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I highly disagree with their claim that fedex is the fastest shipping. I have some major issues with them. ]:| Maybe after 10 packages they will manage to find the house without calling 5 times for directions, get it here without being 3 days late on a 2day shipping order(ground they can be up to a week later than they say they will), and the box won't be damaged. The odds are low though. I'll expect my plants around thursday instead of tuesday.

Just to let everyone know, all plants, including the Crypt Willisii have taken very well in my tank. It was a little concerning at first, but the crypts weathered the storm

I did bury a bare rhizome and it appears a very tiny leaf is emerging. But, I can't be sure it isn't coming from an adjacent plant and don't want to disturb it at this time.

I do see new growth on the crypts so that is encouraging. The sagittaria seems to be growing extremely slow. Is this common?

Last edited by Cory_Di at 13-Apr-2005 15:56

Nice plants

I'll keep them in mind if I scrounge enough cash together for an order. I have really been eyeing their shrimp for ages. I'm glad they worked out for you, always nice to get a recommendation from a happy customer.

You can plant a bare rhizome ?
Reason I'm asking is my Anubias picked up some black I believe cyanobacteria and I cut the worst off and cleaned the few remaining leaves as best I could, then they got worse so I pulled it out.. Would be cool if I could cut the last leaves off and cut the rhizome in a few pieces, and plant, is this possible ?

The Amazon Nut...

Those are some nice looking plants Diane. I guess I'll need to be getting my order in soon.

Jim/:'

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Actually, that is about 1/4 of the riccia I recieved. I floated another 1/2 and the remaining quarter is in a breeding net within my goldie tank with either duckweed or frogbit that came with it. I'm cultivating it for their tastebuds in a controlled environment

Heh, I think I see the tablespoon of riccia tied to that rock.

Well, ok - here's another pic. This one shows the sagitarria and the mopani wood with the anubias nana v. petite tied to it (2 pieces). I tied a small swatch of riccia to the far right end of the wood. That was fun



Cory_Di attached this image:

Ok, now don't laugh at my hap-hazard tank. It's not aquascaped. I just put the plants in for now since I'm planning a breakdown in a month or two. I tried to get a shot of the red-spot ozelot and this doesn't do it justice. But, you can see the general shape of the leaves. I did not have to remove a single leaf from it. In fact, I didn't really have to do much to any of the plants. I did cut some of the roots because I believe it sparks new root growth.

To the left is my sagittaria, and a little anubias nana v. petite tied to the mopani wood. In the foreground I scattered the crypt willisii. I didn't take a whole tank shot. I put the rest of the anubias nana v. petite clumped in the lower right corner of the picture. It was a better deal getting 10 of them.

EDIT: Nuts! You can't see the sagittaria in this shot. Take my word for it - it's nice.

Oh - and that brings up another thing I want to do when I break the tank down.... get rid of that background . I've got black on my goldie tank and I like that.

Cory_Di attached this image:


Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Mar-2005 22:58[/font]

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Mar-2005 22:59

Damn. I have a quintuplet of perugiae cats coming in on second day fedex.

Also, pictures...STAT.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 30-Mar-2005 20:50

Hey People,

Several of you have been asking....

I finally got those plants I ordered from AZ Gardens on March 20th. They send plants out on Thursdays, and apparently it can spill in to Friday if they don't get it all done. My only concern was the miscommunication with when I could expect the plants. I was first told Friday I would get them, then when they didn't get here, I was told Monday. But, Monday they didn't come. Today, Tuesday, I was not home much of the day and they attempted delivery while I was away. They require a signature so I had to go pick it up. Thankfully, I was able to get to Fedex before they closed tonight.

Aside from the miscommunications on when they would be here, I was pleased to see they had waived the shipping cost since it was sent out Friday.

I have to say that for the most part, these are the nicest looking plants I've ever seen. I would highly recommend people purchase from them. They are not only fully snail free, but they are clearly algae free. Too often I've gotten plants from a nearby pet store that had hair algae, barely visible.

All the plants came in plastic that had moisture in them only. There were no pots, just plants and their roots.

My Ozelot Sword is flawless. Much prettier than I ever imagined and even has 3 red leaves at the bottom.

The Sagittaria (Narrow-Leaf Dwarf Subulata) was in generally good condition with only slight yellowing on some of the leaves.

The anubias nana v. petite - very beautiful, very flawless.

My Crypt Willisii was probably lovely when it left, and I will be watching it carefully to see if it recovers. Only 1 out of 10 is standing upright. Hopefully, I don't wake up to a tank full of melted crypts .

I got a small amount of riccia to entertain myself *sits with tweezers and brown thread, cursing the stuff* . It looked pretty good and as someone pointed out, it did have either duckweed or I think it was frogbit I was told to look out for. I did the best I could to very tediously pick out all of the foreign stuff. I have that (duckweed) in a bowl sitting in my window where I hope it will grow for my goldfish to eat. I need to get a breeders net to put in the goldie tank where it can grow undisturbed, then throw handfuls in at a time.

I have already emailed AZ Gardens so I'll see what their response is on the timing. If they require a signature, then you really need to know what day it will be here. I now know for certain that Saturdays are not included in 2nd day Fedex. The folks at Fedex told me if a box is shipped from AZ to MI using 2nd day air on Friday, I should expect it Tuesday, which is today.

The poor plants only got about 2 hours of light after being in the box all those days. I hope they enjoy a full day of light tomorrow. Incidentally, I added smooth pea gravel and made sure I had at least 3 inches where the sword went and thickened some of the other areas.

This is temporary, but I'm leaving everything still for the next month or two, at which time I may break her down in order to replace gravel with Eco-Complete.

Any further orders will probably be done by the phone as FRANK has done. This way, I can learn what shipping method they select and get a better idea of what day to look for it. Other than that, I recommend people give them a shot.


Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Mar-2005 06:56

Ooo - I found 3 rhizomes in the bucket. - I just planted them in a spot where I can watch them sprout up, hopefully.

I wanted to go to Pruess Pets in Lansing, which has nice plants, but it's over 2 hours away and I'm still on medical with my asthma. It's getting better, but I'm just not up to that kind of round trip. And, I ended up with free shipping so I don't even have to compare to the price of gas for that trip. I will go there to get some shrimp tho this summer after the substrate is changed.

There were nice Amano's there and I want some. I must replace my gravel first tho. I want Eco for my plants, and want to lose the rough flourite that keeps coming up. I still have a problem with my habrosus cories occassionally flashing against the gravel and when they do this against flourite, it is devastating. I've given up trying to stop it. Plus, I used coppersafe at one time and I don't think the amano's or a mystery snail I have in quarantine would appreciate that gravel. I believe some of the copper is probably in the gravel bed and I don't want to rely on something removing copper the rest of its life like Purigen or polyfilters.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Mar-2005 10:15

If the leaves were standing straight up, rather than out sort of flat - that's not an uncommon response to darkness. It
s more common in stem plants, but basically what happens is the plants "close up" for the night. Although they may look more, I don't know, focused , notice that in that position less of the leaf would be getting direct light, if the light were on.

I've ordered from AZ Gardens a handful of times and had similar experiences - and I agree, call in the order. That also allows them to tell you what's not in stock and help work out substitutions/back orders/whatever. I'm sure the plants will work out well for you!

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

Maybe everything will be ok with the crypts. All of them are standing at attention this morning with the exception of a leaf or two on some of them. Is this a good sign? They did this in darkness.

Although I remember my dad telling me that when transplanting tomatoes into the garden, it is best done on a cloudy day or towards evening. Apparently the sun, plus the transfer is stressful and doing so in darkness is easier on them to get their roots set up. Maybe it is the case with aquatic plants too.

Thanks for teh tips as I know nothing about Crypts. I'll have to go back into the bucket of tank water I had the scraps in and see if there are any loose rhizomes in the water I may have passed up.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Mar-2005 08:47

Di,

Plant the crypts. If they melt, do NOT uproot the rhizomes. Do clean up the melyed foliage. Over the next month, they should resprout. Melting seems to be a crypt's way of making you feel sorry for a change in their environment. However, the process is designed to protect the rhizome from changes in the environment. It will remain viable.

Last edited by bob wesolowski at 30-Mar-2005 07:55

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Thanks for the info and I'm glad they worked out for you.

I've checked into their site many times but I don't like the fact that they have a minimum order requirement, and shipping seems a bit high to me (JMO )

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

First Class, is my opinion of the plants I received. Like I said, I'm a little concerned about the crypt, but it was stuck in the box for four days. I have no doubts that if it fails on me, they would likely replace it. When I voiced my concerns about the plants being stuck in a truck all weekend out in the cold, they assured me they would be fine and that they would replace what is damaged, but he felt confident it would be alright. He stated that they've been doing this for decades and ship to Greenland and Alaska without problems.

My tank is very ugly right now, but I may try to get a snap shot or two of the plants. I wish I had taken pictures as they were coming out of the bags.

I was more concerned with getting my stock before the heat sets in, which to me is worse than the cold on the plants. I just put them in where I could find space, knowing they will likely be moving in another month or two. I want to see them spreading pretty good before I disturb them.


Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Mar-2005 07:30

Great information Di on AZ Gardens! I really appreciate the opinion on this potential vendor.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

I would encourage you to phone them instead of email ordering it. They have a strange page for shipping. It is very rare to not know your shipping cost before it is charged and their page doesn't tell you. Since I had no idea how much the box would weigh, I couldn't determine. I didn't know if it was packed in water or not and expected a much bigger box. But, what I got was a very small, featherlight box, with all of the plants laying flat on top of each other in their individual baggies. There was newspaper packed above and below them for insulation.

They have one shipping option that allows AZ Gardens to pick the method that they feel is best. If you don't know how they are shipping it, you can't figure out what day it is likely to come. You have the option of choosing, as well, but there's apparently no guarantee it will go out Thursday.

Also, you have to have your order in way early - Monday 7:00 pm their time, in order to get the stuff sent out that Thurs or Fri.

Just some shipping issues to be aware of. I will definitely work with them over the phone next time just to make it more predictable.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Mar-2005 06:54

Diane,

As you know I've been anxiously awaiting your update on this shipment as I have been wanting to place an order with AZ Gardens. It sounds it will be worth it based on the quality of your plants received. Thanks for the update.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain