From plants to profits: Turn your houseplant obsession into a lucrative investment

Being a proud plant parent is now a cliche of millennial culture as people temporarily convert their living rooms into part time jungles. However, not many people are aware of just how lucrative their houseplant hobby can be.

This study looks at the most in demand houseplants from the likes of Facebook marketplace and calculates the profit you could be making from buying and selling plant cuttings. 

By comparing the cutting price to the full grown plant you can work out which houseplant has the biggest increase from investment and could be raking in a tidy profit.  

The houseplants germinating the healthiest profits! 

Monstera Dubias are the MOST profitable houseplants with a +766% increase in investment! 

If you recognise this houseplant from your living room, you could be sitting on a gold mine. 

A cutting of a Monstera Dubia plant can be brought for an average price of £21.25 and for as little as £15. However, a full grown plant will sell for on average £184 and up to £200, making a profitable +766% from initial investment!

Another reason why this plant is so valuable, is because it loves to grow. Within a year the Monstera Dubia can grow 1-2 feet tall, and can continue to grow up to 10 feet - germinating plenty of leaves and leaving you in constant supply of profitable cuttings to earn from. 

Image credit: Monstera Dubia

Alocasias and Caladiums are the cheapest but MOST profitable houseplants to buy! 

Image Credit:  Alocasias Plant                 

There are a variety of Alocasia and Caladium plants to choose from and on average you can buy a bulb for as little as £4-£4.79 - making them the cheapest plants to buy in this study. Both plants also only take a matter of weeks to grow, making a quick investment turnaround. 

Alocasia plants, also known as ‘Elephant Ears’ or ‘Dragon Scale’ can sell on as adult plants for an average of £31.89, making a huge 697.22% increase from investment! 

Larger forms of the plant can even sell for up to £80, making them a great long term investment as well. These plants have grown in popularity over the years, therefore many people may already be owners of these beautiful  houseplants and could be making a profit. 

Full grown Caladiums can also bring in a healthy profit, selling for on average £23.02 - a huge 380.55% increase from investment. Once your Caladium is grown, you can propagate it by dividing the tubers/stems which can then be replanted in the spring - ready to be grown and resold for a continuous profit.    

Image Credit: Caladium Plant  

The Monstera ‘Thai Constellation’ is one of the most expensive and in-demand house plants on the market! 

This gorgeous marble leafed plant is one of the most in demand house plants on the market, making it the most expensive plant in the study and can take up to 2 years to fully grow - making it a long term investment. 

A cutting of a Monstera ‘Thai Constellation’ can be bought for an average price of £165.00 - but can also sell for a lot more depending on the type of cut. Once this plant is fully grown, the average price a Thai Constellation Monstera will sell for is £289.14, but has been known to sell for up to £400 - making a healthy 75.24% increase from investment!

The great thing about this plant is it's easy to propagate and loves to grow, making it a great long term investment. Once your plant is fully grown you can use stem-tip cuttings or grow them by air-layering to multiply your variegated beauties and continue to grow money. 

Image Credit: Thai Constellation

Salman Haqqi, personal finance expert at money.co.uk says  "Houseplant investments are a fun and alternative way to explore the investment world from the comfort of your own home. Not only have house plants become the world's new obsession, but many people are already exposed to a variety of plants and could be secretly sitting on a gold mine.

"Like all investments, with a bit of knowledge and research into the market these plant parents could be growing their home jungles into profitable investments in no time."

If you are starting your own investment journey, be sure to check out our investment accounts so you can compare the best deals suited to your needs.

Methodology

Prices of fully grown houseplants and cuttings were collected by using scraped data from Facebook marketplace, Farmer Gracy and Etsy. Once we collected the data we calculated the average price for both cuttings and fully grown plants for each variety of houseplant. We then calculated the percentage of change between the plant cutting and the fully grown plant to show the increase in investment for each houseplant.