I never knew I was so lucky. Someone just gave me a Micans cutting when I bought a string of hearts... She told me she was giving me the cutting because no one would buy it because the only leaf was ripped a bit. Today it is a beautiful plant with 4 velvety leaves...
I bought a micans for 9.99 in a 4” pot in November. I thought I would never own one because couldn’t find it and I didn’t want to pay a high price. I think they made a mistake in pricing it.
They are going down in price already! A few month ago, the nursery by me was selling them for 40, now they are already selling them for 20 for the same size pot.
greeeeaaaat content Nick !! Seriously tho, you must have done a hellofalot of research in order to educate us . I really appreciate your content! And also your dry sense of humor.
i’ve been conflicted about this for awhile lol i buy rare hoyas i like but i also sell them so i can buy more plants 😅 is that wrong? i do auctions so i don’t think i’m one of those greedy plant sellers bc the people choose what they want to pay. but i’ve still been feeling guilty :/
I love these videos because I have been saying this for the longest and getting banned from plant groups. As a Finance major you know when things are inflated. When I first bought plants it wasn’t too bad but then when shit got worse I stopped buying.
lmao you're trying to use logic but get banned because it's ruining whatever fantasy people are trying to live in. People suck, and they'll remember you when all is said and done. Don't worry about them.
I feel legitimately educated. I’ve been thinking about plants and pricing. Basically you are paying for two things, the genetic material of the plant and the time it took to get the plant that size.
Thank you for educating us about how a lie written 200 years after an event gets inserted into history with no merit whatsoever. The arc to the 2008 financial/housing crisis was nicely done. Loved, loved the art!
I really like how much research you put into your videos! One of my favorite things to do with my boyfriend is to look at old art and just commentate about wtf is happening. Some of the medieval stuff is really quite a trip.
This was very interesting! I think the whole plant market and pricing is so weird, I am from Germany and I can’t believe that people in the US actually pay around 300$ for a one leaf cutting of monstera albo 😱 I the EU you can get a single leaf for around 30€. I am sure the prices will go down again at some point, the question ist just when. (Maybe once lockdown is over and people can do more outside stuff again)
i love how you integrated an art lesson into a history/economics video on your PLANT channel. it takes a lot to make me interested in any of those subjects. i wish you had a video for everything!! thank your for all your great content :)
Excellent work..... I appreciate laughing while learning! I'll share with my mom (she's a florist) - the flower market industry is fascinating. I love the inclusion of the art as well as the artists, it was a wonderful tie-in. Thanks!
I have a 5 year old Monstera that's gorgeous. It started off as a tiny plant and sprawled behind my couch. I originally got it for maybe 15 bucks. I go to my stores in LA and something that size is 350 dollars. And now the wholesalers are selling tiny starter monsteras for 30-40 bucks.
I really enjoyed this. I first ran across the tulip craze with a child's abridged version of Alexander Dumas's The Black Tulip. Naturally my little gothy heart was mostly obsessed with the idea of plant hybridization to get the Darkest Possible flowers. As for monsteramania, I did buy an absurdly priced aroid last week because I have been spending months being incredibly risk averse to try not to die. Doing something impulsively stupid with extremely limited consequences felt really good. Now I just have to keep the damn plant alive and happy. It hasn't seen the light of social media yet. I really felt the notion of people going speculation crazy because of the plague. Nothing matters. Buy plants. Thank you for all the effort you put into this!
Another amazing video!! I got a whole bunch of salty comments this week when I pointed out that Rio plants are sold for $60, so selling cuttings for $150 is bananas. I was informed that it doesn't matter what its sold for at stores, what matters is its "value." 🤣
I found an absolutely huge, beautiful Monstera deliciosa with big fenestrations in the compost bin of my apartment building a few years ago. Whoever "pruned" it had cut off tons of leaves below the nodes, and just dumped them. The trash panda that I am, I brought her in, washed her off, potted her up, and she is totally thriving three years later. I proudly tell anyone who comments on it that I found it in the trash.
The reality is that the tulip bubble popping did not ruin many people. So few had their entire fortune tied up in it. A costly plant going down in price is fine since most plants can create equity by being propagated.
Well with the Thai constellations hitting stores in the states and more Monstera albo's in house plants. It already has begun but the price will be higher end for a while just become like a Michael Kors bag not a Birkin. Those crazy growers and plant influencers better scheme up Pink Monstera.
There's actually a pink monstera in the works right now, it's still in the research phase and they're calling it Monstera Miss Piggy. The devil works hard but the plant market works harder 😂
Uhhhh... You do realize, that the prices of these bags etc. 'luxery' brands, also is worked the exact same way??!!! Stuff is cheap... Quality materials stuff costs more, but is still wayyyy overpriced! Once workers and producers are paid a fair price, there is still at least 500x pure profit in these items...
Very timely. Prices have gone too high for me. I'll wait it out. I find myself feeling annoyed if I go on eBay and see what people are asking for a bare cutting or tiny starter plant. Nope, not gonna do it.
Nick, thank you for expanding the scope and quality of plant youtubery. The editing, the references, the research, the effort, the humor, the hair. You are the best one. THE BEST ONE.
@@phytosexual no lie, I’ve been checking everyday. And have resorted to watching your videos all over again 😂 #obsessed or what?! Great video by the way, so much info, lots to compute 🤯
Ive slowly been making my way through your videos and I don't think any other channel has taught me more or made me laugh as much as yours! you seem incredibly intelligent and you're hilarious! keep it up! :)
Not only do we learn about current flower trends, we get a history lesson too! I love it, you have a great creative editing skill. It's even better when you toss in a bit of humor. Thanks so much for the great lessons 1 & 2. ☺️👍😆
I love that you do your research. You're content is great, I work in a nursery in west LA and I give your RU-vid channel out to my customers sometimes.
I have the best job!! Selling dumpster diving free stuff😂 i grow pineapple plants..i find the pineapple heat in the trash..traded one for my pink princess..crazy😂 and i find my orchids in the trash and trade them for a plant i want!!! Best deal ever!!! Love love your videos💜💜💜💜
Clicked on this for title because I'm anxiously awaiting the 2021 tulip market to open so I can make my order for the fall, stayed for the history lesson. Thank you 😘
This is an absolutely eye opening and fantastic video! I think I’ll send this to everyone I know now. Thanks for putting in the time to make this incredible video!
I definitely agree. I've already expressed my opinions about Monstera Mania so I won't re-type them. Thanks for taking a look at that weirdo Birkin pic I tagged you in the other day. I appreciate it.
Love this video. I would love more deep dives into plant price inflation. Anything that snaps some sense into people. What people pay for plants overseas is pretty interesting too. Here in Australia, nurseries can't move silver swords. They are heavily discounted. Pink princess' are pretty cheap too.
I think it depends on what's popular in each country too. Pink princesses/white princesses, Silver swords & micans aren't a hugely in demand house plants unless your wanting a large or in some cases super varigated specimen. I have all 4 of these plants, didn't spend anything over $25 - and that was the white princesses, everything else I've picked up in Bunnings throw out shelves & trays as rehab plants for under $10 that are doing just fine now after a repot and some TLC. Be amazed what Bunnings toss out that can be saved.
There's a book called Potted History by Catherine Horwood that you might like. It gives a lot of insight into the houseplant trends over the last 400 or so years. Just confirms there have always been houseplant trends, there have always been people clamouring for the latest plants and there have always been sellers taking advantage of it.
This perfectly describes the housing market we're in right now people are paying more for houses than what they're worth because they think it'll keep going up forever
Excellent video, Nick. Thank you. Hopefully more people will understand the situation now. It's like what De Beers has done for 133 years with diamonds, but their level of monopoly is the key to their longevity.
You said alchemy doesn't work. Wrong. I just went chuckling maniacally into my cellar, where I have a laboratory fully stocked with bubbling vats and hissing pipes and unknown life forms floating in bathtubs. It's a good thing you can't smell the place. Anyway, it didn't take me very long to make gold out of lesser colors, such as green. I turned an ordinary Monstera deliciosa into a plant with purely golden leaves. It didn't live long, though. I also turned grass clippings into variegated grass. Very pretty, even if I say so myself. I even brought an expensive philodendron with me downstairs and instead of boring green and lots of pink, it now has golden leaves. Unfortunately, just like the M. deliciosa, it seemed to gasp for air and died wilting right away. When I'm done typing these preliminary results, I will try to catch the neighbor's feline pet and try to make its ordinary black color into gold. Let's see what happens. If I can't catch the cat, I will catch the neighbor's 8-year old. That will be easy. I will sprinkle the golden grass clippings around and she'll come out of her own free will. Curiosity killed the cat, or so they say, mwahahahahahahah bwahahahahahahahah.
This was so interesting! Thank you for putting out informational and entertaining videos ^^ I've had plants for over a year, but only in the past few months i've gotten familiar with the plant communities around, mostly i was looking for local trades. People have really been crazy about aroids and variegated plants in general! the first time i run into listings for albo monsteras (beginning of last year), one leaf with node went for about 100$, which i thought was crazy enough, and by summer's end the same listing was going for 300$ lol Also my personal pet peeve is people making up plant varieties so they can pretend they have something exclusive, lately i've seen people looking for "harlequin pothos", insisting it's different from the manjula and showing a pic with a filter slapped on from instagram.
People will do whatever they can to make money off of uninformed people who have just entered the market and do not know better. Also glad you enjoyed :)
a great testament to critical thinking and the importance of verifying sources...so welcome from any and every source in these completely crazy times. plus it was a helluva a lot of fun (i love anything historical)!
This is the first video of yours I have come across and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. They way you incorporated history, art and musings really spoke to me. Subscribed straight away 👌🏻
I've gotten all of my plants for under 15€ (most for under 10) and I honestly wouldn't pay more than that, except if the plant is already very big or something. I feel like our prices in Europe are a bit lower than yours in general though
I like what you have done here, Nick. I find the craze for rare plants offensive, too. I appreciate your research and was enlightened by it. Crazy plant people are a special breed. If I couldn't buy fancy plants I would dig up a weed and start cultivating it. I became aware of my proclivity at 21 YOA, so I know what I am and I can spot another plant person pretty quick. The collectors of rare plants are in a different place. They remind me of people on Twitter who are constantly concerned with followers....instead of conversation. Young souls.
philodendron urmomsahoeianum, was it? you are killing me! great video as always, nick! I seriously appreciate your content and the timw you took to research it all, so much 🧡
Made me think of when I took my husband to a local nursery and saw a mature monstera deliciosa albino for $600 ( including the pot w h a t a d e a l) and he said " Its a plant, that you can't even eat... why..." and then tried to convince me that it was only worth $40 because of the pot.
Great content...been pulling my hair out watching what people are paying for plants. What happened to sharing cuttings? I rarely buy plants but have a huge collection just the same. Old school gardener that thinks the best plants are free. Always willing to share and trade.
When money can be made people would rather sell on eBay than share, whereas a few years ago some of these plants were not worth enough to take the time and effort to sell.
As others have commented, you are the best. Funny, entertaining & knowledgeable too. I still say that you should go into education (or the stock market)!
Yasss.....the housing market debacle! Wow - flipping plants?! The world has gone completely off the rails....get the popcorn!..... Check out Carl Orff's cantata, "Carmina Burana," which begins with a little ditty called "O Fortuna" - a most awesome tune!
Maybe, but probably not because a lot of people probably don't know what that is and there's not a bug audience for ferns. I if I was going to do something it would probably be orchid mania.
Great research and so applicable today! Thanks for all the leg work. I worry about (but don't feel sorry for) those who have taken advantage of this market and manipulated the current plant mania, it is going to change for them. I see it in those who have been collectors and gardeners for longer than Covid has been around.
I really appreciate the content and the time you put into it. It's very well done and not only did I learn stuff in both this and the last episode, I liked that I was able to learn about more than just plants. Keep up the good work!
Great content! Now I know the tulip mania wasn’t a bubble since very little people had completed the deal. But there was a real bubble about a plant that happened tragically in the 1980s northeast China, the Clivia bubble. Unfortunately there isn’t too much English sources about it, but long story short, 1980s was when China first opened free market (before it was planned economy), Clivia wasn’t popular among people, but since the last emperor (there is a movie about him by Bertolucci) had lived in the northeast China from 1910s to 1940s, he had some Clivia in his palace. And of course, the emperor was down, some servant took some Clivia out of the palace and then people went crazy for it. The price started to skyrocket in the 1980s from very small circle of hobbyists to the mass people. People used it as a bribe, or trade their houses or expensive belongings with it. And then of course, Clivia is very easy to multiply, the bubble busted very soon and some people lost everything and committed suicide or became broke.
I loved this video! we can tell that you put work into it :) interesting topic, and well explained. it is so refreshing to see that some youtubers put actual content out there. :)
