Friday, August 8, 2014

Small Parcels air or EMS, how many plants may not survive ?

I read on Aleya Garden's Facebook page a message saying that they had received almost intact hoya after 4 weeks in the mail but after 17 days all of my Hoya order was lost , how is that possible ?


Indeed the number of days is not by itself the cause of this condition, among other factors the package could have been exposed  for an unusual long time to adverse conditions during transport; but even after less than a week we would find plants in this bad state, and even after a short travel between two Thai cities (but in this case, certainly not 100% of the plants).

Just as clean and dry cucumbers would lyse at different speeds in clean and dry plastic bags, Hoya plants tend to dry or rot at different paces.

Nevertheless I think that Aleyagarden's system of plants at low prices with resending at 50% of this price is very good because it does not impact on all customers the costs of resending and may discourage some less well equipped buyers :
You bought in 2014  10 cuttings for a total cost of $ 68 = $ 50 + $ 18 for  Small Parcel Air. The anticipated death of plants is less than 25% , based on average data.

Had you chosen EMS the cost would have been higher, $ 91 = $ 50 + $ 41 EMS
Now we will suppose that I resend you these 10 cuts at  50% of their price in non registered envelopes.  Two to four cuts will fill in 3 envelopes at 3 $ each. The total new cost is then : $ 25 for the plants and envelopes 3 x $ 3 = $ 34

So the option of Small Parcel Air with resending : 68 + 34 = $ 102 is to be compared with $ 91 EMS, bearing in mind that statistically at least 75% of plants shipped by  Small Parcel Air will survive, after travelling from 1 to 4 weeks, (taking into account a possibility of dormancy and of course the use of a mini greenhouse ).
          We should not forget in this cost comparison that plants sent by EMS also can die.
The difference between small parcel air at  68 $ and EMS at 91 $ indicate in my opinion that  Small Parcel Air with resending is not a bad option. Once again even by EMS some plants will die !.
Anyway it is indeed disappointing to see dead plants and sadness is not measurable.

I wish you a better luck with the seeds!

Herbs and Spices, Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Friday, August 1, 2014

Imperialis red : long and narrow leaves

Hoya imperialis red on the picture : although the leaves may appear on this individual as much undulate as on a Hoya imperialis pink , long and narrow leaves are sure indications that it is a red. More pictures of the differing leaves are on : http://aleyagarden-hoya.blogspot.com/2014/08/hoya-imperialis-pink-and-hoya.html
 
Herbs and Spices, Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com