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ohiojay

Another order from Greenthumb

ohiojay
12 years ago

Several weeks back I had placed another order with our friend from afar. Warren and I split this order and it was a big one!

4 rambutan(2 male, 2 female)

3 mangosteen

1 maprang

2 korlan

3 durian

1 mafai

The following is a replay of my week and the mental state that became my world.

I screwed up by having him ship on May 23...knowing that if anything went wrong, Monday, the 30th, was a big holiday here...and no mail. After the first shipment went so well, it was a no brainer that this much larger shipment would not go so smooth. The shipment did not leave the airport until Tuesday. It's only a guess as to where the package was kept until then...somewhere in the heat maybe??

Now I know just how long it takes to get from point A to point B over here...and it sure as hell does not take 4 days!! But this one did! I'm thinking that maybe this flight circumnavigated the globe or something. If only there was an a$$ somewhere I could kick!! It did not make customs until late Friday. Boy did I think I was going to be screwed. And pi$$ed?? Let's just say the dogs didn't even want to be around me! All I could think of was my plants sitting in a hot truck/warehouse all weekend until freaking Tuesday!

Seeing this was a holiday weekend...and really beating myself up for having it shipped this particular week, I also had to figure that customs would be short staffed making the transition even slower. I was checking the tracking log about ever 20 minutes...and calling USPS...you know, just in case someone was not updating the log quick enough! Just before their closing hours, the package cleared customs...late Friday evening.

It's a 6 hour drive from Chicago to Columbus. Now depending upon whether the package was scooted along rather than sitting somewhere collecting dust, some driver could giddyup my package to Columbus before Saturday morning. It was too much to hope that it went out on a plane.

Tracking showed that it was in Columbus and on a truck around 9:30. Whoo-hoo!! The sun is shining and the dogs and wife can now be within 50 feet of me. I call USPS to confirm. Hmmmm..."WTF do you mean that being on a truck does not mean it will be delivered?!!" Wife and dogs again retreat to outdoors. Back to waiting. Mail on Saturday comes early, before noon. The USPS hub where the packages go closes at noon.

At 10:30, tracking shows that the package arrived at the hub. I call again. It did NOT make the delivery truck...but I can come and pick it up. I picked it up with one hour to spare! Otherwise, I would not have gotten this thing until Tuesday...and we all know what this extended time would do for bare rooted plants. Hell, I was wired because of it being one day later than the first shipment!

Unpacking and separating 14 bare rooted plants was sort of a pain. All my soil mixes were made up well in advance and containers were all picked out. To say I was ready...well... I was ready!

First...the box and packing. Earlier, I was able to convince Permsri to find a much better box for shipping. He found a great one. It had a lid and it was constructed a lot better and stronger. He also put a piece of styrofoam in the center to eliminate any crushing there. One million times better than that first box. This was an excellent job. All plants had their leaves wrapped for protection and were taped to the sides of the box to prevent shifting. The box held up to the rigors of travel and shipping.

The plants. It was apparent from the start that some of the plants suffered some. My first and best guess would be from the delay before the flight Monday to Tuesday. I would bet money that the package was in a truck, in that sun and heat, sitting out there waiting to be loaded. The 3 mangosteens already started to look shriveled and was dropping all of their leaves. If anyone has seen this happening on a mangosteen, you know that once it starts, there is no recovering from this. The maprang looked just as bad. I wasn't too happy with the mangosteens to begin with. They were much smaller than I expected. The grafts were pretty crappy as well. I would NOT have picked these 3 plants up myself.

I had a big, plastic tent put up in the greenhouse for humidity and covered in screening material for shade. The plants were misted often as well. The mangosteens, maprang, one durian, and one korlan were gone in the first few days. These were no surprise. A real shame about the maprang because it was a big plant. The rambutans lost all of their leaves. The rambutans were a very good size and had an awesome root ball. I had confidence in these 4 plants. The other 2 durian looked very good as well. The mafai and remaining korlan looked like they should be fine. The korlans were a little small, much smaller than the rambutan.

All remaining plants are flushing new growth, except for the korlan and mafai. They still look fine but just much slower to get going.

As for the losses? Permsri is replacing the plants at no charge. They get shipped out this coming Monday. I had to delay several weeks due to either being out of town or as again this weekend...a holiday weekend.

What have we learned? #1. I get a weeee bit uptight with these kind of shipments. A prescription of valium should help...with extended bed rest. #2. Nothing ever goes as planned. #3. Even though you are pi$$ed beyond comprehension and could chew thru a cinder block, there is not a freaking soul out there, besides you, who gives a shi% about your package. #4. You can take all of the precautions you can think of. Do everything you believe is correct. You may still easily lose a bare rooted plant. Just make sure your actions, or lack of, is not what killed them. #5. Permsri is a good guy and cares about getting good material to his customers. Some events are out of his hands as well. But if you work with him and keep a good dialogue, then this is a very good source for some cool stuff that is difficult if not impossible to obtain from other sources. The price is good too. Communicate exactly what you want and expect. don't assume what you easily write in an email translates exactly the same with him. #6. Make sure he gets the plants out before noon on Monday there. If not, then the package does not go out until the next day. So we both learned something there. #7. Don't ship out a week when a holiday is coming up.

By the way...the folks in charge over there have put a stop to any more durian being shipped.

Comments (17)

  • amrkhalido
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WooW ,, ii am still under rehabilitation after the loss of that number of trees from Top and from greenthumb ,,

    But good job in selecting such trees Jay ,,

    Amr

  • Pancrazio
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I can feel your pain... my first order of mangos took 14 days to reach my house. They were freshly grafted: two grafts have died in next weeks from atracnose. Being closed in a box with no air circulation neither sun for two weeks isn't good for green mango tissue. Considering that i had three plants shipped, having lost two of them is pretty bad, i guess: i was used to cactus shipments: seeing how bad tropicals ship has been a bad wake up.
    But i guess we have no choice.
    This "greenthumb" seems to be a good guy, i'll take a look.

  • murahilin
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Why have they stopped durian from being shipped?

  • amrkhalido
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes he is a nice guy , with a very nice selection with nice prices compared to other nurseries selling such items , especially mangosteen ( grafted ) and durian and jackfruit ,,

    Thailand customs have banned the export of certain plants, including lychee and longan and durian as he told me ,,

    Amr

  • ohiojay
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Durian has always been illegal to export. Kind of a bummer really. I suppose they want to keep the cultivars in country. That's just a guess though. Hard to say.

  • pj1881
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I was going to order another shipment too.. I was wondering if your Maha has the same color flushes as the one I bought? Mine flushes with identical color of a Nam Doc, and the veins of the leaf match too. The only difference between my two Nam Doc and the Maha is that the "Maha" has longer tips on the leaves, like 1/2" stingray tips? Harry mentioned that the shipping and soil change may contribute to the flush color, and that seems quite possible, I was just wondering if yours looked the same..

  • amrkhalido
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Jay ,

    Would you tell me exactly what to do after i receive plants from greenthumb ,, as i am ordering some plants from him and dnt want to kill them as before ,,

    Amr

  • ohiojay
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Amr...we've pretty much gone over the majority of it in a few posts.
    1. Have your humidity tent/chamber/cover or how ever you plan on keeping the humidity up sky high around the plants already thought out and ready to go.
    2. Have your soil mix ready in large enough quantity. Make sure if you are using a raw spaghnum peat mix to pre wet the peat. Make sure it has plenty of perlite and stuff to allow good drainage.
    3. Have several containers of different sizes ready.
    4. If you have multiple plants, have a 5 gallon bucket handy and fill with water some Super Thrive. Does Super Thrive and similar work? Don't really know but it makes ME feel better!
    5. Working in the shade...unwrap plants carefully...putting each one in the 5 gallon bucket to help re-hydrate. I also mist the foliage with the hose.
    6. Allow to soak for around 15 minutes or so...while you are gauging the size of containers to use for each plant and getting some soil into them.
    7. Start potting up...shaking the pots to distribute the soil all throughout the root mass evenly.
    8. Water well.
    9. Trim off any dead or yellowed leaves. Cut back any dead areas.
    10. Get them in the shade under your humidity contraption and leave them alone.

    I spray the gravel/ground around the plants to keep it wet and to build up even more humidity. I also mist the plants often. You want to avoid any major heat build up.

    Don't over water! If you are pumping enough humidity to them, you will not need to water too often. But don't assume that either. Keep checking the soil.

    I would leave under the plastic for a minumum of two weeks. If the plants are looking good and you even start seeing some evidence of flushing, you can start allowing more air to the plant...slowly removing some of the covering. Do this over a few days or so. Start getting some more light too.

    Watch the plants closely. If you are at all hesitant about the health of the plant, get it back under plastic. Start hitting them with some light foliar ferts.

    This is a slow process that tests your patience. So what are you ordering?? Remember to communicate with the guy. Good luck!! J

  • red_sea_me
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sure you ordered from GT again and monkeys fly out of my butt. No pictures and it never happened.

    -E:)

  • phucvu
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    you call those monkeys?

  • amrkhalido
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Jay ,, wooow ,, u sure did learn hw to plant bare rooted plants ,

    I am ordering jackfruits and a starfruit b17 ,,,

    I will keep u updated ,,,

    Amr

  • ohiojay
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I learned the hard way Amr...very much the hard way.

    Don't underestimate the monkeys!

  • phucvu
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    hey amr are you gonna post pics of your garden? let me see what you can grow in egypt.

  • amrkhalido
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Phucvu ,, our weather is kinda like phoenix but with no such cold or frost ,, but with dry hot weather and no humidity or rarely reachin 50% ,,
    Can grow mango ,, citrus ,, Guava ,, bananas ,, peach ,, apricot ,, apple ,, pears ,, persimmon ,, plum ,, loquat ,, attemoya or sugar apple ,, pomegrante ,,

    The new stuff am trying to grow in egypt ,, white sapote ,, sapodilla ,, star fruit ,, jackfruit ,, longan ,, lychee ,, wax jambu ,, surinam cherry ,, grumichama ,, ice cream bean ,, rollina ,,,

    Am growing some of these from seeds and others i bough from the states so they are still small or 3 gallons ,, i will post pics but after i do some maintainances in the garden ,, i did b4 for some trees though ,,

  • phucvu
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    i saw a program a while ago where they watered the plants using solid water packages to prevent evaporation in egypt, do you use those?

  • amrkhalido
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I dnt even knw it ,, i will research about it ,,
    I use irrigation and will use sprinklers for humidity

  • ohiojay
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Tracking shows that the package has not even left the airport yet. He was supposed to deliver the package before noon in order for it to go out on Monday. Promised that he would. This is exactly what led to the fiasco last time.

    So if you are thinking of placing an order...tell him if he cannot guarantee the shipment going out the day he drops the package off, then tell him to forget it. I have no idea what happens to that package for the rest of that day until it does finally leave. Sitting somewhere in the blazing sun probably.

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