Hoya campanulata, a fragile plant with a higher risk

Today is Nov.16,2010 24 days since my purchase of 11 Hoya cuttings received from you on Oct.23, 2010 It has been a total of 34 days since the cuttings were taken by yourselves on Oct.13, 2010 in preparation for shipment to me.

I am happy to report that 9 of the 11 cutting developed terrestrial roots and were transferred into soil on Nov.13,2010. They were subjected to 16 hrs. of light /400 watts of CFL. Steady room temperature of between 72-85 degrees. 50-60 % R.H. Heating mat under cuttings. Pictures attached.(as of Nov.16,2010) I appears as if I am going to be successful here! 1 of the 11 cuttings did not survive. H.campanulata never developed roots and was handled and propagated in the same manner as those that did develop roots. H.campanulata I believe was D.O.A. (dead on arrival) and did not make the trip. The remaining failed cutting, H.Kenejiana was removed from propagation on Nov.13,2010-recut-growth hormone- placed back into a plastic bag as a 'final attempt' of regenerating this cutting. I will let you know if after 34 + days this cutting catches. I planted it directly into soil and skipped the soiless mix.
Both these cuttings were noted to be smaller in stem diameter and appeared (the most) dehydrated upon arrival.
My estimated cost accounting for the one loss now averages approx. $10.00 USD per cutting. I will contact you again for future orders.

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Hoyas cuttings for the mail and those that have too thin stems

In this thread some hoya growers exchange their views about Hoyas suited for extra long travel by mail to Brazil and those that have too thin stems, some lists are given :

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hoya/msg111537145320.html?3

When some plants have thin stems a better option of purchase may be the whole rooted plant instead of a cutting

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Growing techniques of ''forced'' plants

Why do your hoya cuttings don't have the dark green color I am used to see from local suppliers ? ( in the west )

Good question ! the point is related to marketing strategies of by the big plant businesses, based on buyer impressions, consumer habits..

All professional people acquainted with plant growing techniques of various species would tell you : beware of forced plants under excessive periods of light , overfed, over-watered plants, especially succulents grown with hydroponic devices that fatten them; because behind the nice look, the fat and dark green appearance their longevity tends to be shorter and they may even bear a high risk of failing to adjust a change in their growing conditions. Giant suppliers of commercial orchids, cacti etc to the big distribution channels know these tricks very well. But it is difficult to be convincing about this matter in the west; experience with many plants can be a guide by allowing large scale comparisons between normally raised and forced groups of plants.


Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

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Plants sent to California, plant price and discount

email from a dissatisfied buyer in California :
Left is a picture taken during packing
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq199/areya_photos/PLANTS%20SENT/jaaleyagarden.jpg


I was not addressed the information you gave me. I was addressed the condition of the Hoyas, especially Hoya CAMPANULATA. This hoya is now a 2 sticks and is drying out from the top down to the root. This Hoya Campanulata did not even have a chance to live when it arrived in USA. Hoya Praetorii has no more leaf but trying to live on. All of the hoyas are in a 100% humility enclosed grower, as suggested by all the articles of "How to grow/start cutting and rooted plant hoyas". My suggestion to you is try to send a healthier plant if you are shipping them oversea and FORGET about the 20% discount. I DID NOT NEED THE DISCOUNT. I NEED THE HEALTHY PLANTS.It hurt my heart to look at my hoyas dying and dead. I don't think you can appreciate how it feel to have waited so long to received unhealthy plants and then they died. It broke my heart because I care.I might have made a mistake to order too many plants at one time. My friend received beautiful hoya from you when she ordered just one. She told me her other friends made the same mistake as I did and that friend was very disappointed at her low quality hoyas she purchased.
Regards,
.........
aleyagarden answer :
Yes you make a mistake but it is not what you say. Your mistake is that you read me without understanding before buying and after receiving the plants. We are disappointed to see that despite information given on aleyagarden.com on several pages : the ordering page, conditions of sales page, in forum and in this blog there is still a need for a sort of inflationary information.

You say : This Hoya Campanulata did not even have a chance to live when it arrived in USA.
Hoya Praetorii has no more leaf but trying to live on.
.. My suggestion to you is try to send a healthier plant if you are shipping them oversea ..
We had a chance to communicate before your orders and I informed you in several emails that plants sent to California must be washed more thoroughly than to other countries because of your stricter control of plant entries ( even from the USA ). Also plants sent to Europe can travel with coconut still attached.
For these 2 reasons ( plants must be very clean and without media attached ) they are sent ( healthy of course as it can be seen on the picture of your order ) to California with a higher risk of damage when arriving. Plants are sent to Europe with less problems on arrival.

I also explained to you in details that plants could be shipped in envelopes but you did not take this option.

Also praetorii, even sent in coconut, is always more at risk; regarding campanulata we don't know yet.

Finally the Hoya campanulata that we shipped to you was bigger than the average plant of this category. Usually they are mature rooted plants that weigh 105 gr for this price category. As we can see on the picture, yours had 8 leaves on 2 stems : you could not say that it was smaller than indicated in our conditions of sales. As you know we offer 3 sorts : unrooted cuttings of 45 gr, rooted plants of 105 gr like the H campanulata in picture above, and XL plants that may have a large range of weights.

" It hurt my heart to look at my hoyas dying and dead. I don't think you can appreciate how it feel to have waited so long to received unhealthy plants and then they died. It broke my heart because I care."

Like yourself we import plants and we must also face the death of plants, sometimes in high numbers for instance during flooding.

My friend received beautiful hoya from you when she ordered just one.

The person in charge of selecting the plants to be sent doesn't know if the buyer is ordering for the first time or not, so she could not select bigger plants for first time buyers, however sizes of plants vary with availability and species. For instance H praetorii is not a fast growing plant, campanulata are scarce at the moment for everyone. Anyway as I explain above you received a bigger than average plant with 2 stems and 8 leaves.

My suggestion to you is try to send a healthier plant if you are shipping them oversea and FORGET about the 20% discount. I DID NOT NEED THE DISCOUNT. I NEED THE HEALTHY PLANTS.

Although we can understand your distress we feel it unfair from you to say " I did not need the discount " AFTER plants are sent. Costs on sites like ebay are higher precisely to compensate for the claims regarding DOA plants. In your order plants totaled 160 $, we discounted by 32$ and your complaint regards 2 plants of 20$ each, but of which you report only one DOA. So your feeling is hurt for a plant of a 20 $ value .. should we understand that you would have preferred to pay 32 $ more and get a replacement ? But the problem is not that simple because before the 20% discount our prices and transport costs are already low to compensate for the DOA plants : to put it in a nutshell you saved more than the rebate of 32. You could find H. campanulata big size on ebay for 40 $ with an EMS transport cost of 35 $ ( sent bare roots and well washed to California )

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com