Indoor And Now For Something Completely Different.

Bill.de.Cat

Retired to watch the Buds Fatten up.
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As most of us continue on our journeys into growing our favorite plant, we tend to upgrade our kit and as such have equipment we no longer use sitting on shelves, lights, tents, trays etc.....Quite a few of us are on the backside of our lives and living on savings and retirement and SS. Some of us use our gardening to add a little to our spending capital as it can be done on the side. This little project is exploring another possible side income stream or as the kids call it now...A Side Hustle.
In my little gardening adventures Ive found a liking for and a proclivity to growing Desert Roses. Usually by saving them from their owners care. Seeing some of the prices some of them can fetch I've decided to explore raising them and have spent about 6 months researching their care and such....and with a little "seed" money ( about $100/150 bucks ) I'm starting in on it....So far I've ordered 5 batches of very pretty specialized color seed varieties, 200 random seed varieties and 24 random variety sprouts. In total 275 possible plants, allowing for a less than 100% germination rate I figure on at least 200 desert roses eventually. If I can sell them at about half the normal spring time blooming rate of 20 to 30 dollars I can possibly have a return of between 2k and 3k on my 100/150 dollar investment. As time is something I have a good amount of now that I'm in retirement it seems worth it to me.
So, on with the show....got the first batch in today, the batches of specialized colors. Got the seedling trays drilled out ( Dollar Store tupperware ), got the soil mixed up ( Kelogg's raised bed mix, cactus, palm and citrus mix and perlite all at 1/3 ratio ), got a bag of cheap pea gravel and the on hand bits I had on the shelves, lights, seed mat etc..
 
Getting started
The seeds.
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The trays.
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The potting mix.
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Nice project! Some plant cuttings can be crazy expensive. Wife recently had me stand outside a plant store before they opened to get a cutting :naughtystep: There was a line of people down the street like concert tickets were going on sale. $90/ea for an albino monstera rooted cutting :wall:
 
Nice project! Some plant cuttings can be crazy expensive. Wife recently had me stand outside a plant store before they opened to get a cutting :naughtystep: There was a line of people down the street like concert tickets were going on sale. $90/ea for an albino monstera rooted cutting :wall:
One thing research has taught me on desert roses is start from seed if you want a fat caudex, the cuttings from branches never really get fat.
 
Guuud luck with your endeavors brother! The only advice I can give you is, start small scale. See if it works and then upscale. :thumbsup:
:vibes:
Yeah, just a little thing of 250 plants if I'm lucky....had a friend back in the late 80's that did similar with azaleas, he only made about 1 buck a piece on them but after 2 years was doing 30k of them in the spring and they'd be all gone by July....
.
 
First batch of 50 special colors are soaking, seedling mix is mixed......and the rest show up this morning....gonna be a busy weekend.
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Repotted the one I picked up at Home Depot...
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Had a touch of root rot, but I always expect that kind of thing from box store plants.
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A good clipping, some cinnamon and she's ready to go.
 
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