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1. If you need any plant, and on a budget, try not to spend money on pots and soil. Some big companies like to sell you the complete package:plant plus pot plus soil. But if you just need a plant, remember all the extras do cost money to ship to you. Bare-rooted plants are a very inexpensive way of creating your indoor plant collection and some often ship well. You can even buy cuttings. So consider all options before you buy.
2. Some plants just don't do well in shipping.
We are speaking from the experience of plants which over the years failed to do well from A (in Florida) to B(our US customers).
These insights are based on our experiences with USPS priority shipping, plants packed and shipped same day in cardboard boxes and wrapped in multiple layers of soft tissue.
Here are the worst:
Tradescantia zebrina
Tradescantia pallida
Purple passion gynura
Prayer plants
Boston ivy
Highly variegated pothos plants
Here are the winners:
Pothos plants plain, non-variegated
Parlor palms
Sansevieria plants, especially cylindrica.
Aglaonema plants, especially Siam Aurora.
Areca palms.
Syngoniums.
Elephant ear plants.
Philodendrons.
3. Check the Seller feedback. Always.
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This might sound obvious, but plant sellers are not selling you uniform products. One size 10 shoe is much like another in the same line. But a plant in a four inch shipping pot can look quite different from its neighboring plant. Why? Two reasons:plants do vary and because a picture of a the same plant can so easily be made to look tall and lush at the click of a mouse . Change contrast and light and you'll see from the pictures below that the exact same plant can look healthy or rather unwell. For this reason make your choice as much on seller feedback as on what you see because comments from buyers in the form of feedback do tell an accurate tale. Avoid any company for which star ratings are not provided for each houseplant.
4.Look carefully. You are buying a picture of a plant, not the plant itself. This might sound obvious, but the picture of a houseplant might easily have been taken years ago.
You might also need to have an actual measure in inches or cm of exactly what you are buying. When you look at the webpages of many houseplant sellers, you'll see that the size of the pot is often used as a measure- 4inch, 6 inch, 10 inch.But the size of a pot tells you nothing of the actual size of the plant in it.
Look below at the difference a simple ruler makes to the information you need to buy for example a cactus.If enough information isn't shown, like pot size, height ,etc.,the contact seller button is what you need before you buy.Also remember something called "a 4 inch pot" can differ wildly in volume (ie size) from another 4 inch pot because the number 4 refers only to the top diameter. Height and volume of the pot are also needed if you want to know the actual size of your new roots and your new houseplant's potential for growth.
6.Go for "Collections".Many sellers are able to offer several plants for a very reasonable price.
The Emeritus Gardens Collection
The reason is simple. Shipping is paid for by weight and size. Usually you can ship an average plant in a 6 inch pot at the cost for 2lb by weight. But a plant weighing in at 2lb and 1oz will actually cost the seller what a 3lb plant would cost. Yes, the USPS service "ups" the charge for shipping to the next pound by weight! So, buying a few plants makes sense. You can often get four plants in four-inch pots into a 4lb box. The same plants shipped separately would cost way more.
7.Your plant arrives dead. How do you get value for your money in this case?
All plants are perishable, and the USPS service excludes these from their well-advertised insurance on Priority shipments. But it is not your job to chase up the USPS shipping service. You need quick results here.
First,contact the seller by pressing the "contact the seller button". Keep it short and include only these details.
Just received (add date and time)
I have a photo (add photo if possible)
Condition of the box
Need a replacement.
Request immediate reply.
Remember the seller has control over quality of plant plus quality of shipping materials.The shipping company does the rest, in this case the demise of a good plant.The message to the seller will probably have a 24hr response time or less so you'll need to wait for the reply. On Amazon and other websites, sellers are timed on response times. Discount auto-generated messages when assessing seller reply times and styles. You are looking for real results. Replies fall into a few categories;
Response "it's not my problem" is not likely, but can happen. Go directly to the selling website and request a refund.Leave a one star review. This could well prompt the seller to actually do something useful, like refund or replace.
Response "send it back" requires a shipping label from the seller, involves your time, and allows the seller to keep your money during a period when you have not received your chosen houseplant. Ask for a new plant, with tracking number. Then wait for the outcome before leaving a 3+ star review. A low review disuades sellers from this ploy. Most buyers don't have time and know-how to send plants back. You need a new plant without that bother.
Response "sorry about that, here's a new one".Send note of thanks, requesting tracking. Wait for the replacement to arrive. Provide a five star review. With double shipping costs, it is possible this seller is making a loss on the sale. Reward with a favorable comment.
8. Failure to thrive. This is a hard one. If the plant you bought looked OK but well, now, after a month or so it looks weary how do you get value for money? The answer is simple:start with the seller.
Questions you'll need to be able to answer are these:
When did it arrive?
When was the plant unpacked?
Was it OK when it arrived?
Did you repot the houseplant?
Can you send a picture?
These are important. The first question tells the seller how long your sad plant was in transit. This is where most damage happens. Sellers do have tracking information, and can see where their plants are or are not,but this is not always exact. Your houseplant may have been held up for days en route, for example at one of thedistribution centers.
The second question is equally important. Some orders are left in the mailbox or mailrooms for days. Even one day might lead to plant damage which shows up only later. Tracking never reveals mailbox or mail room time, so you are helping the seller with this insight into possible transit delays.
The third question does in fact make taking an "arrival" picture of all your online plant purchases a very sensible habit. It takes a second and allows a useful comparison. You can also use the picture to send your seller a "thank you, got it" message.
The repotting question is most important. We have had "it didn't thrive" many times and we're easily able to trace the issue to the repotting. Many new buyers need a bit of help with basics like "plants need good drainage". A pot with a hole at the bottom is essential. Grandma's teapot might look great, but is no good for your new plant, also putting a small plant into a great big pot has been shown not best practice, a correct upgrade in size being best.
Seller policy varies widely on this. Typically a picture will tell all and in general few sellers want you to look at an ailing plant with their name on it. Repeat business and loyalty is the name of the online houseplant sales game. Use this idea to your best advantage in getting either help or a replacement plant.
9. Plant pests. When you buy a plant online, you are buying potential problems if the plant is not from a reputable registered nursery.Here is an important rule for every online plant buyer. State-registered nurseries are inspected annually. The standards of plant care and propagation are assured in this important way.Backyard gardening is unregulated in the US, and all sellers are able to put their houseplants up for sale.
You can check before buying if the houseplant is from a reputable nursery by simply going online or sending a message. But being aware of the hazards is essential if you have other houseplants and are concerned about cross-infection. The best practice if your new plant arrives without documentation, is to simply keep it far away from existing plants until quite sure of its safety around your existing plant collection.
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