Crazy FreeCycles

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

I had taken several cuttings from my Christmas Cactus, rooted them, and potted them into a 6" pot for a friend. She had admired my large blooming plant and said, "Oh, I wish I had one!"

When I offered the now thriving new plant to her, she said she didn't have anywhere to keep it.

I can't hardly bring myself to throw away a plant. I was "stuck" with another large Christmas Cactus that I didn't have room for, plus four smaller pots of rooted cuttings.

I decided to list them on FreeCycle before tossing them.

You would not believe the numbers of frantic responses I received. "Oh yes! I need a Christmas Cactus." I gave the 6" pot full to the first responder; another person received two of the small rootings and a third person received the last two.

I reposted that the Christmas Cactus was taken but I am still receiving "I want the Christmas Cactus!" emails. Geesh! You'd think I was offering bags of gold bullion.

Two people set times to come by, and failed to show up twice.

The strangest response was from one woman who said she needed me to bring the plant to Grand Forks, about 40 miles one-way from my house, and drop it off for her father. She said he didn't have long to live and a Christmas Cactus would make his final days easier.

I answered her and said the plants were all gone. I was sorry for her father's condition and wished her the best. I did not tell her there was no plant in the world that would make dying more easy.

What's up with the high and frantic demand for the cheap, very easy to grow and propagate Christmas Cactus?

Featured Answer

caroline94535
Original Author

11 years ago

When we first moved here I had a small garden area between the mudroom door and the sun porch. It was overgrown with sun-starved, choking, day lilies. I knew they would be lovely, but they had to be dug out, divided and planted in full sun.

I offered them on FreeCycle. I lucked out then; a woman said she wanted them all. I re-emphasized that she would have to dig them out, alone, and put them in her car. I was not able to move them.

I provided a spading fork and shovel, plastic bags, and the plants. She dug every single root/tuber out, carried them to her car, and even swept up the mess on the concrete.

That was a good FreeCycle transaction.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (15)

sylviatexas2
11 years ago
I've posted there, too, always had a lot of responses.
There's an option to delete the post on your membership or account page;
I do that rather than post a "taken" message which people might not see.

Maybe the people who were so eager are people who like Christmas cactus but are living on tight budgets.
party_music50
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I love xmas cactus and I have them in many colors. Yes, they're easy to grow and propagate -- but only if you have them. lol!

I've had no success with giving away plants on craigslist. I've had too many people fail to commit, some no-shows, and several people who wanted me to dig/pot the plants and deliver them... free, of course. Not worth the hassle -- and I need to keep reminding myself of that. lol!

oops -- I see you meant FreeCycle! but when it comes to plants, my experience is the same there as at craigslist. Freecycle seems to work great for me as long as it ISN'T about plants.
Related Discussions
Curb Appeal on a Budget - Ideas Wanted! :)
Q
Comments (15)
Thank you all for the great advice! I apologize for not being more specific about our needs and wants and for those funny characters in my original post. To answer toronado3800's question, we are informal people so we definitely want an informal yard/garden. The yard feels vast and leads your eye right to the street. We'd like it to feel cozy and keep the interest at home. :) The tree issue is one we debate regularly, karinl and missingtheobvious. I know the tree in front of the door is terribly placed, but it is such a nice tree we'd hate to cut it down. The pine actually scares me a little (we are due for the big earthquake here in the NW...) but again, it is a perfectly good tree. We were thinking about possibly adding a third tree to the left of the pine (maybe a Dogwood - I know they don't mind acidic soil) to add visual symmetry. Planting a tree seems like a good, long term investment of the little money we do have. Karinl, extending the porch is something we have been thinking about. At this time, we can't afford to make it a true extension with concrete; what kind of material would you suggest using? We'd love to have a 2nd path from the street or from the driveway to the front door too. We love the rocks (I know some folks spend a fortune in rocks, and not just the diamond kind, either), but we don't know how to make them look like "God placed them" -any ideas? The dry river bed idea is really interesting. I'm trying to picture what it might look like. Does the "stream" just run the length of the gully or does it have a beginning point in the yard somewhere? We did look into having the gully filled in so we could have extra parking for friends and family, but it doesn't fit our budget at the moment. This seems like an interesting alternative. I work in a library, missingtheobvious, so it is funny you should mention that as a resource (one of the best!). I've looked at so many glossy photos and read so many ideas about what makes good landscaping that I'm a little overwhelmed by it all, which is why, Karinl, your idea not to think too much about individual plants but about size and shape and need first is great! I have been writing down names of specific plants like mad, but can't actually visualize them in the space when I go back to my list later. Missingtheobvious, thank you for the idea to try and figure out what plants we have first. There are several I am completely in the dark about. I will definitely try posting on the Name That Plant! forum. One thing that really bugs me is the chain link fence -it isn't very pretty and unfortunately there is a lot of it. I'd like to camouflage it in some way. Any ideas? Again, my thanks for all of your great advice! It is really helpful to "talk it out" this way.
...See More
EF or PE? Should I care? Rambling.
Q
Comments (4)
Hi worm gal ... you probably meant to post on the vermicomposting forum. .. For AL ... yep, same species, different name/characteristics. .....My in-ground worm pit 'herd' love LOVE horse manure!...Re: EF/PE ... mine are wild worms harvested from manure pile, 'red-wriggler' is the non-specific variety, I guess. They sure multiply like crazy. /// Red Worm Composting is my favorite site ... http://www.redwormcomposting.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Vermicomposting forum
...See More
EF or PE? Should I care? Rambling.
Q
Comments (12)
Hi Thank you for the quick advice. Really I try to be patient but with the XX going on I don't manage too well. I realize they multiply like crazy but I want castings for my spring garden and 1 pound in 3 months probably won't do it. With 2 more pounds making 3 bins I think I have a shot at it. Plus if something happens to one bin I have a back up plan. My current tote is 18 gal. Got 6 more yesterday at Wallyworlds black Friday sale for 2.40$ each. My dream is to have all 7 bins going strong and then using 4-5 of them to start a wooden flowthrough. Then I can feed like crazy and start establishing bins for friends and neighbors that are interested. Woo Hoo! Less in the landfill and at the same time creating wormy friends that won't roll their eyes when I start talking squirm. I live in a townhome with a decent backyard but have an area 15' by 30' on the north side of the house. Doesn't get enough good sun to grow veggies but seems to be a good area for worming and non food plants. This area currently has my bin and two EarthMachine composters between a few palms and other plants. Composters are about half full of quarter done compost that was leaves, manure, grain, grass, and garden clippings. Got really hot for weeks. Turned it once and am waiting for the heat to stop again before I trust it with the worms. It feels like I will mix the worms and let the strongest survive. Eventually my herd will be mixed but will be uniqely suited to my area. Thanks again J
...See More
Charity quilts 1-2-3
Q
Comments (7)
Dr. Moussa returns to Burkina Faso Oct 1 and he will be taking them with him. But I talked to the U.S. director and she said they will be going in January and I can send more quilts then. It would be wonderful if you would like to donate a quilt by Jan. I'll send you an email. Just a little more info...Burkina Faso is the third poorest country. Our children's home, Bethesda, has a healthy mom, dad and child and three moms with AIDS and their children. A couple of the kids have AIDS as well, but everyone gets the necessary drugs and is doing very well. However, if one of the mom's passes away, the children will be able to stay in the home and not have to go through the trauma of finding somewhere else to live. A couple of the ladies have little businesses they can do when they are well. One lady has a cart and collects firewood to sell. Another does some sewing. We are having a fundraiser square dance in October to raise money for a second home. (It is a riot to see all the adults who don't know how to square dance try to learn...including me.!) When you are working with a national, you are able to do the work much cheaper. Vendors don't gouge Dr. Moussa like they would an American. We built the first home for $30,000!!! Dr. Moussa also has schools he has started with 1500 children attending. I'm sorry, I could go on and on. Off to the sewing machine I go.
...See More
Alisande
11 years ago
That was funny, Caroline!
User
11 years ago
Too many want a blooming plant like they see at the florist but actually waiting for one to bloom and taking care of it in the meanwhile are too much trouble. I, too, have far too many Christmas and Easter cacti dropping spent flowers all over but they can live here as easily as die somewhere else. I'll just keep moving the pots over enough to fit in one more.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
11 years ago
I need some because unfortunately all of mine died and I failed to do cuttings. I love them. I had a huge one for years that never bloomed, a friend came over and said try moving it to over here, I had moved it all over the house, but I did it and it started blooming almost immediately. Amazing. It was so pretty but once it moved here to Houston it didn't like it here.
PKponder TX Z7B
11 years ago
I had a huge number of guppies that I needed to find homes for and placed an ad on Freecycle...they were gone in one day!
Jasdip
11 years ago
I love Freecycle! I give and get items, regularly.

One of my most popular offers, is my worm-poop. LOL That is exactly what my subject line says Offer; Worm poop!

I have regular members that want it.
FlamingO in AR
11 years ago
Can't you delete the post once the items are gone? Seems like that would stop all the requests/demands.
terilyn
11 years ago
I have to admit, I am not a plant person, kill everything I touch. Had a long term houseguest that left her plants here. Her Christmas Catus was beautiful. What do I do now?
cynic
11 years ago
Around here most people post another saying "TAKEN" then the headline used. Often things go quickly so it makes it difficult to keep up with them.
wantoretire_did
11 years ago
I had the same Freecycle experience as Caroline but with a large area of Lily of the Valley. A man came and dug up every plant and runner and cleaned up afterwards. I was free of them, finally :-)
arkansas girl
11 years ago
Our Freecycle has pretty much dried up around here. I don't know what happened but all of a sudden I just stopped getting any sort of notifications but there was never anything there anyway. If you asked for something, you would never get anyone that had what you wanted. We used to have a place that would open on Saturdays and you could take things and they would either be taken by people or the college would use them in their art projects. I loved that place, but when times got bad, they closed it down.
ruthieg__tx
11 years ago
Ours is very active and I have actually gotten and given a couple of things. I needed a good heavy table for one of my machines and someone was offering a "sturdy" heavy duty computer desk and I thought perfect and it was...The last thing I gave away was sourdough starter...potent stuff...
User
11 years ago
That reminds me I have a "ton" of spotted quill bulbs and hindu rope hoya that needs a trim. :0) I'll just put it at the foot of my driveway with a free sign for the neighbors...if any is left I'll put it on CL.

I got rid of my Nordic track in seconds that way! :0)

Crazy FreeCycles

caroline94535
Original Author

Comments (15)

sylviatexas2

party_music50

Related Discussions

Alisande

User

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

PKponder TX Z7B

Jasdip

FlamingO in AR

terilyn

cynic

wantoretire_did

arkansas girl

ruthieg__tx

User

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Crazy FreeCycles

caroline94535Original Author

Comments (15)

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

caroline94535
Original Author