Chop it up or let it ride?

[JohnAndSancho]

Welp I thought I had this thing sold. I snatched a couple with some minor cold damage and I'm rehabbing them - so just, opinions. 

 

This thing is currently in a 2 gallon pot and it's roughly 2 feet above the soil. I know these are in demand despite being available in big box stores - hell, I bought this in a big box store. Do I leave it as is and sell it for a premium price or do I carve it up? 

 

It's got lots of variegation. I chopped up it's Caucasian sister, they're doing really well and I chopped up a big fat Burle Marx and I've got at least 10 of those now and they're all healthy and some showing variegated leaves. I just don't know what the move is here. I know a pink princess of this size ain't cheap. And I gotta spend money on health related crap that ain't cheap either. 

[Jonathan]

You should probably try to keep a stock plant John. To my mind the logical long term investment is to propagate from that one and sell the progeny later...that's how you build a business, otherwise you're just horse trading aren't you?

[JohnAndSancho]

5 hours ago, Jonathan said:

You should probably try to keep a stock plant John. To my mind the logical long term investment is to propagate from that one and sell the progeny later...that's how you build a business, otherwise you're just horse trading aren't you?

That's a good point. I've got a smaller one now, though, and the market here is flooded with these - just not in this size. And despite all of our economic turmoil, there's still a pocket of people with "I want it and I want it now" money. I don't know any of those people, but they're out there. And this thing has so many nodes up and down, it's like a braille book. 

[Jonathan]

If you've already got another, then capitalise now, lol! Grow the smaller one on as your stock plant for insurance.  The way the US is looking there might not be a market later.

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, Jonathan said:

If you've already got another, then capitalise now, lol! Grow the smaller one on as your stock plant for insurance.  The way the US is looking there might not be a market later.

I just hope I get deported to someplace warm with healthcare. 

[happypalms]

Stock plants you need, you see me buying the same varieties of plants all the time to be used as stock plants. By cutting it up you keep the variegation going, a lot variegated plants drift out of variegation and need be cut up.

[JohnAndSancho]

On 2/16/2026 at 3:40 PM, happypalms said:

Stock plants you need, you see me buying the same varieties of plants all the time to be used as stock plants. By cutting it up you keep the variegation going, a lot variegated plants drift out of variegation and need be cut up.

Didn't know that. Is it worth it to keep something around you can buy at Wal Mart though? I mean the value in this particular plant is its size right now. 

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Didn't know that. Is it worth it to keep something around you can buy at Wal Mart though? I mean the value in this particular plant is its size right now. 

By all means propagate it, you just never know who wants to buy it. A lot of people prefer online buying or it’s not available in there area. You just never know your luck. 

[JohnAndSancho]

33 minutes ago, happypalms said:

By all means propagate it, you just never know who wants to buy it. A lot of people prefer online buying or it’s not available in there area. You just never know your luck. 

If I can find someone who wants a 2 foot plant (and they sell!) I've already got 2 more, one is sold and one can be the mom. I got so many damn philodendrons in here right now it's obscene and I've got 5 more to start propogating. If I can get $125 for this one I'll take it all day. Someone out there wants a big one. 

[happypalms]

14 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

If I can find someone who wants a 2 foot plant (and they sell!) I've already got 2 more, one is sold and one can be the mom. I got so many damn philodendrons in here right now it's obscene and I've got 5 more to start propogating. If I can get $125 for this one I'll take it all day. Someone out there wants a big one. 

Supply and demand, it’s that simple. 
Such a shame you can’t put your excess plants into the ground for stock plants. 
You must be getting ready to run out of room in the grow bunker? 

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

Supply and demand, it’s that simple. 
Such a shame you can’t put your excess plants into the ground for stock plants. 
You must be getting ready to run out of room in the grow bunker? 

It's.... It's a little crowded right now, especially now that I'm starting the bulbs, yeah. I separated a pot of Burle Marx philos and ended up with 12, and they're all growing like crazy so apparently what I'm doing is working. Hell, I could easily get 8 or 9 more of those right now and sell them as 4" pots. I've actually cut all of my alocasias and colocasias back twice now just because the spider mites love them, but who cares? They'll grow back. I'm potting stuff up like mad, I've got 2 year old seeds germinating, and I seem to be really good at killing off papayas and I've had a lot of mango seeds rot on me no matter what method I use - rinse and dry, soak and dry, just dry, peroxide, whatever - they mold. But it's cool because they're never gonna set fruit here and all I can hope for them is someone on Etsy wants to buy them. I've got enough Sabal babies for my yard and plenty to flip. Now I'm obsessed with colorful alocasias and colocasias and that'll be my next deep dive. I've got totes full of giant ones and a tote full of crape myrtles rooting out, I've got a dozen or so willows but I left them outside - a couple of them are trying to push green growth already. 

 

I did a quick and dirty YouTube "tour" last night, I just need to balance out the space I currently have with what I'm physically able to do and at this point I'm just trying to support my habit and pay for medical bills for me and Sancho. 

 

Yeah. I accidentally said snake palms. I'm a one take no edit full send screw it video taker. 

 

When I go crazy and get manic it's usually late at night after I've taken the meds.