure you are clear what you are getting. I would guess that a head cutting would be the growth point, but would want to know for sure. Some plants you can take a section of stem, lay it across dirt and it will root and sprout at the nodes, like monstera deliciosa. That may be what they are selling, is a section of stem. Have you rooted and grown plants yet? It can be kind of fun to grow baby plants :).

I'm learning patience with seeds.....which is not my strong point! but I am working on it

3jsmom3 was it philo selloum you were looking for?

Propagation is definitely something that I want to get into more. The only plants I've grown from cuttings have been Zebrina, Spider Plants and some Billbergia offsets. I'll definitely be doing a lot more of it when Spring comes around again. About the eBay plants, I went ahead and ordered a stem cutting of Monstera obliqua. I'll just have to wait and see what arrives, it's already rooted so I think it will be fairly easy to grow - fingers crossed.

squamiferum. I spent like 2 hours looking last night, and can't really find it, and none affordable that I did see. I see pauliewalnuts can make the reindeer if he buys cuttings from Austria. The cuttings price isn't so bad, lol.

I hope you get fat happy plants out of it :).

all this talk made me go look at plants on ebay...and I bet you can geuss what happened next!

trina, buy christmas presents for the kids, not the greenhouse, lol.

Hubby takes care of any christmas shopping after thanksgiving...I don't go to the store from now until the middle of January...I don't like people and I am not nice in public....LOL

Well, you are lucky then.

well I have most all of that done by the time Halloween gets here, anything after that is his job cause people here can get rude and pushy and I physically can't handle the pushing!

I know what you mean, I only go out early morning from Thankgiving til after the first of the year. Hey, you could always carry a shovel or a bat around. People may steer clear that way. They don't have that great of plants this time of year, anyway, so may as well stay home.

Sorry to hijack your thread pauliewalnuts. Please let us know how you do with the new plant.

No worries, 3jsmom, I'm only too happy that people read my threads, never mind post in them!

LOL Paulie!

Oooh, paulie, you have lots of new plants coming from what you posted in another thread. I hope you'll take pictures of your new roommates when you get them :).

Happy to oblige, here are the succulents and cacti that arrived yesterday. I never really cared for succulents before but for some reason I've become really interested in them. They're just so weird, some of them.

...and here is a little Begonia 'Escargot' cutting which I bought on eBay a couple of days ago. Very pretty spiral-shaped leaves, which aren't very pronounced in the photo, unfortunately.

Nice collection already!! Oh my, you are hooked, lol. Lithops are so neat/weird looking :). Who is the tall fella at the top of the triangle?

Escargot is on my want list for the spring. I am hoping to find one then. Pretty plant!

The top plant is Sedum frutescens. It looks a bit worse for wear just now, but there was a note attached to say that new leaves would appear in the growing season.

Oh, and here are my other succulents, sitting on the windowsill, waiting for some rare Scottish sunshine.

be careful Paulie or your house is gonna start looking like mine....LOL

Well, that's not all bad. There are worse addictions than plants. Good luck with some sunshine, pauliewalnuts. You have a neat collections of succulents. I only have a few, but they are neat and easy going plants :).

I need to start going through all mine and weeding out the duplicates, I'm just not motivated today

Maybe someone will park a truck outside and collect your weeds, lol.

LOL...not weeds just a LOT of duplicates, and how am I gonna fit new ones in if I don't give some that I have like 12 of away...LOL

I'd be glad to take some of your duplicates for postage :)

(I'm a secret addict.)

catz....it's no secret I'm an addict...lol when the weather warms up a bit I might just take you up on that...either warms up or this freak storm coming through goes away

:0 Just let me know. You know where to find me.


Hello, My name is Stephanie, and I'm addicted to gardening.

My secret is out. hehehe
I'm glad there's not a 12 step program for this addiction :) LOL


Steph

I'm a full blown addict from way back thanks to my grandpa....hey for a minute it sounded like the wind finally died down!

eBay update: my Monstera obliqua cutting arrived over the holidays, completely wilted, with some mould on it, unsaveable. Lesson learned - this is not the best time of year (really cold weather, postal delays due to Xmas etc.) to be ordering sensitive plants (at least in this part of the world). I've contacted the seller, hopefully something can be sorted out.

Sorry to hear that. I always try them anyway, like put it in a clear closed container with some rather dry soil , but that looks pretty well toasted. I am hoping for you that the seller will resend it.

I think I would rather wait until later in the year if they are sending a replacement. This one took about ten days (travelling through sub-zero Europe) to arrive, so it probably had no chance to begin with. I thought about planting it anyway, but even the main stem feels soft and rotten so I think I would only be looking at more disappointment. Ah well, you live and learn!

Pauliewalnuts-

Glad to see your posting. I myself was watching the listing on ebay from Austria. But I felt they wanted wayyyyyyy to much for plant and shipping, so I just kept watching. Was looking at the variegated monsteras. I also was not looking to deal with the customs difficulties. I am hoping to find one in the United States that is variegated. If not, I guess that's o.k. I did get a regular monstera deliciosa in a plant trade and it's at least 4 ft. tall. Kinda wondering what I would do with more that one of these large babies in the house! Sorry to hear your plant arrived that way though. I just received a philodendron giganteum yesterday I bought on ebay. Thought it was o.k., but today it has one leaf that looks like wilted lettuce. Just hoping the rest of the plant is o.k.

Paulie: I wouldn't give up totally on that plant. Is there any firmness on the stalk, down near the roots or is it all soft? If there is even a little bit that feels firm I would plant it in dry soil and see if it becomes established and puts out more roots.

I've never bought plants on e-bay but I agree, this is probably not the best time of year for shipping plants. The weather has been so weird the past month. We are having some of the coldest weather here in central Florida that we've seen in ten years! It was 34ºF last night and the next four to five nights are expected to be in the mid to upper 20's!! I have a couple of Monstera's sitting in containers out in the backyard that will be goners if they aren't already! I'm afraid our landscape will look totally different for awhile if we get four or five consecutive nights of temperatures in the 20's! Some of the tropicals may not survive. We have a large area of Tree Philodendrons on the side of the house that have been there more than 35 years and we've had a freeze here and there over the years that have knocked them down to mush but they've always re-sprouted in spring. But, we've never had four or five nights of temp's so low! I know the large Schefflera tree will be mush as usual after frost but I don't really care if that thing doesn't survive. I should have never planted it so close to the pool deck ... the root system is massive and cracks cement!

My husband helped me move a lot of plants under cover yesterday. This is what one part of my unheated Florida room (enclosed porch) looks like right now. And, some of the more tender plants will likely suffer a bit of cold damage even inside this room but hopefully will recover.

My husband moved the really large trees and plants that were around the swimming pool to the covered deck yesterday. He hung a heavy tarp on the north side to keep the cold and wind out as much as possible, and another tarp is hung on the other side. I covered everything with old blankets and sheets. I kinda wish I had a little heater to sit out there overnight ... but I worry about the chance of a fire.

Can you go out and take cuttings of the plants you can't move? Then at least you wouldn't lose the plants entirely. Gosh. It kills me to know plants are gonna die. You know, people like me watch CSI: Miami just so we can look at the foliage you guys get to grow easily. That room you have? That's kinda what my house looks like in winter. Ha! ha! Had to take everything off the surfaces in my bedroom and cover them with vinyl tableclothes and placemats to hold the plants until spring. Also have several floor lamps with the fluorescent bulbs in them all over the house. We have been having arctic weather here since November. The weatherman said the really cold stuff is yet to come this week! Have to turn the faucets on trickle every night before I go to bed.

bubba1: Even if you lose leaves on the philo, the stem may put out new growth Water carefully, I'd think. Maybe you can trade some P giganteum for variegated Monstera deliciosa once your plant gets going.

It got down to 34º here last night and tonight is supposed to be 28º, tomorrow night 27º and Tuesday night 25º! Hard freeze warnings in effect for us. We never even got out of the 40's all day today which is really unusual. I'm hoping the next couple of days warm up a little bit. I think most of my plants will be okay if the overnight low's don't last more than a few hours and if it warms up a little during the day.

It's currently 38º in Daytona Beach, Florida! These temperatures feel more like Oklahoma, LOL. I think if it has to be this cold we should at least get some snow! ^_^

I feel for ya, lin. We are much colder, but we expect it and have the woodstove and lots of insulation and we know we have to find room inside for our tropical plants, or they croak. I hope it doesn't last and that there is minimal damage. You've probably created a micro climate by putting them all together, or against the house, and insulating them with blankets.