A New Zealand buyer spent $5,291 for a plant, reportedly setting a record on an auction website for most expensive plant purchased. The nearly $5,300 price tag was for an extremely rare variegated Rhaphidophora tetrasperma, which is native to Southeast Asia.
https://www.foxnews.com/lifest...

and NZ's most expensive houseplant? A Monstera sells for $5000 on Trade Me
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-s...

Yikes!

Yes things have gotten really really out of hand. And from what I understand it is being driven by 'plant influencers' on social media. If you think there are a lot of 'help my Monstera albo cutting is rotting' on here, its 5 times as bad on FB. And the worst part is, these people will freely admit they do not know what to do with th plant. There was a post yesterday, This is paraphrased but true to the gist 'I got this M. albo cutting (and it showed a photo of the actual cutting, which was a really NICE one, huge, 3 leaves, adventitious roots intact) paid $495 plus shipping...now I need to find out how to grow it! Can anyone help?' Would you drop $500 on a plant you know nothing about? yet this is rampant.

Responders to the post were divided into 2 camps....'Why in hell did you drop $500 on a plant you don;t know how to grow?' (which had I responded would have been my comment) and 'Leave her alone she can spend her money on whatever she wants'.

The problem is these people are driving up the cost of plants for EVERYONE.

I put an anthurium on an auction site, it was basically a rooted stem cutting with 3 small leaves...I thought I might get $100. It sold for $400. And you know what? I actually felt GUILTY.

And then there was this....a lady who I believe was in Italy was at her local plant place and there was a table of very nice Anthurium scherzianum (I probably misspelled that) both the pure one and several nice hybrids. They were priced at 9 euros which I understand is dirt cheap. What were the responses? Of course there were a lot of 'beautiful plants!!" and then there were all the vultures saying "I would buy that whole table full and resell them". And this from people who are not licensed to resell plants for the most part

Gina1960 said: What were the responses? Of course there were a lot of 'beautiful plants!!" and then there were all the vultures saying "I would buy that whole table full and resell them". And this from people who are not licensed to resell plants for the most part

Wow... I'm in disbelief that people would think that way and so freely admit it! So shameless and disappointing. Price gouging is so unethical and it seems like there is no way to stop it unless *every body* banded together and said no to paying exorbitant amounts for plants.

I have been down to Ecuagenera USA (the Ecuadorean aroid growers) they have a brick and mortar nursery 2 hours from me and there have been people I recognize from Facebook buying a couple thousand dollars worth of Philodendrons, Monsteras and Anthuriums and talking about how they will resell them and make $$$ on them. The prices at the nursery generally range between $15-60 with some plants more expensive, like $80-90 I have never seen anything over $150. And these people just shamelessly buy them then flip them. When I buy them, I GROW them.

And that is what is wrong with the plant world today...people are just out to make a quick buck.

I have been having a huge crop of berries off one of my big Anthuriums and have been selling them on FB...the going rate for rare species is $5-10 per berry, but for more common ones its $1-2 per. I have sold several lots to people and then have them message me saying..."So, how do I plant these? Can you give me tips?" And I am thinking to myself...you just spent $50 plus $9 on postage for some seeds that you have no idea how to plant?????

Or I will have someone claim a lot of seeds and when I message them for their paypal info they will say...'which lot was this? I have bought so many things in theist hour....'

Its totally insane

I read earlier this year that Costa Farms is growing their "own culture" of Thai constellation to be available in all Home Depot, Lowe's, etc in early 2021.
1. I can't imagine growing monsteras on such a large scale. I'm imagining miles of greenhouses.
2. What does everyone think this will do to the ridiculous pricing of this plant currently? Granted I have no idea on what the selling price will be, I would think that the increased supply would lower the price everywhere. But crazier things have happened.
3. Will there be a way to tell the difference for you more experienced plant nerds? (Hopefully I'll be there one day :))

I have heard this as well. Supposedly it was supposed to be released in 2020 but they had a tissue culture disaster (I heard) that ruined that prospect. If its true it will immediately drop the cost of the 'node flippers' who are selling those nasty single node one root cuttings for hundreds of dollars.

I got my variegated Monsteras 15+ years ago for $10 each. That is what they SHOULD cost IMO

This pretty much sums up why I don't currently own any variegated Monsteras. I'd absolutely love to have one, but I can't afford the prices people are asking for them. Especially when they're usually a single leaf cutting that may or may not even make it.

Even my solid green Monsteras. I got lucky with what I paid for those. They're usually A LOT more expensive around here.

Well this is disappointing. This is related to the original post so I thought I'd put it here.

I feel like people like this really ruin it for others. Silver Sword Philodendrons are another fairly pricey plant around here. On average, they seem to sell for $50-70 for a small plant. Well, Lowes recently stocked a bunch and were selling them for $4 each! Naturally, lots of people on various plant groups were excited about this and letting everyone know about it. This was a nice opportunity for anyone who's wanted one but couldn't afford the hefty pricetags. Some people posted up the plants they brought home and they were pretty nice for a $4 plant.

Well of course, one woman decided to take advantage of it and drove to all the Lowes in the area, buying the entire stock and posting them to the same plant groups at $50 each! Guess someone saw her in-store loading up on them, and a few others called her out on it. She got booted from some groups for it. Her justification was "Well if I drove there to get them, I deserve the profit".

Way to ruin an opportunity for others.

Either way, I might try the one closest to me some time soon to see if I can get one. Hoping I can get one for my mother too. She collects Philodendrons and it took her forever to find a nice Silver Sword. She got one not too long ago. Still paid the higher tag, but got lucky and someone sold her a nice big one for that price.

@Macrocentra, If you did not live in Canada... I recently sold this plant

for $35. I have the REALLY SILVER variety, its not the dull gunmetal grey that a lot of them are.
And I know what you are talking about and it IS very disappointing.
I have been looking for an Anthurium scherzianum (the pigtail anthurium) like, forever. I used to have one, unfortunately I lost it, I wanted to replace it. But have not been able to find one, and when I do, so expensive I say no.
Recently on another forum, there was a lady who posted that she was at a garden center and they had a whole table full of them...not only the straight species but some of the great hybrids that exist as well...they were like $15!
Most of the comments were like, man I wish I lived there! Or I hope this will come to my center etc but ONE GUY posted 'YOU SHOULD BUY THEM ALL UP AND RESELL THEM AT A HUGE PROFIT'.

I hate people like that, sorry, hate is not a nice word but you are right, they ruin it for everyone.

When I sell I try as much as possible to make my prices reasonable. If its something exceptionally rare, then I still try to make it reasonable, OR I ask interested people if they would rather trade. Because I am all about increasing my own collection on the cheap so to speak.

Darn! I happily would have bought that one from you!

It really is frustrating though. There's a lot of beautiful plants out there that a lot of people can't enjoy because the prices are absolutely astronomical on them. I don't know how people justify some of their asking prices. Especially when stores like these are beginning to obtain them cheap enough that they can sell them for so much cheaper. Yet people still insist on pricing them like they're made of gold...

I totally get it if someone puts a lot of time and effort into growing a larger, healthy plant. Fair enough, ask for a bit more for your efforts. But taking advantage of these kinds of situations is incredibly disappointing. I hate seeing when several gardeners are sharing the excitement and appreciating the opportunity to finally add a wishlist plant to their collection, and one person has to come along and ruin it.

I sell Anthurium seeds when I have them, I have some posted on here and I sell them on Facebook pages. Its a way people can grow a plant that they might not be able to find because its rare, or too expensive. One I have a lot of is Anthurium spectabile. The plant is rare, because it was last produced here in the US 15+ years ago. It was not popular enough, didn't sell enough, so it went out of production very quickly and never came back. The only specimens extant are in Botanical Garden collections and in the private collections of folks like ME who bought one 17-18 years ago and have had it ever since. Now it is regaining popularity, largely because of ME (not trying to brag, but I have mede it my mission to bring this plant back from obscurity mainly because a friend of mine who was an aroid curator at the Fairchild Botanical Garden in Miami told me I should LOL). So I have grown them from seed myself, traded and sold the plants, and now I sell the seeds. I sell 5 fresh berries for $25, basically $5 per plant, when the cost for a plant now is up around $250-275 (I sold mine for less than $100). Another seller on Facebook was miffed at me because she also sells Anthurium berries of different species, and she complained that I was not charging ENOUGH so I was undercutting the other berry sellers. I told her I was charging what I thought was reasonable, not trying to wring every last dollar out of people. The last quarter sales tax return, I sold over $2000 in berries at my 'cut rate' (i.e. REASONABLE) price.
There are people who are charging $500 for THREE seeds from an Anthurium warocqueanum...I could but a PLANT for $500 (if I didn't already have one, which I got for $50). And you know, someone bought those $500 seeds. Just unbelievable.

Hey Gina1960,

I'm somewhat new to having an aroid obsession and let me tell you that I've read so many of your posts and comments Over the past couple months and really appreciate them. I've learned quite a bit from you! If you don't mind me asking, How might I buy some A. spectabile berries from you? And are there other sites or groups like this that I should be aware of? To note, I agree with you all 100% on this price gouging craziness and am not looking to sell. Just here to further my knowledge and my own private collection. Thanks in advance and my apologies if this goes against any community standards.