MediaHound

I have a feeling for some strange reason that Oliver from BananaPlantation.biz will be our next member!

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tlturbo

Well I just spent about $30 with him today. Very helpful.

Terry

tlturbo

Got my plants today.

The Red Iholene is about 4 ft to top of pseudostem.

I ended up getting 2 - 2 gal Saba about 2 ft tall instead of the one taller one I ordered. Great way to handle out of stock stuff although I really wanted a taller plant, that is why I ordered it instead of one smaller one. NOW I have 2 smaller ones. Not complaining though. GREAT packaging and they arrived in great shape. NO WAY anyone can complain about the size vs cost here.

Terry

bananalover

Maybe but usually I expect to get what I actually buy and so far there are 2 people here who say they didn't get exactly what they ordered. That really makes me wonder.

MediaHound

Oliver also said he was going to join the board...

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

rsieminski

After you placed the order, did someone email you with a proposed shipping date? Did someone return emails, or just that computer generated confirmation email?

tlturbo

I got prompt (in a few hours) response from a real live person when I asked about shipping costs.

Also got e-mail when it was filled and shipped and e-mail from Fed Ex with expected delivery date.

Terry

BobbyinNY

I just ordered a 3-gal Ice Cream banana from them.. I'll let everyone know how it arrives.

Bobby

rsieminski

Hmmmmm, I got my order today. Saba, Praying Hands, Double, and Ice Cream. They were a little beat up, but they'll survive. The sizes of the plants I got were not even half of the advertised size for the price I paid? It even says "give discount sizes smaller" hand written on the invoice(but no discount given). They all came in FRESHLY REPOTTED 3 gal pots. I tried several times to contact them via email to find a shipp date, because my front door faces the afternoon sun, and wanted to have someone here to recieve them. Finally recieved a short response that they would ship out on Mon, the 17th. I had my wife take off work on the 18th to recieve the plants(shipping is next day here), and they never came. Emailed them again no response. Wed came and went, and no plants, nor email. I finally called, and they could not understand why someone would tell me Mon the 17th, but they will shipp out on Thurs the 20th. Well they're here but not anywhere near the advertised size. I was happier with the other company: smaller but, bare rooted, pristine, and as advertised(and he threw in an extra for free).

I emailed them again, LOL, to see what they have to say. I'll let you all know what happens.

Divegod

Got misi luki (4'), manzano (3') and ice cream (2') today. Healthy, swollen, and ready to go. Im very impressed.
DD

rsieminski

Lucky you!
Here is a picture of the biggest one, with a whopping 17" pseudostem(supposed to be 3 to 4'):



And here is what was in the 3gal pots:


Rootbound, but they don't even look like white healthy roots from being rootbound in good soil.

I am extremely disappointed! Not at all what was advertised, or what I paid for. I did not get an email back yet as before, but they got hit hard with Wilma. I feel bad for them in that respect or thoughts and prayers go out to all who were hit by that storm. But as a business they need to be more consistent.

Divegod,
Were yours repotted the day of shipping, like mine obviously were? Did you have anything hand written on the invoice?

Divegod

Nope, didnt have that experience at all. The misi and manzano were both in an arrow shaped "pot" of plastic. Looks like something that large scale growers would use to get a certain size. Nothing handwritten. Everything was copacetic.....
Now, if only the cardaba that I paid 15 bucks for from a nursery locally looked half as good...

JoeReal

rsiemenski: Have you ever tried getting tissue-cultured bananas from eBay?

What you consider as the worst looking banana would seem to be first class to me, as far as bananas go, and was wondering why you complain when it is really a premiere, more than the above average kind of bananas that you would usually get.

For some of us, just ship us a banana with mangled-up leaves and pseudostems, with no roots, as long as the corm is hard, we know that it will live. It is going to take time though, but we know it will live. Here, you've got good quality roots that was just packed so that it will fit the shipping boxes, and the bananas are good to go to resume growth in a shorter time, and you are complaining about them.

I am not a for-profit banana seller and I would be scared to ship bananas to you. I often ship bananas without leaves and roots, but only if I know that the other party receiving it is a veteran banana grower who would know what is the most important part of the banana plant for it to grow.

Unlike the tissue cultured plants in eBay, most of those corms are not yet formed well, if the top gets chopped off, oftentimes, they won't recover. But if somebody shipped me just the corm without leaves and roots, I still know it is a lot better than those tiny plantlets with leaves.

The bottom line is that you are very lucky to get such fantastic looking plants for such miniscule prices. I wouldn't care if these are a foot shorter or more, perhaps some low paying guys that they paid to measure the height misunderstood and measured from the tip of the roots to the tip of the leaves, nonetheless, those are really good looking plants for the price you've paid. I bet that those poor folks who sold you the plants are making profit at this point.

rsieminski

I am complaining because they did not ship what they said they would. I just wanted what I thought I paid for. Just like someone else here, I wanted a Larger Saba, so that's what I paid for. If they said the plants would be 18 inches tall, and we just replanted them from the 4inch pot yesterday into a 3 gal pot.....then I would be fine with what i got.

However I bought 3 to 4' tall plants in a 3gal container. What I got was 17inch and under 4inch rootbound plant, just stuffed into a 3gal pot.

If they advertised leafless pseudostems, with corm...and that's what they shipped, i'd be OK, because I know how well they will do here.

Like bananalover said, I just expected to get exactly what I paid for. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. If the ones I wanted were twice as much, that would be OK too, I just wanted what was offered at the price I paid. I can't imagine that i am asking too much.

I am sorry you would not ship me a plant if I wanted to buy one from you. Is this because you too advertise 1 thing and send another? I don't think so. I think you would send exactly what you said you would, and that's all i wanted.

JoeReal

I guess I am more forgiving as a buyer than some of us are. Of course you have the right to pursue with what you think is right, and make sure it is really worth the effort. I occassionally get some worst stuff than you did, but would think in the long run if it would matter. Sometimes, there could be some labeling mistakes, typos, instead of typing at least 4', maybe it should have been at most 4'. Most sellers would usually comply to satisfy any complaints, it is less stressfull that way. It is just my opinion that seeing what you've got, I really have nothing to complain about, because what matters to me is I've got a variety that is alive. Even if the BananaPlanatation.biz have shortchanged you, and after taking a third or fourth hard look at the plants that you've got, I would still recommend them with flying colors. To some of us, being shortchanged matters a lot more, which I myself often feels with some items I get from eBay. But of course, feel free to reason out with them, I won't argue about this anymore, and got your valid points.

Yes, I would ship you the plants if you wanted it from the ones that I have advertised here for other members. I do mostly exchanges though. If I have something for sale, I have told the other members frankly that really there is only financial loss when I sell my bananas, as it would take some time for me to dig them up, package them, book a trip to the post office, fall in long line at the post office to ship them away, and back at home, spend more time with email of shipping status. Doing the profit analysis with the existing competition and compared to my opportunity costs elsewhere, there is no way that this hobby can become self-sustaining or make it even halfway to the breakpoint part. To make a miniscule profit, the price would have to be jacked up sky-high. So forgive me if I emphatize with the brave banana sellers out there, as it doesn't make any business sense to me for the low prices they are offering with such big plants. But that is just my opinion. A good business though must satisfy the customer's complaints.

I am satisfied to share my plants, that's why I do this, and sometimes giving them away for free (except the shipping charges) instead of throwing them into the compost heap, and sometimes sell them off with only token prices in the hope that the buyer will receive it without complaints from me for the price that they've paid. Sometimes I would not know the condition of the pups that came about until I dig them up, and they could get ruined in the process or not so appealing, but I would have informed the buyer or receiver nonetheless. I do all this effort because I would be happy if someone can be happy with the kind of deal and plants that they've got from me. It is more like winning friends being better than winning tiny amounts of money.

So if I have something up, advertised in here, feel free to send PM right away if you want one, as often they are always gone within a few days.

For now, I am not offering anything for free or otherwise. I am not even ordering or exchanging at this time, simply because most plants will die when we are going into the winter season. The plants would of course survive well if I wanted them to, but that comes with more extra care and work. The best time to offer or obtain banana plants from where I am is during mid-spring to late summer. The rest of the year is not good for me, based on experience. So just watch out especially between May to August, that's the time I thin out my clump or dispose of the varieties I no longer want and offer most of them for miniscule prices or sometimes free.

jeffreyp

Hmmm I wonder if these are the same folks as Palmsandgardens.org and the owner's name was Oliver...it went out of business.

nucci60

googled bananaplantation.biz and can only bring up their wholesale operation

Chironex

Anyone ever hear what happened to them? Are they still around? none of the above websites work.

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