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Broadback · 10-07-2008, 09:06 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

Sacha wrote:
On 9/7/08 15:54, in article ,
"echinosum" wrote:

Janet Tweedy;802660 Wrote:
And they expect you to buy two of each for a bargain price.
Is it me and my obsessive propagation but why would I ever want to buy

two of a plant that i could easily get 15 from by the end of
September?

It is a bit of a mystery to me why they ask so much for lavender plants
when they are exceptionally easy to grow either from seed or from
cutting.

Okay, here we go, from the horse's mouth. Didn't know I was married to a
horse, eh? ;-)
Ray takes a cutting and puts it into a plug. His time has to be worth at
least £30 per hour, if he charged for it.
The cutting is nurtured in the prop. house and all plants there are checked
over daily, as are all plants as the staff move around the nursery. When the
houses are watered every day, Ray or Matthew or one of the staff have their
eyes open constantly for sick plants or plants that need chucking out or
just potted on.
Your lavender gets transplanted into a 7cm pot, then it gets potted on into
a 1 litre pot and then, usually, here, a 2l pot. All this has taken staff
time which = wages, compost and pots. I asked him about this tonight as a
result of your post. He said that if he took cuttings now, he reckoned it
would be a year before they were at a size he would be happy to sell them.
You *can* buy them smaller with a less mature root system but you gets what
you pays for.
We charge £3.50 for a 2 l pot. Given the work and materials involved, is
that extortionate?

When I purchase a plant I do not pay for the labour, I consider that I
pay for the expert. After all if I could propagate I would do so. My
Mother was quite adept, and often snuck a little bit of plant hanging
over a wall. I used to tell her that if everyone did that there would be
no plant left, her reply being "Well they don't do they?"