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Has anyone else ever found packing peanuts in their soil before? I… | Anything about plants | Planta community

Adrian

Has anyone else ever found packing peanuts in their soil before? I had my 30-year-old jade plant repotted by my local nursery back in May, and recently it started losing some leaves. I went to check the roots and soil and found that instead of any perlite, there was two handfuls of packing peanuts stuffed in with the soil. I’ve never had issues with this nursery. Their plants have always been in great condition, so I’m curious if anyone else has used or found packing peanuts (yes, the styrofoam ones) in their soil, and why. I decided to remove the peanuts completely as they ended up blocking the drainage holes at the bottom, but I’m curious to hear anyone else’s experiences with it.

2 likes 9 comments

9 comments

  1. Sunny

    I’ve never seen packing peanuts in soil. I would question the nursery.

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    • Adrian

      I was so shocked. 😭 I’m trying to guess that they’re supposed to act as something akin to wood chips or a chunky filler to a soil mix, but I just sat there today like “this is some Home Depot box store insanity, right?”. I’m really trying to give the nursery benefit of the doubt here, which is why I’m asking, but there’s that part of me that’s a little angry if my gut feeling about this is right, and I entrusted this nursery with my 30 year old jade plant, only to be handed back half of the soil containing styrofoam 😂 this jade is really important to my family. It’s a gift from my grandmom to my mom that’s a cutting from her 60+ plant, and was meant to celebrate my mom working so hard to buy her own home by herself, so a piece of her mom’s house would always be with her. My grandmom passed when I was little, but she lived with us, so I try to take special care of it. I explained that to the folks at the nursery and they seemed very sweet and ensured they’d take good care of him, so I’m just very confused about what’s occurred here.

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  2. Alyssa

    My guess is they probably ran out of soil and MacGyvered a way to make it look like they repotted it. So strange that they knew the whole back story and still cut corners

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    • Adrian

      I’m just…really stunned, more than anything. They mixed it in with the soil, then proceeded to not add any perlite. They did a great job with propagating the stem cuttings for me, so I just really don’t know what the thought process was here 😅 I decided to take a leap with Aslan and chop him down at the branches and stems and try propping them all, and hoping the base plant regrows into a proper bush in…eons 😂 they staked it up and everything for me, so I’m really trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I just keep sitting here like “you put the most non-biodegradable thing in here with all the organic life. Why.” They literally grabbed walkie talkies and brought their “best guy” on it after a different person examined it and said they wanted to put someone with more expertise on the job. I’ve spoken with that guy before, and he seems to know his stuff. I’ve definitely seen him carefully examine each plant in the store, so I’m just…so confused 😂

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    • max

      exactly! it’s so odd that this would have happened with a place you’ve had good experiences with. keep us updated!

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  3. Plant Lives Matter

    I have! Similarly I question the practice, but as far as I know, there aren’t really any detrimental effects to the practice. I’m certain I’ve seen it a few times, but I especially remember seeing them used as a medium for an orchid or two, mostly as a cheap filler for plants that have lower watering needs. Theoretically, if you have a plant that wants to dry out quicker but you only have a medium on-hand that absorbs moisture, peanuts are like a cheap, more extreme version of perlite so could be used as an additive. I personally prefer to try to mimic how a plant would grow in nature when I repot and don’t like the thought of my plant babies growing in trash (though I know many probably could, which is also wonderful in a way).

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    • Adrian

      Thanks for the input! Huh. I figured there was some sort of method to the madness here. I was just really shocked when I went to check on my jade yesterday and found that all those little white pieces in the top half of the soil were just broken off pieces of the packing peanuts in the bottom. My mom is pretty upset, since as I mentioned, it’s a gift from her mother, so I wanted to get some more info about the use of styrofoam in soil before my mom goes confronting anyone at the nursery 😅.

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  4. max

    i’m so sorry this happened to you, especially since this plant is so important to your family. i would talk to the nursery, if even just to find out what they were thinking with it

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    • Adrian

      That’s the plan. I did pay for the repotting, after all. I’ve been going there for a while now, and until now I’ve been really happy with the place.

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