Originally Posted by robguz24

I have a list of people locally asking to buy them from me for $100. From what I understand that's actually a bargain for what they could be sold for on the mainland. So if someone is shipping them to the mainland for that little, that's a great deal.

Originally Posted by Richard

Not to mention steep pricing. That's a bubble that needs bursting. Maybe next year I'll start offering them at $40 each on my web site.

Originally Posted by planetrj

See, the thing is, I can completely understand pricing on a plant that is truly "rare", but I have 2 issues with this plant (sort of like Siam Ruby) when you go to certain places in Hawaii and you see them growing by the grove and sell for $10 each like it's no big deal, ya gotta think.. is this really such a big deal?

Originally Posted by harveyc

I have a friend that operates a nursery near Hilo who once said he could get Ae Ae easy for $10 but another friend in Kona that said they get snatched up quickly when offered for $50 and that they were scarce. The Hilo friend later said that our Mainland crazy had apparently dried up supplies and he doesn't see any around now. When Andrew when to Hawaii earlier this year he didn't find any at the nurseries he visited. Richard, have you actually confirmed that a wholesale source has the sort of quantities of Ae Ae that you are mentioning? It just doesn't agree with what others have told me.

Originally Posted by Richard

The basic story is that if you work with a wholesale nursery in Hawaii or similar, the Ae Ae's are shipped 120 to 190 per pallet depending on the source. The shipping works out to $1 or $2 per plant. If the source nursery has a standard U.S. nursery stock certificate and the shipping destination is in the U.S., then there is no need to pay for a phyto-certificate. The wholesale cost of the plants is currently under $20 each. It would be easy to flood the market with inexpensive Ae Ae's, and anyone here who sells plants is welcome to give it a try. The odds are better than blackjack.