The Island?s main plant nurseries have vowed not to price gouge ? despite severe shortages of poinsettias this year caused by the passing of Hurricane Fabian.

The businesses have said they do not want to upset their customers and all said that they will not go much above the prices last year.

This year most are selling plants in the six-inch pots for between $25 and $30 per plant, smaller ones coming in at substantially less, larger ones much harder to find after the storm wiped out crops.

?We do not think price gouging is a good policy,? said Gerald Tatem, vice president of sales and marketing at Aberfeldy Nurseries. ?We have put our price up marginally, but not because of the shortage. We were already going to put the price up. Putting the price up is when there is a shortage is not good for customers and not good for business in the long run.?

He added that companies that had price gouged following Fabian would face a backlash from customers when there was a choice about where to buy products.

Poinsettias in general are imported as cuttings, and have to be grown on-Island to the size required before Christmas. They are known as a difficult and sensitive crop to grow and are susceptible to frequent blights and bugs.

Mr. Tatem said Aberfeldy had very few poinsettias available for retail sale to the public as they tried to fill advance orders first.

Aberfeldy lost between 90 and 95 percent of its crop, and had to start the growth from scratch again, so the plants are a little smaller than normal.

Last year the business sold about 5,000 poinsettias. ?This year we don?t have half of that, maybe between 2,000 and 2,500,? said Mr. Tatem. ?A lot of the plants we got in did not have time to grow, so we have a lot of the smaller four inch pots with smaller plants at $8.50. The larger ones are $27.50. The quality looks good, the colour is rich and the plants are full. Some look like Charlie Brown Christmas trees ? but we won?t be selling those at the full price.

?At least we are matching the quality of the plants we had last year. Pretty much everyone is suffering, but we are all friendly with each other, you have to be.?

Mr. Tatem said that the goodwill among the nurseries even extended to telling people to go to each other?s stores when supplies ran low.

Bermuda Plant Nursery is one of the few nurseries to have a fairly good stock of plants, after the owner?s neighbours and brother braved the storm to get the five inch plants under benches in the greenhouse.

After the storm had passed, the greenhouse was destroyed, but most of the tiny plants survived, protected by the benches.

?We lost about a quarter of our crop,? said Joel Cassidy. ?And they have grown well, to knee high or higher. We have a good selection of red, pink and red and white. But it was only because of the kindness of our neighbours that so many survived. The greenhouse fell on top of the benches, but most of the plants survived.?

Bermuda Plant Nursery are selling the plants for $25 apiece ? the same as last year, but Mr. Cassidy is not 100 percent sure of the numbers left after his special deliveries to offices and churches.

Normally the company would take orders for plants from the public, but this year decided not to as they were not sure how the crop would turn out.

?It is a funny crop to grow,? said Mr. Cassidy. ?One minute they are clear, and the next they are hit by a disease.?

But luckily his crop, which he describes as ?good quality? survived.

Eddie Simas, manager at Brighton Nurseries is also low on stock, but has a different tale to tell about his crop.

His original crop was wiped out by a bug, and a new shipment of cuttings was flown in to Bermuda ? the Thursday before the hurricane hit.

?They came in the weekend of the storm. I knew something would happen to the bridge, so I went to get them from the Airport,? said Mr. Simas, who took them to Ag and Fish, where they had to be inspected.

Following the storm, Mr. Simas went to pick up his cuttings and has faired well compared to some of his competitors.

?I would say we have about 1,000 less than normal ? about half were wiped out,? said Mr. Simas, who is selling the plants for $25 a pot. ?It is the same price as last year. I know there is a shortage around and there are some going for sale in the supermarkets and vegetable stalls.?