Buying houseplants on eBay

Usually I just move all of the containers up against the south side of the house and cover them with blankets but they needed a bit more protection this year so they are all crammed into the porch and on the deck. My husband has been out walking around the yard with a flashlight and just came in and asked me if we should cover the two Gardenia bushes. LOL, we don't have blankets big enough to cover those monsters, they are over 6' tall and wide but they've been in the ground long enough and are heavily mulched so I'm sure if they get knocked back by frost, the roots will still be okay. It's really something ... just had two blooms on one of the Gardenia's last week!

Snow coming for us this week too. Third or fourth time. Oklahoma City and the central area of Oklahoma have had the worst of it. Nighttime temps get down below 20 degrees for us. To me its really scarey when it gets below 10 degrees. That's when pipes burst and things die. Maybe it will kill some bugs!?

Oh. No way will I give up on the gigateum! I have even resisted the urge to clip the leaf that is not looking happy. It came with 3 good leaves and a new one coming up. I figure I will wait until the icky looky leaf has totally bit the dust before clipping it! Funny thing is, I paid for a heat pack. Also, I had purchased strawberry shake that came in the same box. It looks great! And I was sooooo surprised at how big its leaves are! They look like a small elephant ear! Love it! I am hoping to get my plants to grow big and full. Then I can afford to clip and root some for trading. Hoping to wrangle me some monsteras and philodendrons I don't have. I was eyeing my velour philodendron a little while ago. Though its not very big, it does have 2 shoots that are wondering off from the main part of the plant. I was thinking about clipping them and trying to root them. I am kinda leary of it though. I bought a heart shaped philodendron from a chick of ebay. Was really irritated when I got the clippings 'cause they didn't have any roots. I put rooting powder on them and planted them. After several weeks I noticed they weren't looking too good so I pulled them up. They still didn't have any roots! So. I put them in a jar of water. Only one of the three pieces has started to make a root. Has been a long time coming. The other two are still alive but have lost all their leaves. I figure as long as they make roots they will grow me some leaves after I get them planted. Anyway. I am kinda scared if I clip my really nice philodendrons for rooting I will lose the clippings. If I clip the philo's, will it make them bushier?

I would wait on it. Spring is just a better time for them to prosper. I have had only minimal luck with winter cuttings on aroids. And you know the ones that fail are the ones I would just hug if it would root, lol. Well, anthuriums do ok, but the philo's, maybe yes, maybe no. You can get a bushier looking plant by taking the cuttings and growing them in the base of the pot, other than that, philos may branch out or they may just put out a new leaf point right at the end, lol. They will branch out when they are ready, or have the energy to. Which velour philo do you have, verrucosum or micans? Good luck with the philo's. Did they come bareroot? I think that is much worse on them than plants shipped with pot, but the shipping on a big dirt ball is pretty high.

If I remember correctly it came in a small pot. I bought it from Peppers Greenhouses, which I found while looking through the plant files. They sold it as philodendron andreanum, velour philodendron. It was only $4.95! And when it came I was very happy 'cause it was a nice plant.

Sorry for skipping around, I was wondering if the giganteum and milkshake were bareroot plants. I'll go look at pepper's to see your plant, then :).

It's actually www.accentsforhomeandgarden.com. That's the address for it. I looked a minute ago. Typed philodendron in the search and it came up pepperomia so I assume they are out of them right now. I can see why. That was a real good price.

Strawberry shake and giganteum came pretty much bare root. Had a damp paper towel wrapped around the root ball and then foil around that. Don't know that i would have chosen foil since it would only serve to retain the cold. I use saran wrap. I have also purchased philodendron autumn, black cardinal, moonlight, brasil, and prince of orange off ebay. All from the same seller, but a different seller than I bought strawberry shake and giganteum from. These came in small pots with the soil in it.

You got this plant?

http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Philodendron%20melanochrysum.%20pc.html

bubba1: It would be great if you would leave feedback for this company at the Garden Watchdog: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/2438/

I don't think that is my plant. The leaves in the upper right corner are elongated. Mine are not. And mine wasn't called melanochrysum.

Just looked at mine again. Mine doesn't have the white veining. Its all dark green, though the veining is pronounced.

Okay. It listed andreanum as a synonym, and also velour philo, but I guess there are a few that are called velour leaf. I got all excited, thinking I could get one of my wish list plants cheap, lol.


Edited to add that leaves can change a lot from when a plant is young, to when it gets to it's adult phase, so that may or may not be the same plant. If he lists the plant again, I'll take the gamble, lol.

This message was edited Jan 3, 2010 10:17 PM

I am hoping my youngest son will be coming over tomorrow since it is his day off. If he does, I have several plants I want him to take pictures of with his cell phone, then he can email them to my computer. I will get him to take a picture of this one. Since it has offshoots from the main plant, I went and got some hairpins about an hour ago and pinned the offshoots to the potting soil at each joint. I am hoping this will get the plant to make roots there.

Oh, I just remembered something... About fungus gnats, a shop vac can be lots of fun, too. Ya rattle the pots a little and catch all you can. Use precision aim so you don't tear up pretty leaves with the vac. I was acting like a samarai warrior the other day, and thought I should share a fun way to reduce them :).

Sounds like fun! Bubba (my cat) lets me suck his tail up in mine (its a canister type).

That sounds funny, probably feels pretty breezy for the cat :).

I tell him its more efficient to suck the hair right off his tail than to try to get it off my couch. He has very long white hair.

LOL re: Bubba the cat! That makes me *grin*!

My nephew has a dog named Bubba. He is a large dog ... a VERY large dog (English Mastiff) and now weighs in at 250 lbs. This photo was taken almost a year ago. We call this Gentle Giant "Big Bubba":

Here is a picture of my velour philodendron. I hope you can see it. Jordan took the picture with his cell phone.

Here is one of strawberry shake. Look how big the leaf is compared to my hand! The leaf on the left in the back (that you can't see) has the variegation.

I think your Velvet Leaf Philo is this one: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/90662/

Here's the listing in Plant Files for Philo "Strawberry Shake": http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/95707/

I have two of the Velvet leaf ones and love them.

It probably is the P. hederaceum, but here is a young plant of andreanum/aka melanochrysum. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/66458/

I can see how it would be hard to tell, but I am not sure that melanochrysum has the red that hederaceum has. I love the hederaceum. It is so rich looking and with the red peeking all over, it really is pretty :). I was glad to get the one I have. Melanochrysum would probably be hard to grow anyway, lol.

Update: Recently received my replacement cutting (actually 3 separate cuttings) and there are several new shoots beginning to sprout. So everything worked out OK in the end, I suppose.

Hey, how are ya?

That looks pretty decent. What a neat leaf!!! Glad it worked out and that you ended up with a fascinating plant after all :).

Hi. I'm fine, hope you are too. I'm on the site most days but I've noticed that a lot of regulars haven't been posting much. Hope they are all still around, too and will be posting again soon. As for the plant, it looks slightly the worse for wear in the pic but it should look better once the new growth comes in.

Paul.