MANY have turned to urban gardening as a way to destress from this global health pandemic. But while planting and propagating, some turned this hobby into a profitable venture at this time when the economy has been brought to a standstill.
The extended lockdowns in Cebu have specifically unlocked the ground for the plant and pot industries to thrive as people started gardening in their own homes.
Jonessa Montesclaros said cultivating and selling succulents have been her pastime while working as a freelance graphic designer.
“I worked on propagating my existing succulents so I can have new plants to sell but it’s not enough due to the demand during this time since many made gardening their hobby this quarantine,” she told SunStar Cebu.
Montesclaros said she started selling succulents two years ago when she found a supplier in Luzon who sells them for a third of the prices at malls. She invested P1,500 for 30 pieces of succulents to start the business. She easily found clients online starting off with her Facebook friends.
While many are attracted to succulents and plants as they brighten a home and add fresh oxygen to the environment, Montesclaros said it is quite a challenge to maintain them. Marketing expensive varieties and teaching new “plant parents” how to care for plants are also other challenges she faces in this kind of business.
Cactus and succulents are ideal for giveaways in any occasions but when the Covid-19 pandemic entered the Philippines, gatherings both small and big, were either postponed or cancelled.
But this temporary setback did not dampen the entrepreneurial spirit of Keizen Cuevas.
“Way back pre-Covid we received orders for cactus and succulent as giveaways for different occasions. Now, we do retail, no more wholesale and bulk orders because there are no more gatherings. So far, we still have income because many are still interested to buy,” she said.
Cuevas’ clients are people around their town and sometimes they ship in different parts of Cebu and outside the province.
Besides helping people get financially protected Ruby Michell Oroc, a financial advisor, also ventured into selling plants.
“The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) only provided the opportunity for me to venture into serious business with plants. I am essentially a financial advisor, and I lead a team of other advisors, but the ECQ literally locked us up in homes where there was not much to do during the almost three months. My plants needed rehabilitation and care. I took the plunge,” she said.
Equitable business
Oroc said her daily plant haul resulted in her building a nursery across her yard, and the plants continue to fill the space every day. She even brought rare and expensive plants from Davao, Bacolod and as far as Luzon to add to her collection and so she could propagate these plants.
“You see, there is more to selling plants than just pulling out a pot and offering it to anyone. It’s like, hey, do you even know the name of this plant? How is the care aspect of it? Can you give advice? I am saying this because it is crazy how demand suddenly also gives people the opportunity to sell at really, really high prices. The situation allowed some to take advantage. But then I can also understand that people also need to make a living. But what I hope is that people will also think of equitably acquiring plants and not over profit from it by taking advantage of the situation,” she said.
Oroc said for many, planting and caring for plants provided therapeutic relief.
“With high demand, people’s plants from home gardens are practically now finding their way into the internet. Even growers from the highlands now are into online selling,” she said.
Kareen Redula, owner of House of Plants, said she and her husband have been in the car buy and sell business for eight years. Because of the pandemic, they diversified into the plant business.
“We never expected that we would venture into this business since we ourselves were not into plants. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the car industry suddenly stopped. We had no income and we were dependent on the savings we had, and there was uncertainty to when things would go back to the way it was,” she said.
With God’s guidance, they decided to go into the plant business with an initial capital of P10,000.
“We now have big-time clients such as the local leaders, influencers, photographers and other plant collectors and enthusiasts. We also have resellers and first-time plant parents. Most of our customers are couples,” she said.
Redula said they have recently seen a rise in the interest in growing plants due to the stay at home protocol.
“This did not immediately pick up once the pandemic started. Probably because people were busy learning cooking and baking skills first, then household chores. When people finally became masters of housekeeping, they found themselves with nothing to do but talk to their plants,” she said.
“You can say, we found our niche in the ‘how to cope with the pandemic’ market. Also, we find it very fulfilling that, in a way, we are helping to bring greenery back to the concrete jungle,” Redula added.
Pottery business
With the popularity of plants, the pot industry has also enjoyed many buyers.
Mia Amor Borja-Echavez, a freelancer and owner of Happy Pots, said friends started to reach out to her asking where she got the pots when she gave her mother some. Her start-up capital was P400.
Echavez said the demand really rose, especially now that people are staying home and they have free time.
“It’s like once you plant, you can’t stop,” she said.
In Liloan, where the pottery business has been one of the municipality’s top products, Ryan James Mantuhac, the town’s consultant for events and a freelance interior designer, said the demand catapulted and many pottery shops are swamped with orders.
“People became ‘plantaholic’. Here in Liloan, there is an area here where it’s really the main livelihood so currently, almost all of their stocks are sold out,” he said.
Because of that, suppliers also introduced innovations where aside from clay pots, they also delved into fiber glass and plastic pots to supply the rising demand.