A woman on TikTok admitted she gets her plants by stealing pieces off of other plants at establishments, which sparked a debate among her viewers.
The TikToker (@raaee____) shared a video showing herself laughing while sneakily breaking a branch off a plant in a restaurant. The video’s on-screen caption read, “When someone asks where do you get all your plants?”
“Honestly proud to say I’ve only bought one plant,” the TikToker wrote in the video’s caption. As of Thursday, that video received about 2.7 million views.
The TikToker has about 11,000 followers on the app and has previously posted several times about her large plant collection. In one video, she said her lanai room was becoming a greenhouse.
Viewers had mixed reactions to the TikToker’s plant hack, and the video accumulated more than 2,000 comments as of Thursday. Some viewers said her actions were frowned upon in the plant community.
“Please do not do this, big no no in the plant community,” one viewer commented on the video.
“Nah that’s kinda disrespectful. It’s different if it’s already fallen off the plant,” another viewer commented.
“Please don’t steal. Just ask. It doesn’t take many people doing this (or doing it wrong) to make them look bad or damage the plant,” one viewer said.
Some viewers thought the opposite and pointed out that many plant owners prune or trim their plants regularly anyway.
“umm… y’all do realize people who own plants pick their plants all the time to manage growth/promote new growth lol [it’s] not damaging it,” one TikTok user wrote.
Another user said, “For “plant people” you guys aren’t educated well obviously trimming plants actually helps them grow.”
“i stg none of u know anything about plants bc this doesn’t do anything to them it actually promotes growth lol,” another comment read.
A few viewers said it’s OK to take pieces off plants as long as they’re from a corporation and not a small business.
Several viewers referred to stealing a piece of a plant as “proplifting” — shoplifting for the purpose of propagating.
“if it’s a chain (Home Depot) proplift away, but pls don’t hurt small businesses plants,” one viewer commented.
“I have plants in my small business and would hate to see that people ripped off a bit. Just ask the owner,” one user said.
For some viewers, the TikToker’s “proplifting” just wasn’t a big deal either way. Some poked fun at other viewers for seeming to get upset.
“Careful the plant police already mad at u in the comments,” one user commented.
Another user wrote, “« Big no to the plant community » PLEASE why are yall acting like she left with the whole plant in her purse.”
“The people who are mad are just trying too hard to be a part of something… this is innovative lol,” someone else said.
The Daily Dot reached out to user @raaee____ via TikTok comment.
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