"sacha" wrote

David Hill said:

sacha wrote:
Not really - but something I've briefly touched on with another Nursery
on Twitter and it seems to me that the experiences of urglers is
valuable both to each other and to the nurseryman in this. Few
nurseries selling online tell you what size pot your plant is going to
arrive in but we wonder if the average buyer knows the difference
between a 2 litre pot and a 10cm pot? I'm asking this because, frankly,
we have been shocked to see certain plants sold for £20 which, we're
fairly sure, will arrive in a 10cm pot, which means a small plant with a
small root system. We searched the ad and the website of the nursery
involved and see no reference to pot sizes at all. In the past we
ourselves have bought a supposedly 2 year old grape vine from a
reputable nursery but which had to be 'nursed' in a tunnel for 2 years
before planting out into a greenhouse. The same happened to a very
expensive but desirable Magnolia from another (different) well known
nursery. We didn't dare put it in the garden for two years!

How many people ask what size pot the plant will have grown into and how
many even consider the matter, I wonder. Do most just expect a small
plant and pay up happily? I know that, before I met Ray, as an
'ordinary' customer, pot sizes in litres meant nothing to me. I've
decided to measure the tops of ours and put those online because I think
it will make more sense to the average buyer.

Despite using a range of pots I still have problems picturing Pot sizes
when in Litres, it's bad enough in cm I still have to put them back to
imperial, 6 inch or 8 inch etc. I can picture right away, as for "Thumbs,
Long toms etc." I doubt many of us remember them.
David @ a slightly less windy (For now) side of Swansea Bay .

Yes, we certainly refer to long toms in which we grow e.g. sweet peas but
we don't sell those online. But the responses I'm getting seem to be
referring more to quality of plants and those will vary from place to
place, however you buy them. What I'm interested in is whether a customer,
buying online, knows the difference in what they will get IF the pot size
is given, 9cm, 1 litre, 2 litre etc. Do they even ask the pot size before
buying, I wonder? So do customers still pay up, not knowing what they're
going to get in terms of plant maturity? These may be more inexperienced
gardeners and not as savvy as most urglers! It's something we've seen
often in ads and on web sites and it's always surprised us that you can't
see or envisage what you're going to get but nonetheless you're being asked
(in the instance which has finally caused me to ask these questions) to pay
£20 on trust for something which, in this case, is being marketed as rare
and unusual and not by its real name, either. It's unusual to some degree
but it's not rare.

While some claim not to buy online, we've often seen remarks here about
buying plugs and being pleased or disappointed but in those cases, people
knows what plugs are, what to expect. They now they've got to pot them on
and look after them a bit before planting them out. If they were told
we're charging you £20 for something in a 9cm or 10cm pot or even a 1 litre
pot, what I'm wondering is, do they have a mental picture of what they'll
actually get and if they did, would they buy it, I wonder.

To answer your question specifically, I don't "see" the pot size when litres
are mentioned but I can if the diameter is given in inches or cm. That said
if they advertised a larger type plant in ,say, a 1 litre pot as fully
mature I might just not believe them.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK