Should I be disappointed or am I investing?

[JohnAndSancho]

I'll get better pics when I get home. Had a DR appt and she's sending me to another specialist and we're just doing it today while I'm in town. I snagged a HUGE blooming hibiscus for 6 bucks and a pot of 3 (I believe banana) crotons for 16 bucks. Same plan as everything. Propogate and sell and keep a little. Def have the space and the environment to do it now. I'm turning into poverty @happypalms 

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I'll get better pics when I get home. Had a DR appt and she's sending me to another specialist and we're just doing it today while I'm in town. I snagged a HUGE blooming hibiscus for 6 bucks and a pot of 3 (I believe banana) crotons for 16 bucks. Same plan as everything. Propogate and sell and keep a little. Def have the space and the environment to do it now. I'm turning into poverty @happypalms 

You’ll have a jungle with monkeys and lions and tigers. Just plant them outside if it lives it lives. Sooner or later you’ll have a mega garden!

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

You’ll have a jungle with monkeys and lions and tigers. Just plant them outside if it lives it lives. Sooner or later you’ll have a mega garden!

ehh. Not much of this stuff would live here in summer OR winter lol. 

 

Anyway I thought this hibiscus for under $6 was good. I didn't measure but it's gotta be 2 feet tall. I would have overlooked them completely if I didn't see this one towering over the rest. 

 

And there's 3 Crotons in here. Take a couple cuttings to propogate, split them up into 3 1g pots, sell them next year. They kinda fell over in the car. 😬 But they'll live. 

 

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

ehh. Not much of this stuff would live here in summer OR winter lol. 

 

Anyway I thought this hibiscus for under $6 was good. I didn't measure but it's gotta be 2 feet tall. I would have overlooked them completely if I didn't see this one towering over the rest. 

 

And there's 3 Crotons in here. Take a couple cuttings to propogate, split them up into 3 1g pots, sell them next year. They kinda fell over in the car. 😬 But they'll live. 

 

Sell sell sell, actually sell up and move to a subtropical climate or a tropical island! 

[JohnAndSancho]

1 minute ago, happypalms said:

Sell sell sell, actually sell up and move to a subtropical climate or a tropical island! 

Welp sell for lots of reasons. Mostly I need money lol. My eBay crap isn't moving. I have a GoFundMe for a surgery for Sancho that's stalled. I haven't worked in a year and a half now and I try to apply for federal disability and my doctors are all arguing with each other about a diagnosis, I don't qualify for state aid unless I'm either disabled or have kids, so everything I've sold on eBay I'm investing back here to sell. Every plant I've bought I research what sells and whether or not it's worth my time, and every plant I've bought has been multiples crammed into one pot or something that'll sucker like crazy. I'm growing stuff from seeds from fruits I bought at the grocery store. I've gathered a nice pile of local seed that I can vouch for it's cold hardiness. But I'm at the point where I saw 2 more specialists today and I asked them both to either diagnose me or shoot me. That's where I'm at 😂

[happypalms]

10 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Welp sell for lots of reasons. Mostly I need money lol. My eBay crap isn't moving. I have a GoFundMe for a surgery for Sancho that's stalled. I haven't worked in a year and a half now and I try to apply for federal disability and my doctors are all arguing with each other about a diagnosis, I don't qualify for state aid unless I'm either disabled or have kids, so everything I've sold on eBay I'm investing back here to sell. Every plant I've bought I research what sells and whether or not it's worth my time, and every plant I've bought has been multiples crammed into one pot or something that'll sucker like crazy. I'm growing stuff from seeds from fruits I bought at the grocery store. I've gathered a nice pile of local seed that I can vouch for it's cold hardiness. But I'm at the point where I saw 2 more specialists today and I asked them both to either diagnose me or shoot me. That's where I'm at 😂

If you where a racehorse, straight out the back and well you know. But good on you for giving it a go, you have to spend a little to make money. Sounds like your research is going to be a market advantage. Go the frost tolerant stuff for your area. I was just in Sydney seeing a specialist doctor it’s not fun anymore! 

[JohnAndSancho]

8 minutes ago, happypalms said:

If you where a racehorse, straight out the back and well you know. But good on you for giving it a go, you have to spend a little to make money. Sounds like your research is going to be a market advantage. Go the frost tolerant stuff for your area. I was just in Sydney seeing a specialist doctor it’s not fun anymore! 

Yep. And I'm researching cheap boosters like using willow branches and stuff like that in with the watering, the pot of colocasias I bought that I turned into 7 plants for $15, I got 3 croton trees for $15, I can turn this hibiscus into a bunch of cuttings, I've got all the crape myrtles and willows the local and online markets can handle, banana pups sell for $30-50 for a couple of the varieties I've got, I'll be able to start cutting some of these philodendrons soon, and so on and so on. I went back through Etsy and eBay histories (well I hate to admit this but I had help from AI with some of this) to see what's worth my time and money, etc etc. And the palms are the long game. I mean I can sell sprouts and seedlings for fair prices on here, but non-palm people want big impressive plants that'll take me a few years to grow, and outside of here nobody cares how rare it is. People want impressive and colorful stuff and I've got that. I still really need to slap this other table together and add some more lighting, but - while I'm complaining about medical care, I was off my insulin for about 3 weeks due to paperwork snags and now I'm back on it I'm crashing out, the neuropathy is killing me since I was on my feet all day and I just - I dunno man, it is what it is. I'm older and my body is beat up and sometimes I just can't do stuff. 

[metalfan]

Your croton is a Mammey

[JohnAndSancho]

3 hours ago, metalfan said:

Your croton is a Mammey

Good looking out 🤙 

[metalfan]

Its the most commonly sold croton, along with Petra, in box stores here in FLorida

[PalmsandLiszt]

On 11/4/2025 at 11:44 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

Every plant I've bought I research what sells and whether or not it's worth my time, and every plant I've bought has been multiples crammed into one pot or something that'll sucker like crazy. I'm growing stuff from seeds from fruits I bought at the grocery store.

Try growing some cacao seeds. They are very easy to germinate and you should be able to sell them for $10-$20 each on ebay, plus they are interesting enough/have a certain cachet to appeal to 'normies'. Seeds must be fresh, though, and they hate low humidity, but they shouldn't be difficult to keep alive long enough to sell.