JoeS475

Brian,

I'm eagerly awaiting my plant, and realize that between non-caring employees of the shipping companies and cold weather there is a chance the bananas won't arrive looking like perfect display plants.

Lucky for me I have a brain and can read what you put on your web site, and also know that young plants don't necessarily have the same coloration as their adult counterparts. My zebrina had just pupped and it is taking a while for it to turn red.

Thank you again for the offer, and speaking for the rational vast majority of people here, we appreciate your generosity and hope that in the future you will continue to give us unique plants at a fair price!

D'Andra, pass the Scotch!

~Joe

__________________

pitangadiego

Brian has already said that he would replace my plant, which had been frozen or fried.

Most shippers of potted plants now use a bamboo stick inserted in the pot, which is the length of the box, which keeps the pot from shifting up and down in the box. All of my fig trees were shipped that way. Taping the pot was insufficient. Let's face it, both the Post Office and UPS abuse a lot of packages, testing the limits of their endurance. I have had several packages from both carriers this year that were damaged, missing contents, etc. To some extent it is a "crap shoot".

__________________
Encanto Farms Nursery
http://encantofarms.com
We Be Bananas
http://webebananas.com

STEELVIPER

How about writing "Fragile " on the box? Maybe the guys at UPS, or the U.S. Post office will not use it for a baseball or football if they see the word fragile?

__________________

D'Andra

Joe, my 2 year old "had" to help me make dinner so as you can imagine there's not much left but just a little of this will do 'ya.

Pitangadiego Makes a very good point. We ship and recieve several packages a week, and no matter what carrier you use damages are going to occur. Since you brought up the word bamboo, I have to tell you my black bamboo I bought last year has just shot up 6 shoots. These are growing at a rate of 4 inches a day. I know, I know, but, I'm really excited. Pix to follow later (my partner ran over my camera!).

I had an E. ventricosum I started from seed that froze and looked really bad. It's about 2inches shorter than the others that I started at the same time but it's coming back strong. I've had a few bananas arrive that were broken off at soil level. Every one is still growing. I have taken a pup (DC) at 6 inches with absolutley no roots (looked like a piece of celery) and it died completely only to send up another pup about 4 inches away that is doing great.

My point here is
!. Dont post after drinking!
2. Even though it's been said so many times, don't give up on the plant you've got in your hands!

__________________

D'.

aroidgrower

If you have a damaged plant and feel it needs replacing please send me a photo or email to

briansbotanical@alltel.net

You should hear back from me very soon afterwards.

I believe the plants are brittle possibly due to being grown under the misting system. So my plan is to grow them out larger before and harden them off more before shipping them. I also plan to test a few to see which way maybe best to ship them. Most everything I ship in sleeves or wrapped in newpaper does fine but this seems to be an exception. I tried to get them grown out to a nice size and shipped out as soon as possible for the people here.

Thank you for everyone who is understanding and has helped out.

Mustang

When I occasionally post fragile/small plants, I use plastic pop bottles, as someone has already suggested. I cut almost completely (but not quite) around the neck. Drop the plant inside. Burn 4 holes in the bottle just level to the top of the pot/root wrap, and use soft wire fed thru the holes to keep the root ball in place and stop it moving. I then tape the top of the bottle back down, reforming the bottle shape and therefore making it stronger again. You could also fill the bottle with packing such as polystyrene or newspaper shreds?

Size of plastic bottles reflect the size of the plant ... use the smallest possible.

---

I've also know a nursery who devised their own box to prevent it getting squashed. They put a 'roof' on the top of the box to stop other boxes being stacked on top, and help the box being kept the right way for bigger plants.

tlturbo

Brian,

Bob6012 joined in Jan 2007 AND his complaint post was his 2nd post. This is obviously not a regular member, just someone taking advantage of your generous offer and then has the b...s to complain. Maybe fate intervened here? PLEASE just write this person off. I'm sure he won't be a regular on the board.

Obviously since he got in on this deal, his FIRST post was to get the offer. It is QUITE OBVIOUS as to WHY he is on this board. He either stumbled across the offer while "lurking" or someone told him about it. This is what I was complaining about when you first offered this deal. Anyone could join and get in on this offer. Many of us went to great lengths to try and figure out how to TC this plant before you came along and graciously made your offer. I still think it might have been better done thru PM's instead of on the open forum but that' my opinion.

I got mine yesterday and I didn't see any evidence of damage to the box. I LOVE the Pop bottle idea.

I agree, we need a thread for ONLY those that got a plant for progress reports. I also would like to know the growing conditions these were under so I won't alter it too much. Like is there any fertilizer in the soil? How about diluted Peters, etc?

Terry

Carolina

Looks like I missed out on a deal. Ah well, I'm always a day late and $100 short.

About shipping... seems like you'd have to find a cost effective solution. I would imagine you do tons of shipping. The further something has to go the bigger chance for damage which is understandable. I received an order from Plant Delights yesterday. Not a mark on the box and plants were -wonderful-. But it came only about 100 miles in less than 24 hours.

mudcat25

I recieved my plant yesterday. I had joined just before the original post. My new hobby (plants) had really just started to take off. I was a little skeptical of this new banana and the idea of going in on a deal of buying a $500.00 plant and hoping to get one after someone tc'd (something that I had know idea of what this meant) this one plant. As I kept this idea in mind and kept tracking the progress of this thread I still had not made my mind up. Then Brian came along with this deal and I thought why not give this a try. This being my first internet buying experience, I was still quite skeptical.

My plant was not in the best condition a plant could be in but it is also the first plant I've ever recieved through the mail. For that I think it came in fair condition!

I'm still a little nervous about this plant as I'm not as experienced as others here. My little six inch plant of $50 is a long way from where I want it to be, but hopefully with the help of others I can keep it alive and be very excited about a very rare banana and of being one of the first people to have one.

So to Brian I say "Thank you". You made this an easier decision with your offer.

And to the rest of you who bougtht this;

PLEASE HELP ME KEEP THIS ALIVE!

Bob (Not that Bob)

Steve in France

I was lucky enough to join the board as the tread was starting and got on the list. My plant has been here for a week and is doing fine in a big pot by the window , it has a new leaf and the new leaf has a hint of pink in one area , Cool. I cannot wait for it to get big . Thanks to Brian again and all the Aroids are doing well too .
Later
Steve

__________________
Always looking for a lost pup

aroidgrower

I thought I should share this with the group. As you can see from my post I am trying very hard to get these plants to you fast and it good condition. I know many of you wanted them as soon as they came in but I felt growing them out a bit would be better. Still they are fairly small but the pressure to get them to you before anyone else is the main reason I put sold them at this size rather than a month or two later.
I have been growing them under mist with fertilizer injected into the mist ever 30 minutes for 20 seconds. They also have osmacote time release fertilizer on them. I can usually get a small plant to 1 foot or more in just a month or less under these conditions. The main problem here is this plant seems to be more brittle than most when grown this fast. So I plan to slow the growth of them down and add some Magnesium sulfate to harden them up more.

I have been shipping plants for over 10 years and this one has shown to be a bit more tricky than others. Most the plants I ship out seem to arrive in good to perfect condition. This one being and exception. I believe the best thing maybe to allow them to grow out a bit more and to harden them off. I am not sure if their is much more I can do to the packing to prevent what we have seen. I have looked into adding more shreeded paper and stiffer sleeves. But the problem maybe more in the plant being brittle now rather than the packing. So I will see what I can do to change that.

aroidgrower

I thought I should post this up. This was sent to me today from Bob6012 about the Musa Siam Ruby that was damaged.

Brian,
Please accept my apology for my outlandish and childlike behavior the last three days. My personal attacks on you were simply atrocious and my posting of a private grievance on a public forum was unacceptable and it can only chalked it up to medication. Aricept is not as cracked up as the commercials tout.
Feel free to post this on the banana site as I'll no longer be visiting it as the embarrassment is far too great.
Someday, if you live long enough, you'll understand the changes we go through...........it's a mess.

Again, I'm sorry and I wish you good fortune for the future,

Steve L

Brian,

Mine came yesterday. The new emerging leaf was broken but the plant is in fine shape and should grow nicely. Thanks for your efforts.

Steve

MediaHound

Congrats on your choice to give it a shot. This internet thing really works!

What I did with mine was up-pot it into about a three gallon sized pot. I used a good quality potting soil mixed with a bit of compost for nutrients.
I keep it on a covered patio and keep the soil damp by misting it down every day or two. It shouldn't dry out and it also shouldn't be soaking wet. This combination of the outdoor warmth, filtered light, and good nutrition and ample space to grow is doing it perfectly.
When it gets larger, I'll move it out of the patio and into filtered sun for part of the day, see how it fares, and then slowly increase the light intensity and duration by moving it around to different spots and maybe even moving other things around to give it some shade.

__________________
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.

mudcat25

Jarred, Thanks for giving me some guidelines for keeping my new banana alive. I will definetly go with your way as compared to my guessing. I had a new leaf on it that was starting to come out and now is begining to open so the plant seems to be fine. I'm just a little nervous with such a delicate plant. Please keep any advice coming. I'm always lurking here, just don't post much.
Thanks,
Bob

the flying dutchman

Here is the WIKI - page for Siam Ruby. (siam red)

http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musa_Siam_Ruby

Any info or pictures are so welcome.

Ron

NANAMAN

The color is starting to develop nicely, what a difference a week can make!

__________________

aroidgrower

Great to see the colors coming out. I have to keep them in a shaded greenhouse for now till the temps will agree with them. I need to post the odd balls that I have pulled out some variegated and odd streaked forms. I will do it as they grow up a bit they may just me young mutations.

Pithy_Cherub

Nice, NANAMAN!

My 'Pugturd' is getting hints of color change, but I have to keep looking to be sure it's not 'my wanting to see' as opposed to really seeing (if that makes sense?). There are definite color changes on the stem, & tiny spots coming up on the leaves. Makes me feel less crazy seeing yours - I really didn't expect to have any red coming up this soon!

Mine was a wee bit smaller than your 1st pic, but she's growing well (we have a new leaf since arrival - YAY!) & catching up! I gotta get a camera ... your pics of the progression are a great idea!

.

MediaHound

Brian's shop on ebay:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZaroidgrower

__________________
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.