My first time selling at the bonsai and succulent show

avatar
(Edited)

The succulent society that I belong to always gets a stand at the yearly bonsai show and those of us that wish to sell plants can do so, in return for being there over the 3 days that the show runs and helping to promote the society.
This is a good time to make space on the greenhouse shelves and start to move some of the seedlings that I have been growing for a few years now. I had a lot of smaller plants that I sold cheaply and by the end of the show I had made about 150HBD from my small corner of the stand so I was happy.

Pachypodium succulentum.jpg
A natural bonsai, Pachypodium bispinosum

bonsai2.jpg
The real thing, a willow Leaf Fig

I forgot to take a picture at the start of the show so this is my after display, after I had sold about 30% of my stock: I had Haworthia, Frailea cacti and a few others, mesembs and Frithia humilis, Euphorbia as well as Dioscoria seedlings and a few other plants that I had propagated.

sales.jpg

There were quite a few people who had been to the pot table and now were on the hunt for a little plant to put in there and they mainly need advice on what would be suitable.

pots.jpg

Although I sold quite a few small plants this way, you need to sell a lot before your earnings add up and I'm not a commercial grower so that's not a great sales approach for me.

Some other sellers had been trying to solve the same problem and that's an option for next time

cacti bowl.jpg

A friend of mine makes rather striking mini rockeries and that could be fun to create for the next show. He doesn't sell his but brings them for the exhibition.

mini rockery.jpg

As always with plants, flowers sell although getting the plants to co-operate isn't always possible

orchids.jpg

I usually consider garden ornaments tacky but well, these are cats....

ornaments.jpg

Of course when selling plants, you have to constantly prevent breakage and damage, and it's not only the kids that do it.

venus.jpg

I really like trailing forms of bonsai although I prefer succulents, that are happy to be left alone for longer and I get upset when I kill my plants.

bonsai.jpg

A freaky Astrophytum for @ibarra95 - these were ordinary myriostigma that got attacked by thrips or something. After the plants were sprayed, they all turned monstrose and started making really weird Fukuryu

fukuryu.jpg

Of course the real test of shows is not to promptly spend all the money you make on new plants. I did buy a few but I also bought quite a few seedlings to grow on for a few more years and then resell. The good part of succulents is that even if they are not sold, next year they are bigger and more valuable. Succulents are slow and it takes a minimum of 2 years to produce a saleable plant. After 5 or 10 years, they look amazing and then you sell them to people who don't have the patience for that and hope like hell that they don't take it home and promptly kill it.

I was satisfied with my first show and I'm busy making plans for next year.



0
0
0.000
35 comments
avatar

Wow, that's quite a profit for the South African standards, isn't it? I know that people from there offer the cheapest online lessons among the native speakers, for like $7 per hour (and the platform cuts at least two bucks down). Congrats!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Not that large, a lot of people make a lot more at these shows. If I consider the time spent at the show and the time spent growing the plants, the returns are actually very low. But making your hobby pay a little is really just a bonus

0
0
0.000
avatar

What joy! I wish to go to a show like this. I'm glad it went well and you enjoyed it! I also like the cascading bonsai trees. I'm planning on making a drastic cut to my Pithecellobium dulce tree...

Haworthia is fun, too!

I need to pick a good haworthia pup from my mom's mother plant. It's big and she said she's going to repot it soon. And I agree it's in terrible soil but has been in it for years and produced many pups that became gifts. She calls it "The Mother of All Messes" .

Can you offer a bit of your expert advice on this particular beast?

image-3591005549407022557.jpg

0
0
0.000
avatar

It looks in good shape to me, these haworthia species are very tolerant. If she wants to repot it she can tip is out gently and shake then rinse the soil off the roots and separate any pups. Let the roots dry overnight, put it back in the same pot in fresh soil and it will be very happy. Plant it at a height of around 1.5cm from the top of the pot. I use dry or very slightly damp soil and pour it in, filling up around the roots while holding the plant at the right height in the pot and then I tap the sides to settle everything. Water after a week and you are good to go

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you so much!
I was wondering whether this pot might have been too big... But once it is repotted at proper height it will have even more room!

0
0
0.000
avatar

It sounds like you enjoyed the experience and it helped you to see what more you may want to do going forward.

I enjoyed the photos. I like the rock/succulent dish gardens. They are so attractive. I tried to put one together years ago, but of course, with no experience, I think I may have put some plants together that needed different kinds of care/water and it is hard to not treat a wide dish garden all the same on that. Live and learn... sometimes the hard way.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Most of my learning was done the hard way 😁 Bowls need a fair amount of knowledge to work well and the shape also makes things tricky, especially if you are using terracotta because those dry faster at the edges

0
0
0.000
avatar

This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.

Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.

Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.

image.png

100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @steemflow by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited.

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

The pachypodium 🤩😍 that variety I had never seen it friend, they are all plants of yours from your collection that you sell ????

As you have haworthias for sale @nivk about what prices do you sell the plants in your country ??
Bella's also the Orchids 🫣 and carnivorous plants 😁 I have never been able to have them, it is complicated that someone wants them.
Sell them here in Cuba 🇨🇺

The Astrophytum is like monstrous between mirostygma and fukuryu, three headed the.
Truly spectacular!!! Must be nice those exhibits!!!!

Thanks for sharing @nikv ☺️🤩👏👏👏👏👏👏

El pachypodium 🤩😍 esa variedad nunca la había visto amiga, todas son plantas tuyas de tu colección que vendes ???

Como tienes en venta haworthias @nivk sobre qué precios vendes las plantas en tu país ??
Bella’s tambien las Orquídeas 🫣 y plantas carnívoras 😁 nunca he podido tenerlas, es complicado que alguien te las quiera
Vender aquí en cuba 🇨🇺

El Astrophytum es como monstruoso entre mirostygma y fukuryu, de tres cabezas la
Verdad espectacular!!! Debe ser lindo esas exposiciones!!!

Gracias por compartir @nikv ☺️🤩👏👏👏👏👏👏
..
.
.
This astro is the closest I have, I'm sure you can't see the photo well, it's getting dark here. 👇

0
0
0.000
avatar

The Pachypodium is not mine, it is a friend's plant, I had one I grew from seed but I lost it one winter. These are native Pachypodiums, I think you know the Madagascan ones, they are more common internationally.
Haworthias are not expensive here, you can buy them from 2-15 USD.
Orchids and carnivorous plants are mainly cheap imports from Asia although there are a few local growers. We have quite a few native orchids although they aren't commonly sold. I didn't get good focus on the flowers but this little one grows in the grasslands here
orchid.jpg

The picture is fine, your Astro is awesome! I didn't know Astros did that until last week - I had one that was attacked by bugs but it only grew something ugly like a verruca out of the aureole

0
0
0.000
avatar

But the photo you show me is of an orchid friend ???? 🤔

I have a lot of hybrids and astros, remember I'm very very fan of them, but as I'm not much of a writer 😄 sometimes it's hard for me to make any post.
Sometimes it's hard for me to make any publication, but I will always show you some species and cacti from my nursery jjj.

If I have here pachypodium sundersii and lamerai I think q are their names, those two species, the sundersii I have it right now pollinized waiting for seeds 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 I have never been able to make seedlings I hope this year in let ....

Good thing that at least they do events over there and ask to exchange plants 🪴 good option and at reasonable prices 😊👏

0
0
0.000
avatar

Yes it is an orchid that grows in the soil, we have many wild kinds here.
Pachypodium saundersii is made to be pollinated by moths and it's possible that you need 2 different plants. Mine doesn't make seeds either 😪 but I will be interested to see if you manage. P saundersii is native to my country and P lamerei to Madagascar. I have some baby P cactipes that I bought as seedlings.
Plants are cheap here because they are mostly native to my country and easy to grow

0
0
0.000
avatar

Ea as I speak Spanish translator, it complicates me jjjjjjjj,

I was telling you that I have the pachypodium sandersii pollinate, has the cajetas or pods, with seeds then when I get to l home I will pass you photos so you can see it, I pollinate by chance because I have only one !!!!

Cucha for that like, originally from your country, there you have many cactaceae that good friend 😊🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

0
0
0.000
avatar

The little pots are almost as nice as the plants that will go in them //
23tmKcNMEFQAkD7x1HxhRk2Xw9is7aLiB1HJEXormuneM265wYcUms5UcpQZPiYMa9Jc4.jpg

0
0
0.000
avatar

Yep they are nice little conversation pieces

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations on the sale. So many amazing looking succulents on sale. I had no idea it took so long to raise the beauties up:)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you! Succulents require a lot of time and patience before they look amazing

0
0
0.000
avatar

I don't think I have that in me. I admire you:)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Good to see you participated in this succulent show and even made some profit. Your friend's mini rockery looks cool. did you take some of those cats home or it is enough with your real cats being around in the garden? 😁

@elbuhito, look, little owls as pots :)))

0
0
0.000
avatar

No cats came home with me 😁

0
0
0.000
avatar

Did someone say owls? I'll be right there 🦉🦉

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

OMG! What beautiful succulents and bonsais, I can't say which one I like the most, I had many, but I think I didn't know how to take care of them haha 😂 they are beautiful and those owl pots, God, I love owls, succulents and owls, what else can I ask for? haha 😂❤️❤️

0
0
0.000
avatar

I was satisfied with my first show

thats a success then 🙂
based on what you took home, you must have had quite an inventory.

the real test of shows is not to promptly spend all the money you make

that would be my problem 🤦

0
0
0.000
avatar

It took me a while to see your post but it is nice to find the information and pictures, I really wish I could visit some expos in my country but most of them are too far away, I am satisfied with what you shared because it was beautiful.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks! There are many expos in my country but most are too far so I'm happy there's one nearby

0
0
0.000