The Mystery Around Thousands of Dying Big Box Store Plants | 'Ring of Fire Controversy' | PlanTEA 

I didn’t even know this was a thing. When I was at Kroger I saw them and said “man they look bad”. Thank you for the detective work!!

This type of content is where you really shine! Loved every moment of it!

Highly entertaining Facebook plant drama

Our Kroger will refund but not for deeply discounted plants. I bought 6 of them in pots for $3 each and really the pots were worth that to me. Mine weren't drowning in water though. They were too dry. Fortunately, all of them bounced back nicely with a watering. I've had them for a couple of weeks so I think they're all going to survive.

This happened to my white wizard also. This time when I bought my ring of fire I replanted it and it is doing much better!! Great video!!!

They’re really sending TROPICAL plants on COLD trucks 🤣🤣🤣 how dumb is this company? They should really reevaluate their shipping practices if that’s the case.

I would imagine part of the problem is the extreme temperature changes from place to place too and probably being overwatered in the store too.

This was an excellent episode! Keep digging and share your findings, this is the the best type of content. Thank you for your due diligence.

I’m in Virginia we have the same problem with our Kroger ROF. I bought one just for laughs! It dropped all but 1 leaf but it has 3 plants in the pot. Repotted it and it’s looking like it might make it! We’ll see! ❤

Good detective work Ashley. Thank you for being this to our attention. What I also don’t understand and couldn’t have been good to the plants, was all the water left in the pots 🤦‍♀️. Thanks for sharing.

This was so interesting, I loved this deep dive! You did such a great job, Ash! ❤

I love this little exposé and your enthusiasm to solve the mystery. Great job

Thanks Ashley, this was a great video. You did so much sleuthing for us! I’m loving your videos.

This is super interesting, I really enjoy these deep dive/mystery videos! Thank you Ashley 😊

This is actually tea thank you for the coverage!!

I’m in Michigan. Every single ring of fire at my Kroger literally fell to pieces as I touched them. About 40 of them. It was so sad. Every. Single. One. Dropped. EVERY SINGLE LEAF. Oh, and they were selling these tiny dead things for $30 😂😂😂 Another store had larger ones that looked swamped, but were ok. They were only going to be okay for a day or two if they weren’t bought and replanted IMMEDIATELY.

Great information! 👍 love this video

That was hard work! Very interesting and I love that you defended everything you did this was the best job I have ever seen just explaining what was happening and not talking bad about everyone-! I’m watching this 8 months late but I remember the event it happened just as I was getting into houseplants! So good job thanks again

Wonderful video. Very informative and eye opening. Loved the information.

Omg yay I’m glad you’re discussing this!

Normally I don't comment, and I'm literally in the middle of work- But I had to say that I LOVED this video, and I hope to see more content like this in the future. Subscribed :)

Commenting to boost! This is fascinating! Well done 👏

They are the same nursery that released the “White ice Philodendron” if you remember that fiasco

Cheers for the info Ashley!

Super GREAT VLOG Ashley! You spent time looking into these details. I'm always leary with big box stores plants. All plants seem to be way over watered and not a lot of plant knowhow. The distribution and the Hive was good to know. (what SciFi movie had the "Hive?"). And.... I'm a big fan of your "F" bombs! not until40:44 and again at 41:05 (mostly on your Tea videos. Don't loose that!). I want to go to King Soopers (So Co.) tomorrow

Very interesting. Good job investigating!

I loved your deep dive on this. This was super interesting.

Thanks for taking us on this journey! I dont have a Kroger near me (NC) but im sure this happens with other chains as well. I definitely learned something new today.

This is so good!!!!

Ok you are my nancy drew! Well done Ashley! What a great video..

Loved this investigative content!

Kroger is nowhere near me (I’m in upstate NY, so we have the iconic Wegmans) but I posted this in my local plant group in Rochester NY to see if anyone has seen this, just in case!

This was fantastic, I was so happy when you bought some

Hilarious! Well done! Double plus good!

Good sleuth work! Loved this video! ❤

Very interesting video. Good detective work! 🌿🌱🍃

Omg! This is crazy 😯 I got mine from King Supers on October 15th and thank goodness is still doing good!! I’m in WY btw. I’m going to go back today and see if there’s any left, lol. Great video! 💚

Awesome detective work well done, I think you should send your video to these companies so they can rectify the way they ship their tropical plants

Thank you for your passionate sleuthing! I loved it. Like others I tend to blame the companies who originally grow the plants. Only if I see really bad treatment in the big box store do I assume the fault is with them. Here you took the trouble to find that it's just the big box store being ignorant of the needs of these live plants - actually fixable and not evil.

Loved this!

I love your video and my plants!!!! I laughed and laughed! I love to research and investigate things too! You did a great job!!! I often find house plants at Lowes or Home Depo (central California) in very poor condition from over or underwatering. I wonder how they are being shipped? One more thing I would have liked to see you do is to talk with the manager at your local store where you got your plants, and the one where they were so poor-I bet those really went downhill. Show them how bad the overwatering was too and also call Kroeger Corporate and R & D to tell them what you have discovered. Though R & D seems to have done well, it still does reflect on them even though they had nothing to do with the cold trucks. A lot of people don't know about distribution centers. Knowing this might help them caution others that sell their plants to take care at their distribution centers. It would be very exciting to hear what they all say. I did also learn another way to save an overwatered plant by what you did. I think the warmth and getting rid of some excess water helped. I may have repotted one, though that would probably stress them too. This is the first video of yours that I have seen. You get gold stars for this one! I subscribed with the bell on. I'm going to see what other great videos you have now. Thanks a bunch! 🙂🪴

My guess on what was happening is the plants came in when it was too cold. The greenhouse where they were grown was probably heated. Cross cold weather with employees that don't care and you have a recipe for plant death and incredible waste. I always feel bad because in my eyes plants are still living things and it's giving the energy to grow the least we can do is put forth the effort to give them what they need to thrive. That's like buying a fish that needs a big tank just to put it in a jar because you feel like it. Doesn't make sense to me... Great video I just subbed! Ps. I wrote this comment before the end of the video lol

Such a good video!

Great detective work!!!

I got three at Wal Mart and they still look great! Thai Cons have dropped too, though of course they sold out immediately.

Hi Ashley thank you so much for this Video so in your face about the ROF that just In Sane😊 Love ya ❤😅

I'd love to see more planty commentary videos, this was great!

I literally saw a post from some plant company talking about stocking these in the Krogers, and i ran to the store to get one! yeah needless to say they were all over 50% dead... and while i am pretty confident with rehabbing plants, im not paying 30$ for a dieing plant.. cheap or not for the type of plant... I do have a theory on this tho. 100$ of krogers have their plant sections in their produce sections which are generally much colder than than the rest of the store.. Another think to take note of is pests, always look at your plants and the ones around it before buying from a big box store... i didnt buy one and took a distressed monstera home instead which looks fabolous now! im very hesitant to buy plants from "grocery stores" these days and would honestly just spend more and get it from a nursery all of the plants that ive bought from Kroger specifically, have died pretty fast after coming home. and they all come from the same location. Not to mention when purchasing my pink princess from a big box store it was in very dense water logging soil and rotted mostly in my car because it was a bit too warm. usually when i get a plant from a big box store i replace the soil the next day because in michigan what they use is terrible...The plants get a little stressed, but they are happier in the long run! (in my experience). Glad i didnt get burned by the ring of fire, tho i still want one!

You should be a journalist! Glad I got mine from a local lady who brought them into Alaska and bought enough to get her shipping back

Great video!

this is super interesting. We got these in Houston a couple weeks ago and i DEF was tempted to get one, but wanted to wait till they were cheap like my $7 Pariso verde. Now I'm tempted to go look more closely at ours...lol.

Nice video!! Ty 💚

plant news!!!! i love it!

Omg thank you so much that was such a fun video it made my life less boring

I finally got to my Kroger today & they had several, most in eh condition, all marked to $14.99. My husband happily bought me one & she looks in decent shape! Fingers crossed 🤞

This video was 🔥🔥🔥. My ROF came from Wild Interiors, a plant seller from Ohio. So far, the one I bought for myself or for my mom has not dropped leaves. Curious to see if other people had better success with these.

Having worked retail once upon a time, if a sales associate refuses to give a refund, even store credit, always say you require a manager speak with you. If the manager refuses the refund, state that you intend to send a complaint letter (not an email) to their corporate office. And as a point of honor and you have the time (and your city allows it) make yourself a protest sign and carry it on public property. I have seen that work where all else has failed. Also FYI if you pay for something with a twenty and they claim it was only a ten, you can require that they count their drawer! This happened to me once, boy was that sales associate pissed when she had to count her drawer and it turned out that I had indeed paid with a twenty. I could have made her apologize, but it would have been a fake apology, so I didn't bother.

I got a large split leaf philo. from Kroger a year ago. I typically buy from a local nursery, but for $15, I couldn't pass. After a day, the leaves got mushy and brown .... cold damage 😟. So my sil continues to buy plants from Kroger, but they always brown and die. I suspected cold damage, not her care, and now this kinda sets my speculation in stone.

Brilliant explanation ❤

Wow I'm glad mine didn't have any of those issues! I got mine from my local Walmart for free, they were throwing them away because they didn't have any more room for them.....

Nice detective work!

i feel like i just watched a true crime documentary xD this video was too good tbh

I just bought one from Walmart for $24🫣 it actually has two plants in it. I repotted immediately. The “soil” was so thick and soaked. I’ve never seen that type of “soil” before, but honestly I’ve had good luck with the plants that I’ve bought from there so hopefully this one will turn out okay too😅🤣

I bought two at my local Smith's. The leaves started falling off immediately. No amount of babying could save them. I went to visit my family in Arizona and found some discounted at a grocery store there. Two weeks and they're stoll looking great 🤞

I got my baby ring of fire fron my local nursery two month ago for $14.99. She has given me two new leaves and is growing nicely. Glad I didn't buy it from a big box store during that time period.

Good detective work!

The same thing happened to my ring of fire! I live in Greenville, SC and bought it from Fresh Market around that same time.

idk how i'm just now seeing this video but where i live (indianapolis indiana) it's common knowledge that you repot kroger plants the day you bring them home or they die. no questions. the first one i purchased did the leaf falling off thing before i could even repot it. it was quite small. but then at a different kroger i found a selection of MASSIVE ones. i picked up two that looked the best and repotted them together. they had some rot issues already but only lost a few leaves and now look incredible. it was a wild ride 😂

I had no idea this was a thing. I feel so fortunate to have found a seemingly good plant with two growth points. I bought mine at a Kroger in Kansas at the beginning of the month.

I bought mine at HEB here in Austin and mine is thriving. HOWEVER I buy tropical plants at big box stores on the day they arrive and I change the potting medium that very day. I assume all big box plants have rot. I know repotting so quick is not the best but it works for me.

Thank you for your video

Interesting, I was actually going to buy one several weeks back at a smith’s in Herriman but noticed that all the leaves were dropping, so I picked the best one out I could find and walked away but noticed most of the leaves started to fall so I brought it back to the counter to find a different one and the lady finally told me that she isn’t allowed to sell me those plants because of a recall on them all so I asked what was wrong and she said she wasn’t allowed to say…. 🤔

I bought one this week at my Krogers. I actually picked one up the week before, and test drove it around the store, but put it back at the last minute. When I saw them this week, they were down to $8. I purposely picked up a very young plant with only 4 leaves, as I figured it needed rehabbing. Now it’s down to one leaf, so I stripped the roots of soil, and have it living in water. I know it’s a risk, but leaving it n dirt was not working either. If it survives, I’m growing it in leca.

I bought one and within 5 days it had lost about 5 leaves I took it back to kroger with a full cash refund with no issue though thankfully!!! I do appreciate you doing the work so I know not to hate on the nursery cause I was big sad 😂

Don't have Kroger near me. Hadn't seen this myself. Informational. Great video!❤ love the murder mystery!!!!😂

Thanks!

Fascinating, ive been watching the ring of fire at my Kroger King Sooper in Colorado. The whole display is still full, for weeks, no one is buying them. They are small, with small leaves, kind of brownish. I keep wondering if they will mark them down because they are still at $29.99, my guess is they will all keel over before they sell one. , but i have a tissue culture on its way to me, i found for $10 on mercari. I figured that was safer than buying from the grocery. Hope mine makes it in the mail. Thanks for investigating, now im side eyeing those plants at the grocery.

You're like a Sherlock Holmes-depot . 😂 Solving plant mysteries.

Whats weird is my area (wisconsin) got ROFs in September and all of them, including mine, are doing just fine! Then again, idk what brand i got mine from, could be wild interiors??

So interesting! I got the P. Verde and rehabbed it. Might try the ring of fire. I have a wicked virus right now so stuck at home.

I’m in Texas and where I live we don’t have Kroger’s, our HEBs had ROF and some other formerly expensive plants just a couple of months ago, they were only $26 and sold out fast. I didn’t buy any because we’re getting married in December and I’m trying to remind myself that plants will still be there later and I don’t need them all immediately. I haven’t heard. If any of this weird leaf dropping locally though.

I bought mine at Fred Meyer about 3 weeks ago and it’s hanging on so far 😬 the ones at the store all looked great so I’m just hoping I got lucky

Idk I got 10 ring of fire from Publix in south Florida. Three weeks now no leaf loss no damage. They are growing well.

Happened to all 3 of mine from Kroger in ohio... my friends that bought them too. I tried saving them by starting them over but they didn't grow the chonk rottted eventually

I was going to go to Krogers when I was recently in a bigger city to find some of the cheap rare plants everyone has been excited about, but maybe it’s good I went to Lowe’s instead?

Good job

I was lucky enough to have a healthy one that has grown bigger and hasn't lost any leaves, plus it was just a $10 clearance. I know many here in Colorado had problems. I've had mine a little over 2 weeks.

When this video started, I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear Ashley’s conclusion stated as “tHe RoBoTs ArE KiLLiNg OuR pLaNtS!!!!” but I’m not mad about it, in fact I am absolutely cackling 😅😂🤣

I haven't seen these guys in stores in my area in Canada yet but when I buy plants that are overwatered I take out of the pot and sniff for rot, if it passes the sniff test I bring it home and plop it down on microfiber rags and microfiber sucks out SO MUCH WATER compared to a regular towel or paper towel. I swear the dollar store microfiber cloths have saved like 20 of my plants and made it so I didn't need to do emergency repots aka further stressing the plant. Even then, my plant 6 from the grocery store motto generally is "if the cover pot would cost what I'm paying without a plant then at least I'm have the pot" 🤣 example I got an ivory coast alocasia in a 7 inch ceramic pot on a wooden stand for 20 dollars. The pot and stand couldn't be bought for that price so it was worth it BC I love alocasia and the pot was a deal on its own!

The world is ending. Self driving trucks loaded by the little robots like the ones that clean Walmart?! AHHHHHHH!!! Am I the only one who this makes nervous?! lol

I am curious. My ring of fire I just bought from Kroger is doing great thankfully. She's thriving and surviving. I'm in CO btw. And they sent us baby rof 😂. She's small but alive lol

88k members now. They are growing quickly!

Lol @ the person who bought 12. That’s what happens when you try to be greedy. 😂😂

First off we need wall•e and Eva haha. when I see the plants filled with water like that I take some of the plants out of the pots and pour all the water into the pots my mom just shakes her head I'm like what they're all going to die.

I liked this video style! Your passion was palpable. Video was a bit redundant so I had to watch in two sessions. Good work tho!

If it was cold damage wouldn't there be wilted soggy leaves? Ive bought plants before that got cold damaged during shipping and there was very visual damage. I also feel its on both of them not just one or the other. R&D should take other means to get their product out like other nurseries do. Kroger has plenty of other house plants that this does not happen too so its very confusing to me.

My local Fred Meyer florist manager. He told me Fred Meyer ships the plants in refrigerated trucks......it's not the nursery it's Fred Meyer.

My local stores haven’t reduced them yet. I have one. It’s ok so far

I'm glad I couldn't find any at Smith's.

Yes!! For sure with Kroger, all plants come in with the flowers on refrigerated trucks. I came upon a Costa Farms box years ago where the boxes and plants inside were so cold! Some plants fare much better as I have several plants from Kroger that ended up fine. But other plants are not so lucky with the trip on the collllllld trucks. I will NEVER understand Kroger doing this. And from what I understand, it is Kroger, not the nurseries/greenhouses as they are first sent to distribution centers before being loaded onto the refrigerated trucks.