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Hey nick! This video was brought to my attention several times and after watching I’m just a bit confused how Alice and I made it into the part of your video regarding influencer partnership with a business and not being transparent.. I’m not sure if you actually watch my/our videos, but we are extremely transparent when we show plants we’re propagating to sell through NST. I actually use my channel to promote the plants I’m selling through her, post on my IG stories to show which plants will be available and even during the live sales Alice and I will get on screen and show our own plants to sell them. So I’m not really sure how more transparent we could be unless I’m missing something?
@@tinabeall22 I don’t feel like it matters how long my video was being used in the video, he has every right to use it. But I think it’s fair to assume that anyone who is being shown during a section of a video where they’re talking about a certain issue (talking in a cautionary context), you would also wonder if that creator was talking about you. I didn’t see this video myself, it was sent to me via DM a few times because they had made the same assumption I did after watching that segment of the video. I don’t feel like I was being distasteful in trying to get clarification if this was being directed toward me/us as I was just giving my side in terms of the topic he was talking about. As a creator, if people thought what I was doing was not being transparent to my audience I’d want to be made aware of it?
I'm honestly ashamed how much negativity this is bringing to Nick's comment section, I really don't want to bring that to anyone's channel. I'll be deleting my comments here since the person they were for has seen them.
@@tinabeall22 if the video or that segment is about me, you’re right, it doesn’t change my life.. but it certainly would make me reassess the way I approach things. There are many things that have been said to me that have made me reassess how I continue to create content online. I’m always the first to say I’m not not perfect. And if the things I’m doing on a large platform is somehow contributing negatively to the plant community, I 100% would take that to heart and would absolutely not wanna be categorized as someone who isn’t transparent. Also I agree, he touches on topics that *should* be talked about and I actually agree with them, which is why I didn’t comment about those things specifically. At the end of the day, i don’t hate nick for this video at all and I truly didn’t think getting clarification would come across as being distasteful. Anyhoo, that’s all I’m gonna say because I don’t wanna flood his comment section with all of this! But I see where you’re coming from and hope you can see things from my perspective too.
Hi Charmaine, thanks for stopping by - I really appreciate your taking the time to comment. I've watched your channel since your faceless days and I've actually purchased a plant from your in the past (sadly it's no longer with us, but it lived a relatively good, albeit short life. 😉) If what I posted caused you offence or consternation, that was most definitely not intentional on my part. I believe if you watch my video in its entirety, you'll see that I'm trying to raise a few questions about relationships between the broad gamut of "plant agents" or middle-persons, recognized growers/sellers (e.g.: Wuhoo Tropicals, Kartel Daun, Rare Plant Fairy, Salad Beard Farms, Greenspaces.id, etc.), plant influencers, livesales, group sales, and the more prolific breeders/hybridizers on social media. From what I've seen, while there's a lot of chatter about this in private groups, these issues are rarely discussed in public forums where the uninitiated can actually participate - or at least follow along - and often are glossed over over in passing in videos/posts on the subject. Sometimes these relationships are addressed *once* in a single video here or there, after which the assumption seems to be that everyone is in the loop. I don't believe this to be the case, and from the feedback I've received, there are a lot of confused or uneducated folks out there looking for some clarity. I think that if you re-watch the specific clip that I used from your channel (with credit - I can also add a link to your channel to the video description if you'd like a backlink, although I don't believe I mentioned your channel by name), you'll see that it has captions enabled. That clip was in response to a question received from one of your viewers, in which you reference how many of your plants were acquired as gifts (or trades.) I think I probably should have zoomed the clip onto the captions region to make it more obvious, which was my mistake. Most of the plants shown in that video (and many others) come from a specific, well-known-yet-mysterious grower/seller that you (and Alice, and others) often reference and post links to in your video descriptions. As far as I understand it, that grower runs a thriving business based off selling these plants and has a large following. From discussions I've had with several plant folks recently, there definitely seems to be some confusion regarding that type of arrangement, and I truly don't think it hurts to clarify some of the ambiguity surrounding it. My suggestion, as some other UA-camrs already do (see around 30:13 in this video for an example), is to tag videos as including paid promotional content or products when they include goods (in this case, plants) that are either directly for sale, or that were acquired in barter for services rendered (e.g. promotion of a business in a video.) If the end provider of goods is a seller, I think this goes a long way to clearing up some unnecessary ambiguity. I'm particularly concerned about folks who may be first-time or inexperienced buyers, or just casual viewers who may not know some of the details behind how these plants were acquired and make impactful financial decisions in an uninformed way based off what they see. I obviously don't think there is any intent here to confuse folks, but I do believe that is still a very possible outcome without some more explicit clarification. I definitely commend you for being very transparent about how you sell your merch as well as products via NST (in store or via their livesales), and the clip in question was actually used specifically to point out the fact that you were explaining how you hadn't paid for many of the plants you were displaying. Hopefully that's clarification enough for the usage. That all being said, I should probably thank the folks (plural? 😊) who sent you this video, since it's a great way to initiate some discussion on the topic and make your opinions heard. Thanks again for dropping by, and I'll continue to look forward to your upcoming videos!
@@theproppist morning nick! sorry took awhile for me to reply- pregnancy hormones has me in bed so early these days. anyhoo, thank you for the clarification! that's really all i was looking for. in terms of the seller you might be talking about (i thiiiink i know who you're referring to?) we've actually never had any kind of arrangement where there was an exchange of goods for promotion or anything. we're actually just really good friends, and she sends me plants from time to time and it's always been my decision to post it. she rarely sells plants, and when she does it's in small batches and usually to her inner circle + occassional sales in her IG stories but she's not very active at all which is why people have such a hard time getting plants from her. but i never thought it was appropriate to disclose it as a "paid promotion" or "sponsorship" because it's actually not even close to that at all. and i thought maybe in the many times i've talked about her plants, and how i say she's so generous and i don't deserve all the things she spoils me with it would be inferred that they were gifts. anyway, i don't think all of that needed to be said, but if anyone was looking for clarity with that specific relationship, hopefully that provided that. anyway, someone else commented that this back and forth dialogue was being perceived as negativity and i don't wanna contribute to that, so i'm just gonna leave it at that! (and thank you for watching my videos!)
That's awesome, thanks Heather - glad you enjoyed it! Based on the feedback I've gotten over the last 24 hours I'll definitely be doing more stuff like this in the future. I'm open to suggestions, too. 😉
💯 - I think this is the perfect attitude to have. I realized pretty quickly that trying to buy things in this current plant climate with a "(re-)seller" mentality was doomed to failure. I don't have the operational capacity or time to propagate at the scale necessary to make a profit at this, so ideally what I want is just to sell enough to cover my costs/purchases. If I can manage that, I'm gold. The prices drop waaaay too fast for me to keep up with the latest trends and keep cycling in/out new product to not lose money, so why bother, right? 🤷♂️ Not worth the stress!
Hello and Happy Safe New Years! New plant mom you open my eyes to what I totally knew. When your on a budget its great to know this stuff. So thanks for sharing !
Hey there, happy new year! 🥳 Glad you enjoyed it and found it useful - not trying to scare anyone here, just making sure folks are safe and educate themselves a bit before buying anything. Especially once you start getting into some of the fancier "name" plants hybrids out there, it's worth spending the extra time doing a little research to cover your bases before you splurge. Budgets and "plant bans" are things for a reason, right? 😉
I love being able to buy rare plants online, BUT I've had sellers on Etsy send me a (less rare, cheaper) different plant than I bought. Fortunately Etsy refunded me. And these are fairly large sellers. If they don't have a photo of the exact plant. If I am going to buy something super rare, I'd go to a reputable online nursery. I live in WA and there is a popular shop in Freemont that is SOO overpriced for 80% of what they sell. I JUST bought a plant from Greenhues! I'm glad to see they're reputable and on your list.
Well, hello again. Very interesting video. I am too cheap to buy "rare" plants. But I totally enjoy Sean's channel because he gives insight into the business, the sellers, and he's willing to answer my questions, etc... Happy New Year, Nick! I like this type of video. 😊
Thanks Mona! Glad you enjoyed it. I find that some of these "rare" plants can be had for pretty affordable prices (I've seen some relatively nice hybrid Anthurium seeds recently going for $18 CAD which falls into my "affordable" category) if you can do the legwork of actually germinating and growing them out. I find that part really rewarding and fun (although it can be slow going) so I don't mind it, personally. A lot of the fancier plants from ~12-18m+ ago are also pretty reasonably priced on Ecuagenera/Tropicals/etc. these days. In any case, I'm not here to push expensive plants on anyone! 😂 Just want to make sure folks aren't getting scammed in the process, as there's a ton of misinformation and plain poor information floating around out there.
This video got me thinking 🤔 lol Your content is fun to watch, definitely entertaining. Now im curious to know who was buying plants prior to Covid and the cost of those plants at that time, vs who and cost during Covid, and now. Nurseries, museums, ‘private collectors’- what qualifies as private collector? Are these people somehow connected in the plant business, famous people, or a spoiled rich kid?
Hey Arianna, thanks for watching and appreciate the feedback! All good questions - pre-COVID there was a healthy plant market but I do think casual buyers (i.e. for home decor/design, landscaping, urban gardening), businesses (resellers, professional gardeners and garden centres), and private collectors were kind of the different parts of the spectrum there. The pandemic opened things up to that much broader middle range of folks who were looking for a new hobby to go all-in on and had some cash to spend. Now that has probably tailed off somewhat as things have opened up and people have shifted back to prior or new hobbies, but it's still fascinating to watch the industry and specifically pricing trends over the course of the couple of years since. I'm still noodling some options for tools to monitor price trends in a public way, hopefully I'll have some time to work on it in 2024. Thanks for stopping by and keep an eye out for the next video! 💚
You were 100% on the right track with some of the hybridizers. People like Doc Block and Jay intentionally choose for themselves to not interact or sell to the public, as they have their own careers not in plants (in Doc Block's case) and truly do it as a hobby, so those hybridizers have found a sweet spot of doing the hybrid work, but then providing the baby plants to established brands/growers to grow out, sell, and ultimately pay a % of the sales price back to the hybridizer. This let's those folks not have to actually run a shop, while still getting to do what they love. @32:30
Leafing Around is an awesome channel, she works with Sean from Only Plants often. Thoroughly enjoy her channel and yours. Thanks for the great content. Definitely enjoy this format. New Sub, also spent 23 yrs in tech 😊✨
Hey Billie-Jo! I feel your pain, I realized last year I had hit 25 years working in tech. And still at it. 😂 I've watched Leafing Around in the past, but she hasn't come up in my YT feed for a while, so I'll have to go dig through her latest videos and see what's new. I recall seeing a collab on Sean's channel a few months back, I'll have to watch it. Appreciate the reminder and thanks for being here! 💚
Hyper critical video of people just living their lives, creating content, selling plants and making people happy in the process. UPDATE: I was super critical of Nick after not having the best day. If you’re reading this, watch Nick … he’s great! Apologies, Nick.
Hi J, thanks for stopping by and for your feedback. I think if you watched the video in its entirety you would likely see that it was almost entirely positive, with a couple of segments seeking clarity in a few areas that can be a little opaque/obscure to casual viewers of plant content. The general idea was just to make sure folks are fully informed before making what could be relatively large financial and time investments in "rare" or uncommon houseplants. I would think that's not a bad thing to encourage. I definitely don't think this a "hit piece" of any kind, or particularly critical in the least, so I'm surprised you would think it is. There's *much* more negative and critical content out there on houseplants, specifically, (I'm sure I could find you 5 examples in a couple of minutes of quick searching on YT.) In any case, the vast majority of the feedback I've received thus far has been overwhelmingly positive, so as they say, "you do you." There are plenty of channels out there who only post consistently feel-good stuff without digging any deeper or prompting any kind of further discussion or thought. I'd suggest you check those out instead if this channel or my content isn't your jam. Thanks for watching! 💚
@@theproppist Thanks for your response. I appreciate it as knowing your intent (which you generously took the time to explain) puts your content in context. As for my context, I think I was having a bad day and very likely saw things through a negative lens, which I wasn’t aware of at the time. Love your videos by the way and I had no idea that you are Canadian as I had just assumed you were U.S. based. I’m also a fellow Canadian. Keep up the insightful content. 👍
Great video Nick! A very interesting discussion that doesn't get the attention it deserves. I often feel that having little experience in the hobby could lead to people being taken for a ride with plants especially when it comes to not having a centralised pricing system in place. It can seem quite daunting at first. Shopping around and comparing prices from multiple sellers I think is the only way to get perceived value but prices are so volatile I now tend to wait a while as a consumer. I've bought "investment" plants before just for cuttings to be sold for a fraction of the price in today's landscape. When it comes to collecting, I find the thrill of the chase to be almost as rewarding as having that plant in the collection and in my care. Maybe waiting for prices to drop isn't a bad idea on my part.
Hey there - I'm in right there in agreement with you. And when you're dealing with complex hybrids or named parent plants that come from prestigious breeders, it's even harder because there just aren't that many options out there to compare against. It's a bit of a fool's errand at that point, and I think the best you can do is just feel comfortable about what the going market rates are for certain breeds and hybrids and - if you have the ability to - get some feedback on prices from fellow collectors. Thankfully I'm part of two or three *very* active plant chats/groups (and Discord & FB) where it's not too hard to get an opinion on something one way or another. At the end of the day, though, I think you have to be your own barometer and decide what you're comfortable paying for something. And like I mentioned in my reply to the previous commenter, I've mostly given up on the idea of trying to profit in the least off of these plants as I just don't have the consistent, high-quality import and grower connections or the TIME needed to cultivate this kind of setup. If I end up breeding something worth selling, I'll take the win there, otherwise my goal is just to try and recoup some (if not all) of my costs to purchase new plants and eventually cover some of the growing gear as well. Right now I am.... VERY deep in the red on plants and plant-related paraphernalia, so the best I can do is try to make light of the situation and take the edge off the costs somewhat by selling a few planty odds-and-ends whenever I get the chance. I don't ever expect to setup shop like a Kaylee Ellen or Pretty In Green because my day job pays me well enough that it would take me years of effort to make up the difference. 😂
Not sure why me and my cute lamb from probably 2 years ago were put in your video. With 1,500 followers, I am most definitely not an influencer. I happened to make friends with people all over Canada because of my plant collection. That’s how I found you used my picture.
Hi Pamela - I think if you watch the video in context (your clip is actually quickly scrolled-by, embedded at 47:37 in Amy / @bare.root.contessa 's Instagram Story sharing her sales, which happens to start in 2022), you'll see that I'm just talking about Canadians participating in live sales and purchasing plants from boutique vendors, which is all positive. Funnily enough I never noticed your lamb, as I was focused on the rest of the story - he/she is very cute! I actually did. not embed your clip directly as it was part of her IG Story, but your Instagram handle (@vandewater) is displayed/credited in the embedded photo. I am a Canadian customer of Amy's (she's awesome) and I've actually gotten feedback directly from her that she enjoyed the video, so please take that for what it's worth. This video is mainly positive, encouraging folks to do their due diligence before purchasing from social sellers. If you give it a watch through when you have some free time you'll see that your image was used in a positive context regarding a seller I trust.
Hey Dan - thanks so much, appreciate the support! Based on the feedback I've gotten since posting this, I'll definitely be doing more stuff like this in the future! 🤘
Future video idea: The ways, particularly internationally, growers intentionally treat plants in order to encourage/develop variegation on things that didn't previously have variegation.
Appreciate the suggestion! Not an area I have expertise in but I can do some research. I know Kaylee Ellen (@KayleeEllenOfficial) has discussed it in a couple of her "Dish the Dirt" episodes, like the Pink Congo, etc. Added it to my ideas list anyhow! 🤘
Thanks for the sub and glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, I've covered myco in the past a bit but it might be worth doing a bit of a recap / deeper dive at some point because I think it's still relatively misunderstood.
The Blue Oil Fern is amazing, purchased mine from ill Exotica in Pennsylvania, Summer Rayne Oaks introduced me to the shop. She has an amazing channel. Also Flock Finger Lakes, that is an excellent channel all about homesteading
Haha, I was waiting for someone to bring up the fern in the comments. 100% no disrespect for the plant itself, it's really beautiful and I would gladly have one in my collection. I just laughed again today when I saw Kaylee Ellen's latest video and it was the first plant featured. 😆 I'm a big SRO fan and I watch both her main channel and the homestead one. I've listened to all of her Bad Seeds podcasts, too - if you haven't checked those out, they're great. Had me and my kids hooked on long car rides!
@@theproppist I was giggling to myself When I was typing about the Fern, I’m so glad you saw the humor 😹😹 Huge SRO fan, I’ve listened to all the Bad Seed episodes a few times, looking forward to when she returns.
I'm all about the humour... and sarcasm. Sometimes that doesn't translate too well in comments but at least video gives me the opportunity to be a little more obvious and laugh things off. 😬 I just hope I didn't piss too many people off with some of the topics I covered, haha!
And.. what pests are you inviting into your indoor garden.. I bought one plant, and everyone is now infested with fungus gnats. They're all turning their backs on me and giving me the silent treatment 😢😮😢
Absolutely, fungus gnats were the bane of my existence until I went pretty much full-on semi-hydro. Since then I've really only seen them infrequently in imports or new purchases and then I've been able to get rid of them pretty quickly with a combination of bottom-watering and ditching soil altogether. The yellow and blue sticky traps are also handy, if an eyesore. One you go semi-hydro you don't go back! 🤘😆
This is the best semi-hydro GEAR to repot all those new imports and purchases into for 2024 👉ua-cam.com/video/t37ys6UKcvo/v-deo.html
Wanna CHOP UP some plants with me? ✂🌱👉 ua-cam.com/video/O1EXE-yn6eg/v-deo.html
Hey nick! This video was brought to my attention several times and after watching I’m just a bit confused how Alice and I made it into the part of your video regarding influencer partnership with a business and not being transparent.. I’m not sure if you actually watch my/our videos, but we are extremely transparent when we show plants we’re propagating to sell through NST. I actually use my channel to promote the plants I’m selling through her, post on my IG stories to show which plants will be available and even during the live sales Alice and I will get on screen and show our own plants to sell them. So I’m not really sure how more transparent we could be unless I’m missing something?
@@tinabeall22 I don’t feel like it matters how long my video was being used in the video, he has every right to use it. But I think it’s fair to assume that anyone who is being shown during a section of a video where they’re talking about a certain issue (talking in a cautionary context), you would also wonder if that creator was talking about you. I didn’t see this video myself, it was sent to me via DM a few times because they had made the same assumption I did after watching that segment of the video. I don’t feel like I was being distasteful in trying to get clarification if this was being directed toward me/us as I was just giving my side in terms of the topic he was talking about. As a creator, if people thought what I was doing was not being transparent to my audience I’d want to be made aware of it?
I'm honestly ashamed how much negativity this is bringing to Nick's comment section, I really don't want to bring that to anyone's channel. I'll be deleting my comments here since the person they were for has seen them.
@@tinabeall22 if the video or that segment is about me, you’re right, it doesn’t change my life.. but it certainly would make me reassess the way I approach things. There are many things that have been said to me that have made me reassess how I continue to create content online. I’m always the first to say I’m not not perfect. And if the things I’m doing on a large platform is somehow contributing negatively to the plant community, I 100% would take that to heart and would absolutely not wanna be categorized as someone who isn’t transparent. Also I agree, he touches on topics that *should* be talked about and I actually agree with them, which is why I didn’t comment about those things specifically. At the end of the day, i don’t hate nick for this video at all and I truly didn’t think getting clarification would come across as being distasteful. Anyhoo, that’s all I’m gonna say because I don’t wanna flood his comment section with all of this! But I see where you’re coming from and hope you can see things from my perspective too.
Hi Charmaine, thanks for stopping by - I really appreciate your taking the time to comment. I've watched your channel since your faceless days and I've actually purchased a plant from your in the past (sadly it's no longer with us, but it lived a relatively good, albeit short life. 😉) If what I posted caused you offence or consternation, that was most definitely not intentional on my part.
I believe if you watch my video in its entirety, you'll see that I'm trying to raise a few questions about relationships between the broad gamut of "plant agents" or middle-persons, recognized growers/sellers (e.g.: Wuhoo Tropicals, Kartel Daun, Rare Plant Fairy, Salad Beard Farms, Greenspaces.id, etc.), plant influencers, livesales, group sales, and the more prolific breeders/hybridizers on social media. From what I've seen, while there's a lot of chatter about this in private groups, these issues are rarely discussed in public forums where the uninitiated can actually participate - or at least follow along - and often are glossed over over in passing in videos/posts on the subject. Sometimes these relationships are addressed *once* in a single video here or there, after which the assumption seems to be that everyone is in the loop. I don't believe this to be the case, and from the feedback I've received, there are a lot of confused or uneducated folks out there looking for some clarity.
I think that if you re-watch the specific clip that I used from your channel (with credit - I can also add a link to your channel to the video description if you'd like a backlink, although I don't believe I mentioned your channel by name), you'll see that it has captions enabled. That clip was in response to a question received from one of your viewers, in which you reference how many of your plants were acquired as gifts (or trades.) I think I probably should have zoomed the clip onto the captions region to make it more obvious, which was my mistake. Most of the plants shown in that video (and many others) come from a specific, well-known-yet-mysterious grower/seller that you (and Alice, and others) often reference and post links to in your video descriptions. As far as I understand it, that grower runs a thriving business based off selling these plants and has a large following. From discussions I've had with several plant folks recently, there definitely seems to be some confusion regarding that type of arrangement, and I truly don't think it hurts to clarify some of the ambiguity surrounding it.
My suggestion, as some other UA-camrs already do (see around 30:13 in this video for an example), is to tag videos as including paid promotional content or products when they include goods (in this case, plants) that are either directly for sale, or that were acquired in barter for services rendered (e.g. promotion of a business in a video.) If the end provider of goods is a seller, I think this goes a long way to clearing up some unnecessary ambiguity. I'm particularly concerned about folks who may be first-time or inexperienced buyers, or just casual viewers who may not know some of the details behind how these plants were acquired and make impactful financial decisions in an uninformed way based off what they see. I obviously don't think there is any intent here to confuse folks, but I do believe that is still a very possible outcome without some more explicit clarification.
I definitely commend you for being very transparent about how you sell your merch as well as products via NST (in store or via their livesales), and the clip in question was actually used specifically to point out the fact that you were explaining how you hadn't paid for many of the plants you were displaying. Hopefully that's clarification enough for the usage.
That all being said, I should probably thank the folks (plural? 😊) who sent you this video, since it's a great way to initiate some discussion on the topic and make your opinions heard. Thanks again for dropping by, and I'll continue to look forward to your upcoming videos!
@@theproppist morning nick! sorry took awhile for me to reply- pregnancy hormones has me in bed so early these days. anyhoo, thank you for the clarification! that's really all i was looking for. in terms of the seller you might be talking about (i thiiiink i know who you're referring to?) we've actually never had any kind of arrangement where there was an exchange of goods for promotion or anything. we're actually just really good friends, and she sends me plants from time to time and it's always been my decision to post it. she rarely sells plants, and when she does it's in small batches and usually to her inner circle + occassional sales in her IG stories but she's not very active at all which is why people have such a hard time getting plants from her. but i never thought it was appropriate to disclose it as a "paid promotion" or "sponsorship" because it's actually not even close to that at all. and i thought maybe in the many times i've talked about her plants, and how i say she's so generous and i don't deserve all the things she spoils me with it would be inferred that they were gifts. anyway, i don't think all of that needed to be said, but if anyone was looking for clarity with that specific relationship, hopefully that provided that.
anyway, someone else commented that this back and forth dialogue was being perceived as negativity and i don't wanna contribute to that, so i'm just gonna leave it at that! (and thank you for watching my videos!)
Great video my friend! The stuff I’ve been seeing in the plant groups lately hits this video right on the head!
I’d definitely love more content like this!
That's awesome, thanks Heather - glad you enjoyed it! Based on the feedback I've gotten over the last 24 hours I'll definitely be doing more stuff like this in the future. I'm open to suggestions, too. 😉
Good video. Ive learned to buy what i like ,as a hobbyist, and not a seller, so im not as focused on lineage.
💯 - I think this is the perfect attitude to have. I realized pretty quickly that trying to buy things in this current plant climate with a "(re-)seller" mentality was doomed to failure. I don't have the operational capacity or time to propagate at the scale necessary to make a profit at this, so ideally what I want is just to sell enough to cover my costs/purchases. If I can manage that, I'm gold.
The prices drop waaaay too fast for me to keep up with the latest trends and keep cycling in/out new product to not lose money, so why bother, right? 🤷♂️ Not worth the stress!
Hello and Happy Safe New Years! New plant mom you open my eyes to what I totally knew. When your on a budget its great to know this stuff. So thanks for sharing !
Hey there, happy new year! 🥳 Glad you enjoyed it and found it useful - not trying to scare anyone here, just making sure folks are safe and educate themselves a bit before buying anything. Especially once you start getting into some of the fancier "name" plants hybrids out there, it's worth spending the extra time doing a little research to cover your bases before you splurge.
Budgets and "plant bans" are things for a reason, right? 😉
My first UA-cam watch of 2024! Happy New Years!!
Happy new year to you! 🥳
I love being able to buy rare plants online, BUT I've had sellers on Etsy send me a (less rare, cheaper) different plant than I bought. Fortunately Etsy refunded me. And these are fairly large sellers. If they don't have a photo of the exact plant. If I am going to buy something super rare, I'd go to a reputable online nursery. I live in WA and there is a popular shop in Freemont that is SOO overpriced for 80% of what they sell. I JUST bought a plant from Greenhues! I'm glad to see they're reputable and on your list.
Well, hello again. Very interesting video. I am too cheap to buy "rare" plants. But I totally enjoy Sean's channel because he gives insight into the business, the sellers, and he's willing to answer my questions, etc... Happy New Year, Nick! I like this type of video. 😊
Thanks Mona! Glad you enjoyed it. I find that some of these "rare" plants can be had for pretty affordable prices (I've seen some relatively nice hybrid Anthurium seeds recently going for $18 CAD which falls into my "affordable" category) if you can do the legwork of actually germinating and growing them out. I find that part really rewarding and fun (although it can be slow going) so I don't mind it, personally. A lot of the fancier plants from ~12-18m+ ago are also pretty reasonably priced on Ecuagenera/Tropicals/etc. these days.
In any case, I'm not here to push expensive plants on anyone! 😂 Just want to make sure folks aren't getting scammed in the process, as there's a ton of misinformation and plain poor information floating around out there.
@@theproppist I totally understand your point. Buyer beware is good advice. Good to see you again. Love your videos
This video got me thinking 🤔 lol
Your content is fun to watch, definitely entertaining.
Now im curious to know who was buying plants prior to Covid and the cost of those plants at that time, vs who and cost during Covid, and now. Nurseries, museums, ‘private collectors’- what qualifies as private collector? Are these people somehow connected in the plant business, famous people, or a spoiled rich kid?
Hey Arianna, thanks for watching and appreciate the feedback! All good questions - pre-COVID there was a healthy plant market but I do think casual buyers (i.e. for home decor/design, landscaping, urban gardening), businesses (resellers, professional gardeners and garden centres), and private collectors were kind of the different parts of the spectrum there.
The pandemic opened things up to that much broader middle range of folks who were looking for a new hobby to go all-in on and had some cash to spend. Now that has probably tailed off somewhat as things have opened up and people have shifted back to prior or new hobbies, but it's still fascinating to watch the industry and specifically pricing trends over the course of the couple of years since. I'm still noodling some options for tools to monitor price trends in a public way, hopefully I'll have some time to work on it in 2024. Thanks for stopping by and keep an eye out for the next video! 💚
I really fond of you content you are creating
You were 100% on the right track with some of the hybridizers. People like Doc Block and Jay intentionally choose for themselves to not interact or sell to the public, as they have their own careers not in plants (in Doc Block's case) and truly do it as a hobby, so those hybridizers have found a sweet spot of doing the hybrid work, but then providing the baby plants to established brands/growers to grow out, sell, and ultimately pay a % of the sales price back to the hybridizer. This let's those folks not have to actually run a shop, while still getting to do what they love. @32:30
Leafing Around is an awesome channel, she works with Sean from Only Plants often. Thoroughly enjoy her channel and yours. Thanks for the great content. Definitely enjoy this format. New Sub, also spent 23 yrs in tech 😊✨
Hey Billie-Jo! I feel your pain, I realized last year I had hit 25 years working in tech. And still at it. 😂
I've watched Leafing Around in the past, but she hasn't come up in my YT feed for a while, so I'll have to go dig through her latest videos and see what's new. I recall seeing a collab on Sean's channel a few months back, I'll have to watch it. Appreciate the reminder and thanks for being here! 💚
Hyper critical video of people just living their lives, creating content, selling plants and making people happy in the process.
UPDATE: I was super critical of Nick after not having the best day. If you’re reading this, watch Nick … he’s great! Apologies, Nick.
Hi J, thanks for stopping by and for your feedback.
I think if you watched the video in its entirety you would likely see that it was almost entirely positive, with a couple of segments seeking clarity in a few areas that can be a little opaque/obscure to casual viewers of plant content. The general idea was just to make sure folks are fully informed before making what could be relatively large financial and time investments in "rare" or uncommon houseplants. I would think that's not a bad thing to encourage. I definitely don't think this a "hit piece" of any kind, or particularly critical in the least, so I'm surprised you would think it is. There's *much* more negative and critical content out there on houseplants, specifically, (I'm sure I could find you 5 examples in a couple of minutes of quick searching on YT.)
In any case, the vast majority of the feedback I've received thus far has been overwhelmingly positive, so as they say, "you do you." There are plenty of channels out there who only post consistently feel-good stuff without digging any deeper or prompting any kind of further discussion or thought. I'd suggest you check those out instead if this channel or my content isn't your jam. Thanks for watching! 💚
@@theproppist Thanks for your response. I appreciate it as knowing your intent (which you generously took the time to explain) puts your content in context. As for my context, I think I was having a bad day and very likely saw things through a negative lens, which I wasn’t aware of at the time. Love your videos by the way and I had no idea that you are Canadian as I had just assumed you were U.S. based.
I’m also a fellow Canadian.
Keep up the insightful content. 👍
Great video Nick! A very interesting discussion that doesn't get the attention it deserves. I often feel that having little experience in the hobby could lead to people being taken for a ride with plants especially when it comes to not having a centralised pricing system in place. It can seem quite daunting at first. Shopping around and comparing prices from multiple sellers I think is the only way to get perceived value but prices are so volatile I now tend to wait a while as a consumer. I've bought "investment" plants before just for cuttings to be sold for a fraction of the price in today's landscape. When it comes to collecting, I find the thrill of the chase to be almost as rewarding as having that plant in the collection and in my care. Maybe waiting for prices to drop isn't a bad idea on my part.
Hey there - I'm in right there in agreement with you. And when you're dealing with complex hybrids or named parent plants that come from prestigious breeders, it's even harder because there just aren't that many options out there to compare against. It's a bit of a fool's errand at that point, and I think the best you can do is just feel comfortable about what the going market rates are for certain breeds and hybrids and - if you have the ability to - get some feedback on prices from fellow collectors. Thankfully I'm part of two or three *very* active plant chats/groups (and Discord & FB) where it's not too hard to get an opinion on something one way or another. At the end of the day, though, I think you have to be your own barometer and decide what you're comfortable paying for something.
And like I mentioned in my reply to the previous commenter, I've mostly given up on the idea of trying to profit in the least off of these plants as I just don't have the consistent, high-quality import and grower connections or the TIME needed to cultivate this kind of setup. If I end up breeding something worth selling, I'll take the win there, otherwise my goal is just to try and recoup some (if not all) of my costs to purchase new plants and eventually cover some of the growing gear as well.
Right now I am.... VERY deep in the red on plants and plant-related paraphernalia, so the best I can do is try to make light of the situation and take the edge off the costs somewhat by selling a few planty odds-and-ends whenever I get the chance. I don't ever expect to setup shop like a Kaylee Ellen or Pretty In Green because my day job pays me well enough that it would take me years of effort to make up the difference. 😂
This is a really great video!
Thanks Shane, much appreciated!
Not sure why me and my cute lamb from probably 2 years ago were put in your video. With 1,500 followers, I am most definitely not an influencer. I happened to make friends with people all over Canada because of my plant collection. That’s how I found you used my picture.
Hi Pamela - I think if you watch the video in context (your clip is actually quickly scrolled-by, embedded at 47:37 in Amy / @bare.root.contessa 's Instagram Story sharing her sales, which happens to start in 2022), you'll see that I'm just talking about Canadians participating in live sales and purchasing plants from boutique vendors, which is all positive. Funnily enough I never noticed your lamb, as I was focused on the rest of the story - he/she is very cute!
I actually did. not embed your clip directly as it was part of her IG Story, but your Instagram handle (@vandewater) is displayed/credited in the embedded photo. I am a Canadian customer of Amy's (she's awesome) and I've actually gotten feedback directly from her that she enjoyed the video, so please take that for what it's worth.
This video is mainly positive, encouraging folks to do their due diligence before purchasing from social sellers. If you give it a watch through when you have some free time you'll see that your image was used in a positive context regarding a seller I trust.
More plant rants please 😂
Your wish is my command! 🪔🧞♂️
Great video!
Thank you! Much appreciated. 🙏🏼
Definitely looking forward for more content like this ❤
Hey Dan - thanks so much, appreciate the support! Based on the feedback I've gotten since posting this, I'll definitely be doing more stuff like this in the future! 🤘
Future video idea: The ways, particularly internationally, growers intentionally treat plants in order to encourage/develop variegation on things that didn't previously have variegation.
Appreciate the suggestion! Not an area I have expertise in but I can do some research. I know Kaylee Ellen (@KayleeEllenOfficial) has discussed it in a couple of her "Dish the Dirt" episodes, like the Pink Congo, etc. Added it to my ideas list anyhow! 🤘
New sub, thanks for all this info. I really love great white also. I know its what made my thia thrive
Thanks for the sub and glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, I've covered myco in the past a bit but it might be worth doing a bit of a recap / deeper dive at some point because I think it's still relatively misunderstood.
@@theproppist that would be awesome. I just started going thru your videos ,looking forward to that one.
great and creative content keep growing 420 from Quebec
Appreciate it - et merci mon chum! ⚜️🔥
The Blue Oil Fern is amazing, purchased mine from ill Exotica in Pennsylvania, Summer Rayne Oaks introduced me to the shop. She has an amazing channel. Also Flock Finger Lakes, that is an excellent channel all about homesteading
Haha, I was waiting for someone to bring up the fern in the comments. 100% no disrespect for the plant itself, it's really beautiful and I would gladly have one in my collection. I just laughed again today when I saw Kaylee Ellen's latest video and it was the first plant featured. 😆
I'm a big SRO fan and I watch both her main channel and the homestead one. I've listened to all of her Bad Seeds podcasts, too - if you haven't checked those out, they're great. Had me and my kids hooked on long car rides!
@@theproppist I was giggling to myself
When I was typing about the Fern, I’m so glad you saw the humor 😹😹
Huge SRO fan, I’ve listened to all the Bad Seed episodes a few times, looking forward to when she returns.
I'm all about the humour... and sarcasm. Sometimes that doesn't translate too well in comments but at least video gives me the opportunity to be a little more obvious and laugh things off. 😬 I just hope I didn't piss too many people off with some of the topics I covered, haha!
And.. what pests are you inviting into your indoor garden.. I bought one plant, and everyone is now infested with fungus gnats. They're all turning their backs on me and giving me the silent treatment 😢😮😢
Absolutely, fungus gnats were the bane of my existence until I went pretty much full-on semi-hydro. Since then I've really only seen them infrequently in imports or new purchases and then I've been able to get rid of them pretty quickly with a combination of bottom-watering and ditching soil altogether. The yellow and blue sticky traps are also handy, if an eyesore.
One you go semi-hydro you don't go back! 🤘😆
Nice beard
Rock on my friend. 🤘