12/19/2025
I am writing this in hopes of bringing clarity and closure by sharing my perspective and experiences. This is not meant to place blame or reignite conflict, but to provide context to events that have led to ongoing misunderstandings.
My plant journey began in 2019, when I joined the original Plant Purge USA. It was the largest plant group at the time. It became a place where I connected with plant friends, discovered sellers I admired, and found inspiration that eventually led me to start selling plants myself.
When the original PPUSA was taken down, a new group appeared using the same name. Many people joined believing it was simply the original community returning. The group grew quickly, and I continued selling there as well. The support I received helped me grow as a seller, and I was grateful for the opportunities that came from being part of that space.
It was during this time that Ronnie purchased a plant from me, and we eventually became good friends. He began selling and auctioning plants in PPUSA 2.0 and saw a lot of success. I remember that auctions were a sensitive topic for some sellers, as there were concerns about pricing and market impact. Wanting to avoid conflict, Ronnie and I decided to create a separate auction group, which we named Five Dollah Hollah. The intention was simply to give him a space to auction for those who wanted to participate, without disrupting the larger group.
Since I had never run a group before, I reached out to my friends AK and Pia for guidance. They were admins at PPUSA 2.0 at the time and were kind enough to help us run it. Ronnie continued posting regular sales in PPUSA 2.0 while hosting auctions in our group.
I remember during the holidays in 2023, Ronnie and I were on a phone call, and he shared how grateful he felt for the support he had received both from the community and from the admins who helped run the group. He wanted to show his appreciation in a meaningful way. He sent a plant and monetary gifts to the admins/mod at the time as a gesture of thanks.
Unfortunately, his gesture was taken the wrong way. Somehow, it was thought that Ronnie was plotting to take down PPUSA 2.0 by sending money, because apparently this is the “exact way” the original PPUSA was taken down. This completely took us by surprise. Why would Ronnie want this group taken down when this is where we mainly made our sales? It did not make sense. After we found out about these allegations, naturally, this hurt Ronnie, and he no longer felt comfortable posting in their group. That’s when we decided to convert our auction group into a BST and changed the name to The Plant Hub USA.
There were also allegations of AK and Pia secretly starting their own group and siphoning members from PPUSA 2.0 to The Plant Hub. If this were true, maybe we would have more members than we do now. Just saying. Courtney, the creator of PPUSA 2.0 wasn’t happy when she found out about AK and Pia becoming admins of our group. They were not aware that they needed permission to do so. I personally felt bad and still do because if I didn’t ask for their help, they wouldn’t be in this uncomfortable position.
Recently, these issues resurfaced when Ronnie began cross-posting his sales in several groups, including PPUSA 2.0. His post was placed under review, so he reached out to the admins to ask for clarification, as his previous posts had typically been approved automatically. His message was seen but not responded to. When he later checked on the status of the post, he discovered that he had been suspended from the group. Shortly after, several individuals associated with him were also removed.
I want to be clear that this does not personally affect me, as I have been out of the plant community for some time. However, I do feel for those who were impacted despite having no involvement in any of this, especially since selling within that group is a primary source of income for some of them.
From my perspective, this has been a series of misunderstandings, and I’m sharing this in hopes of bringing clarity and closure. We don’t want conflict or division. We only want to move forward in peace and continue focusing on what brought us together in the first place which is our love for plants. To the creators and admins of PPUSA 2.0, we truly wish you peace moving forward.
