Journal November 20, 2012

System number four contains a nice crop of baby romaine lettuce that will make a nice addition to our Thanksgiving meal.

The Manzanillo seedlings that I purchased on eBay have been placed in the tent with the Trust tomato, however they show absolutely no sign of life. The person who I purchased the seedlings from on eBay chose to return my money rather than get an unsatisfactory rating on eBay. As I understand it, your cost of doing business on eBay inceases if your ratings drop. As of this point, not one of the plants that I purchased on eBay have met my expectations. That said, all of the plants that I purchased from professional growers have been satisfactory.

 The plant in the above photo is a Manzanillo olive that I purchased from a grower in California. Although the plant is exceptional, I am not going to provide a link to the grower's site, as his service was not up to par.  After four emails and four phone calls trying to obtain shipping/tracking information, I was just about to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau when the postman delivered the plant.  Two days after the plant was received I finally received the shipping information.

This plant was very large and in beautiful condition when I received it.  After Ava and I finished potting the plant, I pruned the plant to encourage a shorter bushy growth pattern, and segments of the branches that were removed have been started as cuttings.

Another plant that I purchased on eBay is not doing all that well, it is the Mission olive. Again, I have ordered a replacement from the Olive Branch Tree Farm in Florida. The plant purchased on eBay took 11 days to arrive from California. As the growing medium was mostly sand, the plant had completely dried out en route. The seller responded that I should mist the plant frequently, and it would come back, as it was a hardy plant. If this plant responds, I will call it my Jesus plant, as it would have risen from the dead.

My recommendation would be not to purchase any plant material on eBay.

I needed an olive tree from Italy to complete my collection of olive varietals from around world, so I ordered a Frantoio from:Temecula Olive Oil Company  

This company's price and shipping cost was very reasonable, and, their service was excellent, as my order was shipped in a matter of hours after completing the transaction.