So here, I've got some Philodendron rugosum seeds.
There's 15 of them there, now
you'd sell that plant for over a thousand dollars,
so essentially in my hand here is 15 grand.
My name's Luke Stein.
I collect rare plants and I grow a lot of them
and sell them at markets and online.
I'd probably have over $50,000 in plants, I'd think.
One of my prize collections here
is the Anthurium warocqueanum.
I purchased this as a seedling.
I think I paid $300
when it was really tiny.
And I've seen them fetch up to $1,200.
At the moment at this size, I'd say that would be
between $500 to $600.
Come over here.
We've got the Philodendron 'Glorious'.
It's a cross between the Melanochrysum and the Gloriosum,
so it's got the vining capabilities of the Melanochrysum
but you get the bigger foliage, which is beautiful.
At this size, I'd probably sell that
for $500 to $600,
but a small cutting of that would go
for $200, no dramas.
So there's a few reasons I believe that plants are expensive.
Is one, it all depends on whereabouts you live in the world
to how hard it is to grow the plant.
Some plants are hard to import, so it makes them rarer
as they haven't been around here for very long.
Also, I have some plants that I sell for a lot of money.
And then a couple of months down the track,
the market will drop for that plant
because the market's been flooded with that type of plant.
So this gorgeous palm here is a Licuala elegans.
Very slow grower.
I reckon, I probably get two to three leaves
come out of this every year.
I think I've seen them for around
$800 of this size.
My cactus here is one of my first plants I ever purchased.
When I first got it, it was only at this height here.
Had it for about seven years now.
I paid a couple hundred dollars for it back then.
So I have no idea what it's worth now,
but I'm sure it's a lot more than what I paid for it.
I'm not afraid of killing my plants
because one of the reasons I actually love growing them
is I like to find out how I can grow them larger
and so that involves a lot of experiments
and sometimes you do lose a plant.
I have lost a couple of expensive plants here and there,
but you learn and they only grow bigger and better
once you've made your mistakes.
So over here we have another one of my favourite plants.
It's called the Splendid.
And I just love the detail in the foliage with the veins.
And you get the long, elongated leaves.
I could probably get $300,
maybe a little bit more, but yeah, very well sought after
on the market at the moment.
These are some of the plants that I have in my apartment,
but I also have a greenhouse
and I bring back and forth boxes of seedlings for sale
and other plants that I'm growing.
So these are some of my seedlings or small cuttings.
Basically, each one of these tubs is holding
over a hundred plants and you're looking at around
five grand starting price per tub.
And that's just kind of like your basic plants.
It's a very big mix of Anthuriums.
We've got some regale crosses,
some clarinervium,
some magnificum,
hoffmanii forgetii,
I do have a few warocqueanums,
the veitchii king here,
and I've got the panamense here.
I'm not afraid of anyone coming to steal them
from my apartment, but I don't let people know
where my greenhouse is for that exact reason.
Growing plants started out as my hobby.
It's slowly starting to take over what I do
and I'm spending more and more time each week
growing and selling plants
and I'm hoping in the next six months to 12 months,
that this will be my full-time job,
just growing and selling plants
and I find it very rewarding and relaxing.
If you were just getting started into the rare plant game,
I'd suggest jumping onto Facebook.
There's a lot of groups that buy and sell.
And also, if you have some issues with your plant
not being healthy, people are happy to help you
get your plant back on track.