Stephania,

Thailand must be near to the perfect place, if not the actual perfect place, to grow Sans. Your second picture, of cuttings running rampant, is all anyone ever needs to prove it, don't you think?

Hi Cactusmcharris (^_*)"

Sometimes I think they grow like a weed! Actually,in my country years ago,
Sans. seem to be a very common exotic plant. You can find every houses
have this snake-plant or mother in law tongue as a "must have" pot plant.

But mostly were the varities of Sans. trifasciata, untill years ago, some different looking
species or varieties have been introduced into our plant market.

The first remarkable one is Sans. aff. robusta complex that we call 'Samurai'
This charming plant changed Thai people's interest of Sans. keeping forever.

This day, in our plant market, you can find any kind of them, even undescribed species!

yes Stephania, you guys have the best Sans growing weather. and i am SO jealous. Sans have become my favorite genus and i have been drooling over the Sans i see in Thailand. not only do you guys have all these spectacular species and variegates that we don't have here in the states, they all grow so fast and stay so healthy there! i am seriously planning a trip to Thailand (which incidentally is my favorite country anyway) just to buy Sans. Which brings me to my question for you: if foreigners bought Sans there in Thailand; how difficult/costly is it to ship/bring them back to the States? is that even possible?

any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated.

thanks in advance,

Brian.

:^) For your question :

If foreigners bought Sans there in Thailand; how difficult...

Because, as I known, Sans. have not been listed in CITES's or Thai protected floras law,
so it's legal to do and not at all difficult to buy the plant from our local market.

Mostly in JJ market, you can buy Sans. in bargain price, from 5 to 50 US$ for ordinary species,

and quite pricey for rare such as this small size Sans. kirkii 'Silver Blue'
for 20-100 US$ depend on their size.

But, not every kind of Sans. are able to obtain in reasonable price.
The ultra rare such as these examples are quite expensive here:

Variegated Sans. pinguicula 1,000-2,000 US$

Sans. ehrenbergii from Somalia: small size 300-500 US$

Sans. eliensis : the most sought after and easy to sell 800-3,000 US$ (If available!)

The best place Sans. lovers to visit is Chatuchak (sometime write Jatujak) or JJ market
in Bangkok, where you can find every kind of exotic ornamental plants.

{{gwi:478817}}

I saw most of Sans. costomers are Indonesian or Japanese, only few are westerner.
The Plant market does open every Wednesday & Thrusday.

(^_*) Costly is it to ship/bring them back to the States? is that even possible?

There are some Sans. growers here do export plant, mostly to eBay costomers.
To bring back aboard with your luggage could be save if you had already done
any kind of 'must have paper' such as phyto. to pass yout USDA when arrival.
So you should have at least a half day to get some paper at our Thai DA office, 30 minute from JJ.

Aha -- related to that, a question about what to DO with one that is escaping from the side hatch.

I was determined to not buy any plants today. So I brought home this Sansevieria cylindrica I found (sigh).

It has 5 spikes, nearly a foot tall, straight upright, in a perfect line. It also has an itty bitty pup starting at the edge of the pot.

It is also sticking a root out the drainage hole of the pot. It looks like it *might* have been broken off relatively recently, but it's healthy looking and there's a tiny spike starting from the middle of it.

What would be the best strategy to try to allow the bit sticking out the bottom to become a new plant? I would like to repot but I don't want to damage the new bit.

I'm not sure if the edge of the drain hole is going to pinch it off, or if I might break it prematurely if trying to repot. Plants toward the succulent end of the spectrum are the ones I have the hardest time with.

Any thoughts?

{{gwi:81285}}

hey Stephania: thanks for all the info. so it sounds like bringing things OUT of Thailand is not a problem. i just have to worry about US Agriculture when i return to the states. i would assume that that's not going to be an easy process *sigh*. but i will look into what our Department of Agriculture requires. thanks again for your help and for posting all those great Sans pics; on different threads here and all over the internet. i've seen your pictures everywhere! i really need to go to Thailand.

tropicdreams: beautiful plant. do you mind telling me how much you paid for it? are you in Ohio? and regarding the plant that is coming out of the drainage hole; you're going to have to carefully cut up the pot with snippers to free the pup. cut the pot from the top lip down toward that particular drainage hole. i would remove as much of the soil from the pot before i start cutting it so you can see which plant that pup is from. i've bought something similar to that before and each of the five spikes are independent plants and their roots are pobably not entangled yet. hopefully (and most likely) the plant with the regular pup on the side of the pot is different than the plant with the pup coming out of the drainage hole. that way you can remove the other four plants from the pot before you cut the pot to remove the one with the pup through the drainage hole. good luck.

Bri.

Thanks for the suggestion, Bri. I thought I'd have to cut the pot but didn't want to get started on demolishing anything without some advice. I managed to kill a nice $$ palm tree that way.

I paid $14 for this, which is more than I usually allow myself. I'm a big clearance rack shopper but this one was really different. It's one reason I'm hoping to get some extra plants out of it -- I'm hoping I can get someone to buy them for a couple bucks to defray the cost. If only I'd been able to go in during their 40% off tropicals sale....

Yes -- OH -- Cleveland far west side

hi tropicdreams,

i'm right there with you as a bargain shopper. and $14 is a hefty price, but i think you got a great deal for that plant. i've been to wholesale nurseries around here in LA (where it's relatively easy to find nice sans) and have seen something very similar for almost the same price.

good luck with it!

Bri.

haha - Ive got an Agave - century cactus, doing the same thing at moment - since they are tough plants Im just going to let it go and make for an interesting pot.

SO MANY great looking Sans varieties there. You're pics always make me so jealous Stephania - but in a good way! I just wish it was a bit easier to import plants into Australia - though might be lucky for you it isnt so easy or else Id have you packing box after box of Sans and Broms!!

all the best - and keep those pics (sans and broms) coming!!

Kristan

hey Stephania,

i apologize for asking you so many questions and thank you in advance for all your helpful answers. the reason i am asking so many questions is that i actually am planning a trip to Thailand and would like to buy some sans from there and ship it home to me. you mentioned the phyto. certificates earlier in this thread. i just wanted to confirm that it would take about half a day to get the phyto. certificates at the Thai DA office, which is 30 minutes away from the JJ market? so if i were to go to the JJ market on a Wed or Thursday, buy some Sans, i could then go to the Thai DA office and get the phyto certificates for those plants and that should be all i need to bring those plants legally back to the states?

thanks again!

Brian.

Yep...and you're always welcome, Brian (^_^)

But do not plan your trip this moment, you would realized that

my country is in the "Million Red Man March" crisis! some people got mad.

Get an import permit. They don't have bugs, wash them with soap and water before they reach the U.S. so inspectors will find that they are very clean, no roots or soil. Norma

thanks for the advice Norma. i don't mind cleaning them really well and removing all the soil, but are you sure i have to remove all the roots, too? i would hate to remove the roots. that would be so detrimental to the plants.

Stephania: i hope you don't mind, but i have some more questions for you. i'm really contemplating going to Thailand in early May. i know you have the Million Red Man March going on. i hope things work out for you guys soon. i have been checking for flights and hotels and it seems like Thailand is pretty busy in terms of tourism during that time. at least down south near the beaches.

anyway, my question for you is: do i have to get one phytosanitary certificate from the Thai DA office per plant that i ship or do i just have to get one per shipment or one per species? and do i need to being anything with me to the Thai DA office or can i just show up with the plants and fill out the paperwork for the phytosanitary certs? will i be able to do it if i don't speak/read Thai?

thanks again for all your help!

Bri.

Hi Brian, normally you can use one phytosanitary certificate for the whole batch.
What you have to do is what Norma's suggestions first,
then bring the plants with your package to our DA office,
fill in the apprication form with the name list,
for example "Sansevieria spp. 100 plants" (no need specific name)
but in case you buy different kinds of plant, it will be a mess!
as officers seem to hate typing the long list of different genus name for you!

The officer will check on your plants, if everthing OK then they give you a permit,
but the officer will ask you to seal and stamp your package with the plants inside,
so you can not open it until you declare to your USDA inspector at the USA airport.

Anyways, I would be pleased to help you being guide of shopping Sans in Bangkok.

(^_*)"

Chanin

hi Chanin,

thanka again for all the information. it's great to know that i only need one phytosanitary certiicate for my entire shipment. like i said, since i am going all the way to Thailand, i may as well buy a lot. and i only plan on buying Sans, so the officer at the DA office only has to type the one plant name. it sounds like a pretty painless process.

and i cannot thank you enough for offering to be my guide when i am there! that is VERY gracious of you. and i will definitely take you up on that! but i just need to convince the boyfriend that it's a good idea to go to Thailand to begin with. we still haven't decided concretely. but i will let you know.

thanks again,

Bri.

I think $14 for that plant is a good deal. I payed $40 for mine and it is very similar but it only has 4 spikes, not 5 and no pups in or out of drainage holes.