#etsyplants

They look cool, don’t get me wrong. They have green leaves, and they also have completely pink leaves. They’re pretty! HOWEVER. They’re essentially FAKE. These plants have been treated with a chemical that makes they’re leaves grow pink, but that chemical will wear out, and the plant will revert to completely green in 6-12 months. Even the pink leaves will bleed out to green.

I’m only making a PSA about this because I clicked several listings and none of them mentioned the guaranteed reversion of the plant; whether it’s seller ignorance or something else is whatever. I just think people should know that when they spend $40-50 plus $70+ on shipping (import inspection fees, essentially) they should be made aware they’re buying a short-term novelty...

You can see the pink starting to fade out in the ends of a few of these, image taken from a listing. Here’s another one:

I will also say, all the listings I clicked on are shipping from Indonesia from what appeared to be nurseries and given how long they’ve been in the market, I’ve drawn my own conclusions on whether I think it’s seller ignorance or not. I’ve also seen a couple listings for Philo. Dark Lords with pink leaves like these; those have also been chemically treated to produce pink leaves, and will revert.

Anyone selling these, or plants like these, without putting a disclaimer about the reversion -or worse insisting it doesn’t happen- is essentially lying. I know I, as a relatively new plant person, would hate to spend the money on a plant I thought was hella cool only to have it turn out to be a fake that didn’t last.