The story of my Alocasia Baginda ‘Silver Dragon’
Please go to the bottom if you want to go directly to my youtube video unboxing this plant. Sometimes there is a plant that you really want but it is not readily available where you live. You look at all the lucky people in Europe with that certain plant and even see a picture of them being sold in Australia in a store there for $7 US a plant. But reality hits and you are actually living in the US where many philodendrons, Alocasias, monsteras and anthuriums are going for ridiculous prices and people fight over them at online nurseries. Who would of thought that certain houseplants would go for prices as outrageous as healthcare here in the US? Houseplants were a thing back in 70’s and they kind of faded into the background after that decade but now things have changed and the demand for them is simply out of control. So to make a long story short, that plant that I said I really wanted was the Alocasia Baginda ‘silver dragon’ or the Alocasia Baginda dragon scale. I thought about taking the chance and ordering it from overseas on Etsy but then I found one, an Alocasia Baginda ‘Silver Dragon’ on Ebay so I was thrilled. When I found the plant auction it was only going for $50, only you say, but to be honest that $50 is virtually pennies in this country for that certain plant. You do not find these plants at nurseries, at least not in my city. Well, I had to bid and I did and I actually win the auction but I didn’t get it for a mere $50, go ahead and triple that plus some change.
This plant was shipped out pretty fast by this seller which is odd because I have ordered from him in the past and he usually takes forever to ship the plants out. Sometimes you have nudge him a little and ask what is the hold up. The plant only took like 2 to 3 days to get here which was exciting and I couldn’t wait to open up the box to get the little guy out. Well, I did and it turned out the seller was very negligent in shipping. He had this plant in very heavy wet soil and he attached the stems of the plant to the box but let the heavy pot flop around and it ended up breaking and bending all of the stems.
I was very disappointed by another planttuber that I talk with a lot said that I should put scotch tape on the stems that were bent. So I went ahead and replanted this plant into well draining soil and a terra cotta pot so the poor thing wouldn’t rot away. I placed him in my grow tent and he is doing very well and has even grown a new leaf. I just noticed that there are a couple of growths coming out of the soil which seem to be doing well so I am hoping for some baby plants soon.