You should have bid on those beauties. I just couldn't bring myself to spend what those went for on an unrooted cutting. Not to mention I spent a few hundred dollars on some plants (not plumeria) from a couple nurseries in FL & TX that are being held for me until it's warm enough to ship here. You can change your Ebay name but I think that also will wipe out whatever feedback rating you have and puts a little icon next to the new name indicating the change. What did you get? I was going to bid on some of Hawaiisandy's less expensive cuttings but fell asleep. That was probably a good thing. lol
Karyn

I bought Katie Moragne, Thailand Red, Vera Cruz Lutica, Kaneohe Sunrise, Guilott Sunset, and JeffersonÂs Gold. I gave away Katie Moragne when I moved and couldnÂt find it retail this year. I wanted this one again, lost control, and paid the most for it. I have to say though that the six I lost went for more than the 6 I won. And I can obtain most of them for far less from another trusted source. I overpaid shipping and handling by $24.75, but I told Sandy to throw in a generic cutting instead of making her recalculate and submit a new bill. My six cuttings sold for $26.61 less than the other six. That plus a shipping refund (If I wanted one) would be $51.36 less for my cuttings. Because her cost for a Celadine or other common cutting will be next to nothing, I hope that will reduce the sting for her a bit.

Congrats on your new babies. I can't wait to see pics of them in bloom. One of the plumies I was looking at ended up selling for $92. Too much for me. The others weren't as bad and averaged around $50. One day..................: )
Karyn

I forgot to mention the plumeria breeder I recognized got an incredible cutting for a lot less than it could have gone for because I stopped bidding on it. Because I have no reason to try to ruin SandyÂs bottom line, the least I could do is let her keep most of the S&H overage.

My six cuttings averaged $29.28 each. Given that most of them arenÂt readily available anywhere else, I had a good evening!

Musarojo- you got a killer deal. You would be hard pressed to find any of those of the quality of Sandy"s (Jim Little's) cuttings at those prices. Her Katie is wonderful. Lutica is such a prolific bloomer. Sunrise is really sunrise (many sell sunburst in error) and has great color. I think Jim got his Guillot's right from Bud's big tree like I did and it is a crowd pleaser. I almost bid on the Thai red but I have too many plants right now. I think you will be more than pleased with your purchases- congratulations- you scored!!! Bill
G.Sunset from Bud Guillot't tree:
{{gwi:1154910}}

She has another ebay site.Selling seeds under another ID.Looks like she just started this site in March'07.D.

I won a Dwarf Pink Singapore for $15.64! The total with shipping is 25.64! This is better than anything I have found retail. The seller is someone who is known in plumeria addict circles so I feel good about this purchase.

I have bids out on several other cuttings that look interesting. I'm not familiar with the seller, but he has a good eBay rating. If I get them, fine, if not, back to the listings, off to retailers I have bought from in the past, or retailers that other people have spoken well of. The reason for going to eBay is for a deal or for something that canÂt be found elsewhere.

Philip

The cuttings from Sandy arrived today! They were outstanding; previous positive feedback from various sources was correct. 1 had 2 tips, 4 had 3 tips, and 1 had 4 tips. They are worth more than I paid for them. Because I overpaid S&H, she included a beautiful two tip cutting named Desfile (Spanish for Parade); this name suggests the plant will have a parade of blooms. Will look this one up because I am not familiar with it. I need to compose eBay haiku; I try to be very specific about packaging, speed, quality and whatnot. Just saying "Great Transaction" doesnÂt provide adequate information to someone who is trying to make a decision on whether or not to place a bid if they find a listing a few minutes before it ends. She is also listed on a watchdog site that rates garden retailers, so I will leave a positive note and rating there as well.

I misread the label on the one I said was called Desfile. The correct name is Defel, and the picture I found online is beautiful.

Hi Philip,
Congratulations on your cuttings you won from Hawaii Sandy. I am watching her cuttings too, but most go way over what I want to spend..will bid one of these days.
Hope you have flowers! can feel your excitement!!!
Karen B

My Dwarf Pink Singapore from Evelyn arrived today! It is 17 inches with eight growth tips and an inflo. The well-packed box also contained a phytosanitary certificate and had a Hawaii state inspection sticker on the outside. The cutting was firm and healthy with no obvious problems. For a dwarf plant, this is a very large cutting. This was an excellent purchase!

Well my goodness. I put a nice bid in last night for a Dwarf Singapore with seven tips from Evelyn and don't ya know I won it for the opening bid of $5.99! I had to leave and couldn't watch the auction and was amazed when I checked my email and saw how much I got it for. And reading musarojo's post sounds like I've made a great purchase. And now the waiting....
Lauri

Say Phillip, that Defel is going for over $51 right now. Nice extra. Bill

I bought 7 more cuttings today plus 2 the other day. This is it! I am not going to buy plumeria again this year from eBay. Really, I mean it this time, I promise, I really promise. Really I do. Note: there is an escape clause for an exceptional cutting I canâÂÂt live without!

My purchases this week:

Aloha, Heidi Gold, and Tomlinson Pink from Sandy

Malias Rainbow, Nassau, Donald Angus, and J. L. Pink Pansy (all large multi-tip) from 1-Stop-Aloha

Mustang Sally and Mellow Yellow (12â cuttings) from Gover314.

I will update you on what they look like. I already know SandyâÂÂs cuttings will be outstanding.

Lauri, I am jealous! A seven tip DPS cutting at retail price would be far too rich for my blood. You will be very happy with what Evelyn sends you. If I had a professional setup so I could give extra TLC during rooting, I would buy one of her bargain shoeboxes stuffed with smaller cuttings.

Bill, I saw that. I am very happy about this cutting and am looking forward to seeing it bloom.

Philip

Philip I bought a box of her "mid-stem" bargain cuttings a while back. What I received was a pleasant surprise. It was supposed to be 15 to 20 8-10" cuttings but I got 12 mostly multi tip cuttings that were over a foot long. I emailed to tell her how pleased I was even though the count was off and she sent me another box of 25 big multi tip cuttings! I gave quite a few away and most of the ones I kept rooted just fine. Her boxes are a great deal if you aren't looking for specific varieties.
Karyn

This eBay is the bane of my existence. I am running out of real estate to start all these new plants. Last week, I got three Amaryllis bulbs. This week, I got two plumeria cuttings (2 Scott Pratt for $31.97 including shipping). If I keep this up, I am going to run of of pots and then money (not in any particular order). I wish I have a bigger window.

Also, I agree that you have to learn to walk away from the listings -- too many times, buyers pay too much because they get into a bidding frenzy.

Nixon

I avoid a bidding war by using a sniping tool. I enter the most I'm willing to pay and they place the bid when there's 4 seconds left on the auction. If the price has already passed what I'm willing to spend the bid isn't placed. They will send an email letting me know that the price of the item is over my maxium bid and I can increase it if I want. By using a sniping tool I don't have to watch the auction. I also don't get caught up in the last minute bidding frenzy and end up spending more than I want.
Karyn

Hey Karyn, Please do tell about this sniping tool. I would love to know more about that. If you want you can email me. My email link is under the mypage page.
Thanks, Lauri

Lauri I sent you an email.
Karyn

My cuttings from Gover314 arrived today. They were 12 inch, single tipped cuttings of Mustang Sally and Mellow Yellow. Both were very thick, healthy, mature cuttings and were reasonably priced. They were well packed and were only slightly more expensive than the unnamed generic single tip cuttings from another seller that havenÂt arrived yet. Gover314 has auctions, Buy It Now listings and a retail site. He responds to email promptly. He is listed on the watchdog site, so I will leave a positive rating there along with positive eBay haiku.

I have three more packages of cuttings that havenÂt arrived yet. Sandy has bought postage for the second batch of cuttings IÂve bought from her this year, so her cuttings should arrive in the next day or two. I will let you all know what I think about the other cuttings, as I havenÂt bought from these people before. So far I have been very pleased with my eBay purchases this year.

I had two more boxes of cuttings arrive in the mail today. One was from Sandy and of course the contents were of the usual very high quality that she is known for. I could have written my eBay feedback several days ago and not waited to see what she sent.

The second box was from sussafrus (real name Carmen), a box of 4 12" single tip generics. The cuttings were very thick, much thicker and several inches longer than the bagged tourist souvenir cuttings IÂve bought in the past to root for gift plants. She marked them near the tips with what looks like water based tempera paint to indicate flower color. The tips were completely dormant without the beginnings of claws. The pack job was good and she included printed directions on plumeria care.

I checked up on my order last night and noticed that her payment directions included a request to indicate whether or not the weather was freezing in the buyerÂs area. I emailed her to let her know I hadnÂt seen this earlier and to assure her nighttime temps were above freezing. She must have done her own check; she emailed back to say she had sent the package off several days ago. I have to say she does her best to see her cuttings get the best start possible after they leave her care. I will leave positive eBay haiku for her and if her retail site is listed at the watchdog place, I will leave a positive note there as well.

Today I recived my cuttings from Sandy and someone else that generously shared some of their extras with me. If I didn't know the variety that I bought from Sandy I wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. They were all thick, healthy and a good size. I think that Evelyn is shipping the cuttings I bought from her this week. That's going to be it until May. I won't have much more space on my seed mats so I'll have to wait until it's warm enough to leave them outside 24/7.
Karyn

Hi Karyn,

None of my cuttings have been planted yet. I now have two vases and a mason jar full of cuttings displayed on my breakfast bar. It will be another week or two before the morning lows are above fifty degrees here.

A few of my multi-tip named cuttings are destined to be birthday gift plants this summer. The single tip generics will be probably be given to gardener friends who need a new addiction. Even so, I need to slow down on my purchases because I will have a winter storage nightmare in a few years.

Philip

My 4 cuttings from 1-Stop-Aloha arrived today. They were huge, healthy, multi-branched and the vender even included an extra mystery cutting as a bonus!

They would have been shipped much earlier were it not for a small bit of negligence on my part. When I added my current address to my PayPal address book and made it my primary address, I needed to call PayPal to verify it. This dealer insures his shipments, and PayPal will not insure shipments to an unverified primary address. I needed to call PayPal to verify my address, and hadnÂt yet done so because I thought I would spend an hour on hold. It did in fact take about an hour, most of which was on hold. Once I straightened this out, shipping was prompt, and other peopleÂs comments indicate this merchant is good about shipping quickly. I will compose a positive eBay haiku and if I mention shipping will indicate it was fast, because it was quick once the insurance issue was straightened out.

So I now have a total of 22 cuttings from E-bay and one cutting from a friend in California that need to be rooted this spring. These and the two plants I brought with me will form the nucleus of my collection.

I think we are having our last hurrah for lows in the thirties tonight. Our lows will go back up into the high forties or low fifties for a few weeks, so I will be putting down black plastic in the backyard, which will heat the soil and landscaping gravel up during the day. When the heat is released back into the air at night, I should have a warm enough microclimate to begin rooting.

So this is it for eBay cuttings this year for me. IÂve had good luck with the size and health of my purchases, and have no reason to believe I received mislabeled cuttings from any of the sources I bought from. As we all know, eBay is a place where "buyer beware" applies, but I believe everyone I bought from is an ethical seller, so I would recommend any of them.

Philip

Philip it sounds like you are well on your way to rebuilding your collection. Good luck with all your new cuttings. I hope they all root and grow into lush beautiful trees.
Karyn

Hi,
I just won a dwarf singapore pink from Evelyn, am thrilled, 3 to 4 tips, good price, and a yellow cutting, forget the name..am delighted. Waiting for my cuttings.
Karen B

Hi Philip,
I can feel your excitement in your words.. I am so happy for you, getting all the cuttings, what fun to receive them, get them out of the box and hope for prizes!!! leaves and flowers to the max.

I thought I would mention. My large plumie I transplanted, 5' one in square reptangle container is going crazy!!! I have never had red claws opening up like this one. I am so excited. It made it from transplant. I will feed, when it is not so wet.. Waiting as you said on the other large 5' one in a round container..saw today.. 2 red claws standing up!!!! so..... now the roots are cooperating, gonna make it. Still in rather closed dormacy, red claws, waiting daily. As you said, no water until leaves...boy thats hard.
Karen B.

I've gotten a lot of cuttings from Evelyn this year. I've allways gotten great cuttings and far better that what I thought I'd get. She's got some realy great ones. Now I'm sure her prices will start going up!
Sandy of course are always great.
1 stop aloha has always been great too
I have to stop buying cuttings...
Saturday is th eSD cutting sale....
Mickey

Hi,
I have never had much luck having cuttings make it. Last year was a disaster, but all were plastic pink. Told the hardest to root.tried all year, even celedine failed on me. yep.. got one plastic pink to make it.

Now question. I am buying cuttings, Karyn from Evelyn. Is in the 50th and 60s at night, am lightly watering in Bills suggested mix. Starting cutting totally different, listening now. is clicking.

Is it best to start cuttings now? or wait until its warmer? Will the cutting dry out, are those night temps ok? am hoping that early cuttings might bloom later in the season. If I am lucky that they leaf and grow roots.. have not been able to experience that.
Would be so excited, have not had that happen, only once.
Karen B.

Hi Karen,

IÂm happy for you that your big plants are going to make it! If there was ever a chance for you to recover from plumeria addiction, it will disappear when your own plants bloom for you. ItÂs said there are no ugly cats, but that some are more beautiful than others. This also applies to plumeria.

Your nighttime temps are ok for starting cuttings. Water them well the day you plant them and then wait at least a month before watering them again. Place your pots on concrete in order to provide bottom heat; I always used the edge of my driveway at my last house. Rooting may take as long as ninety days. Reds as a group are the most prone to rot; some rainbows are also very rot prone during rooting. Let what you see guide you after the first thirty days. If leaves are developing begin watering lightly and infrequently until leaves are six to ten inches, then start giving lots of water. When they are well rooted you are in the clear; a few varieties have a reputation for being rot prone even in their second year, but once rooted, plumeria are tough plants that can tolerate anything except freezing, standing water, and cold wet feet during dormancy.

IÂm using BillÂs bottle method for making a planting cavity in the pot because it makes a lot of sense. I can tell you it provides excellent support for the cuttings until they have roots to hold them in place. Also no soaking wet soil is held in direct contact with the bottom of the cutting while it is rooting, decreasing the odds of rotting. As water vapor evaporates through the perlite and pumice on itÂs way out of the pot, the cutting senses there is water nearby and sends out roots to find it.

Philip

I don't think that Evelyn will raise her prices. She hasn't in the last couple years and I don't think she'll start now. Auctions will go higher when the temps warm up and more people are bidding. Her best deals if you just want to build up a collection are her boxes of mixed cuttings.

Karen I'd probably still bring unrooted cuttings inside at night if your highs are only making it near 60. A hot surface during the day outside is great but I'd try to keep the bottom heat going at night also. I'll keep as many cuttings inside on the seed mats as will fit. The others will stay out when nighttime temps are well into the 60's. I'm glad to hear that the big plants have made it.

Speaking of temps we've been enjoying the low 80's during the day and mid 50's at night. Starting Thurs our daytime highs are only supposed to be in the 40's with nighttime temps in the 20's. NOOOOOOO!!!!!! I'm so sick of this : (
Karyn

Hi Karyn and Phillip.

I am excited getting cuttings, its the first time I have bought any on ebay. Evelyns came today, nice lady. I have a very fat 4 tip yellow one, its maui deep large yellow one, I don't have a deep yellow one, so will be good to learn on. I am very pleased with the dwarf pink singapore. Its long think about 20" or so, with 4 tips. I have never seen singapore, so not sure what it will do. Yes, putting my cuttings on the concrete, but not terribly warm. Yes, Karyn, have bought in a few to keep them warm. My Large plants are still wet, will have to wait to feed. yes Phillip, would be thrilled to see leaves and grow my own. I hope I did it right.

I don't know what to do here. I have never seen any of the plants you all are talking about, never seen them bloom, only pictures. I have puu kahea , daisy wilcox, a new jeanne morange jr very tight dormant rooted, celedine, pacific pearl, playful and aztec gold. Celidine bloomed gloriously for me last year. the others I hope they will grow and bloom. Have to wait on some, got very cold in that freeze. Most are single or double canes.

I don't know what to buy. Buy named cuttings or wait a couple months. Would be thrilled if my cuttings made it. Karyn, will ask evelyn about the box of cuttings. that would be neat. Is that what I should do..buy more cuttings????
Karen B.

It sounds like you have a nice collection started. If you want to go crazy buying cuttings go ahead but I'd probably wait and concentrate on what you have. See how they grow and what the blooms look like and see what you want to add. If you just want loads of plumies Evelyn's bargain boxes are a great deal, some are marked with the variety, others aren't.
Karyn

Hi Karyn,
good advise, thank you. Yes, best to see if the cuttings make it.."hope" Will see if Evelyn offers the box of cuttings, that would be fun.

Another question. The dwarf singapore cutting, is probably 18" guess, tall, skinny older branch with 3 or 4 tips.. Now read up on singapore, slow growing. Do I plant it in a gallon container to transplant in couple years? Or put it in a 5 gallon to stay for awhile. research says grows 6" a year.

Karen

The welknown woman from E Bay is still having a good name i see,probable i am the only one who didn,t get what i paid for.
Maybe because i am from Holland,with all the bad luck!!
Have my collection now from elsewhere(thanks Gover),handpicked myself from Africa and Thailand and imported from India etc.
And there are lots of good sellers on Ebay,having cuttings from Singapore en Malaysia with no losses