i think i am addicted

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prickle
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by prickle »

wow i might have to visit him :D
ive been thinking over the last few days about various carnivorous plants ive seen throughout my life and wondering about adding those to the collection :D
im guessing that is probably a normal similarity between cacti lovers given the obscure nature of them.
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Steve-0
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Steve-0 »

prickle wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:09 pm wow i might have to visit him :D
ive been thinking over the last few days about various carnivorous plants ive seen throughout my life and wondering about adding those to the collection :D
im guessing that is probably a normal similarity between cacti lovers given the obscure nature of them.
You best head right on over to the source of all things 'meat eating plants '...lol

Here's the bargain bundle page link to get your wallet emptier....err,...I mean get you started...Yeah!

https://www.flytrapcare.com/store/venus ... in-bundles
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toadstar
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by toadstar »

Steve-0 wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:46 pm I was thinking a collection of 50-ish plants would be plenty. So I did a recount Sunday morning.
75....WHAT!?!?🤯🤯🤯...WHERE DID THAT EXTRA 25 COME FROM ? 🥺😬😬😳😲

Oh yeah...Home Depot just had a fresh shipment arrive. 😕☹️🙄😆
Just wait until you get into growing from seed. I have hundreds of young cacti that I need to find new homes for. :o
It's gonna be a little bit harder now this year thanks to the farmer's market being closed due to COVID.
prickle
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by prickle »

Steve-0 wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:45 am
You best head right on over to the source of all things 'meat eating plants '...lol

Here's the bargain bundle page link to get your wallet emptier....err,...I mean get you started...Yeah!

https://www.flytrapcare.com/store/venus ... in-bundles
haha thanks! <3
i found 5 plants i want now in about 5 minutes :lol:
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Steve-0
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Location: Salt Lake Valley, Utah...high mountain desert climate

Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Steve-0 »

prickle wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:24 am
Steve-0 wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:45 am
You best head right on over to the source of all things 'meat eating plants '...lol

Here's the bargain bundle page link to get your wallet emptier....err,...I mean get you started...Yeah!

https://www.flytrapcare.com/store/venus ... in-bundles
haha thanks! <3
i found 5 plants i want now in about 5 minutes :lol:
I know what ya mean! One of our members here recommended that site to someone for ...hhmmm....maybe it was "cactus meds" or such.

Anyway, I had a quick peek and now I resist returning. Amazing what growers have been able to do with a Venus Flytrap. Originally, they came from ( if my recalled history is correct ) wetlands of eastern North Carolina - my home state. Around Wilmington you could see thousands of pitcher plants growing in the roadside ditches each summer. Wild collecting has been prohibited for decades. But WOW! Those giant mutant varieties are incredible.

Side note - I have some Tillandsia and tried to cultivate some moss type epiphytes but my humidity is too low. The Tillandsia are doing quite well and one bloomed...but no pups, yet.

So I live in a desert and Cactus care is the life for me.

Resistance is futile! - said some Star Trek Borg representative.
Pushrestart
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Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2015 4:11 pm

Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Pushrestart »

DaveW wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2020 10:15 am "I’m planning on spending more time in habitat as time and circumstances will allow. There’s a lot to learn and see in these places and given the environmental regression taking place in most countries, I need to hurry up."

Certainly time in habitat changes your ideas of how variable species are since we often just grow what are in effect cultivated clones of a species and have difficulty recognising new variation introduced from habitat as the same species.

If you ever get to go to habitat for those who live outside of the habitat of their favourite genera do so. I did not get the chance until I was 74, therefore you have time yet and I have never regretted it.
I hope you manage to get out there more often! That’s the thing if I keep waiting for “one day” it will never happen and the regret then will be multiplied. I’ve spent hours at our local conservatory daydreaming about hiking in Mexico or South Africa. There is too much to see, I know if I spent the next 20-30 years out there I still wouldn’t see it all, but I will try. Early days of growing feels like a rush to amass everything and it’s impossible, there will always be one more or something else.
Pushrestart
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Pushrestart »

toadstar wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:39 am
Steve-0 wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:46 pm I was thinking a collection of 50-ish plants would be plenty. So I did a recount Sunday morning.
75....WHAT!?!?🤯🤯🤯...WHERE DID THAT EXTRA 25 COME FROM ? 🥺😬😬😳😲

Oh yeah...Home Depot just had a fresh shipment arrive. 😕☹️🙄😆
Just wait until you get into growing from seed. I have hundreds of young cacti that I need to find new homes for. :o
It's gonna be a little bit harder now this year thanks to the farmer's market being closed due to COVID.
I just saw the obedient cactus link thing you have at the bottom of your messages LMAO! Needed a laugh today, cheers, :lol:
DaveW
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by DaveW »

I was quoting you earlier Pushrestart hence the italics. I have been once and at my age I don't think I will get again even after the lockdown on flights comes off, since a 2 hours 19 minutes flight from London to Madrid then a 14 hour flight from Madrid to Santiago in "Cattle Class" with not much legroom was rather wearing and the reverse coming back. OK if you can afford Business Class where the seat converts into a bed for most of the flight.

At least I did get there once, therefore you have ample time yet:-

https://forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=164681

Some parts of Mexico can be dicey to visit at the moment with the drug wars since the drug cartels do not like strangers snooping around and may mistake cactus collectors for undercover Mexican officials.
Pushrestart
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Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2015 4:11 pm

Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Pushrestart »

DaveW wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:45 pm I was quoting you earlier Pushrestart hence the italics. I have been once and at my age I don't think I will get again even after the lockdown on flights comes off, since a 2 hours 19 minutes flight from London to Madrid then a 14 hour flight from Madrid to Santiago in "Cattle Class" with not much legroom was rather wearing and the reverse coming back. OK if you can afford Business Class where the seat converts into a bed for most of the flight.

At least I did get there once, therefore you have ample time yet:-

https://forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=164681

Some parts of Mexico can be dicey to visit at the moment with the drug wars since the drug cartels do not like strangers snooping around and may mistake cactus collectors for undercover Mexican officials.
Oh I’ll definitely check your bcss travelogue, thanks! Honestly I don’t mind traveling like cattle (reasonably) if it means I get to places I care about. After 1-2nights of decent rest I think one can manage ok, but yeah I can understand for most it’s unbearable.
Mexico I’ve heard mixed things, avoid problematic regions (especially at night), go with a few other people (tough), and generally you won’t get messed with if you’re a foreigner. Who knows.
prickle
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by prickle »

Steve-0 wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:51 pm Around Wilmington you could see thousands of pitcher plants growing in the roadside ditches each summer. Wild collecting has been prohibited for decades. But WOW! Those giant mutant varieties are incredible.
it was actually something very similar to a pitcher plant that first drew my attention to them many years ago. maybe it is the same species, i cant remember the name of it, i saw it on a documentary. it was the same concept but it was huge, big enough to fit a human head in easily :D and aparrently the liquid inside stinks very strongly of rotten flesh. which means if i could grow one it would have to be away from the house! :lol:
rafflesia looks very tempting too!
i dont think these types of plants will grow very well outside in UK though :( so i will have to wait until i have room and money for a greenhouse, preferably 100m from the house :lol:
prickle
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by prickle »

DaveW wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:45 pm
Some parts of Mexico can be dicey to visit at the moment with the drug wars since the drug cartels do not like strangers snooping around and may mistake cactus collectors for undercover Mexican officials.
i would love to go, not just for cacti, but in general, for the culture, food, etc. i would stand out as a tourist though, i am very white haha.
some places are okay though. maybe one day
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Steve-0
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Steve-0 »

prickle wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 10:49 am
DaveW wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:45 pm
Some parts of Mexico can be dicey to visit at the moment with the drug wars since the drug cartels do not like strangers snooping around and may mistake cactus collectors for undercover Mexican officials.
i would love to go, not just for cacti, but in general, for the culture, food, etc. i would stand out as a tourist though, i am very white haha.
some places are okay though. maybe one day
Option B - Southwest USA.

This person hails from France and seems to make a go of it on a regular basis. His adventures are logged here.

https://sclerocactus-aventures.com/

Itinerary: Fly to LAX, rent a Jeep or other 4X4 SUV, drive from west to east, stopping frequently along the way, ending in Big Bend, Texas (Ariocarpus fissuratus heaven/haven )... see umpteen dozen cactus species...get all the Mexican food and culture you want WITHOUT drug cartel thugs and Federales Policias robbing you or worse. But then again...these days...anything can happen... anywhere.

Me? no travel plans to Mexico - ever. Utah, Nevada and Arizona have more than enough to see for me. Lower/safer expectations, I suppose.

I can see The Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley and San Luis Potosi online and it will suffice.
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Aiko
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Aiko »

prickle wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 10:36 am
Steve-0 wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:51 pm Around Wilmington you could see thousands of pitcher plants growing in the roadside ditches each summer. Wild collecting has been prohibited for decades. But WOW! Those giant mutant varieties are incredible.
it was actually something very similar to a pitcher plant that first drew my attention to them many years ago. maybe it is the same species, i cant remember the name of it, i saw it on a documentary. it was the same concept but it was huge, big enough to fit a human head in easily :D and aparrently the liquid inside stinks very strongly of rotten flesh. which means if i could grow one it would have to be away from the house! :lol:
Could it be you are referring to an Arum or Amorphophallus plant, by any chance?
They are not carnivorous, but do have smelly flowers that attracht flies and the flowers do resemble pitchers a bit.

The smell isn't that bad, to my opion. I have had Amorphophallus and Pseudolithos in flower. The flowers do smell of rotten meat (I could compare the smell one on one with a dead chicken that was dead for a few hot day at the time, and it was an exact match!), but only if you smell them from a close range. Even than I don't find the smell terrible, just interesting.
DaveW
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by DaveW »

Graham Charles no longer takes visitors Prickle, but the biggest cactus nursery in Britain you can visit (by ringing up for an appointment during Covid so not too many visitors arrive at once in order to retain personal spacing) is Southfield Nurseries. This covers about four or five times the area of Grahams greenhouses.

https://cactusland.co.uk/about.php

https://cactusland.co.uk/main.php

Also see:-

http://www.cactus-mall.com/nurseryuk.html

I found this in Chile. In spite of it's looks it's a False Pitcher Plant since the pitchers do not contain liquid although they similarly entrap insects with the downward pointing hairs that stop them climbing out of the pitcher for pollination purposes since they are showered with pollen whilst in the pitcher.

After a while the hairs whither and lay flat so the insect can crawl out and stupidly get caught in another plant to pollinate that. They do not need wet conditions since they grow in the same ground as the surrounding cacti.

See:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristolochia_chilensis

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Steve-0
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Re: i think i am addicted

Post by Steve-0 »

Aiko wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:13 pm
prickle wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 10:36 am
Steve-0 wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:51 pm Around Wilmington you could see thousands of pitcher plants growing in the roadside ditches each summer. Wild collecting has been prohibited for decades. But WOW! Those giant mutant varieties are incredible.
it was actually something very similar to a pitcher plant that first drew my attention to them many years ago. maybe it is the same species, i cant remember the name of it, i saw it on a documentary. it was the same concept but it was huge, big enough to fit a human head in easily :D and aparrently the liquid inside stinks very strongly of rotten flesh. which means if i could grow one it would have to be away from the house! :lol:
Could it be you are referring to an Arum or Amorphophallus plant, by any chance?
They are not carnivorous, but do have smelly flowers that attracht flies and the flowers do resemble pitchers a bit.

The smell isn't that bad, to my opion. I have had Amorphophallus and Pseudolithos in flower. The flowers do smell of rotten meat (I could compare the smell one on one with a dead chicken that was dead for a few hot day at the time, and it was an exact match!), but only if you smell them from a close range. Even than I don't find the smell terrible, just interesting.
It is this one. The bright green color and distinctive shape make them easy to ID at 60MPH. We still vacation biannually at Holden Beach, NC and I see these plants by the score in the wet ditches along side the road south of Wilmington, NC ...where the largest diversity of carnivorous plants exists. Renowned expert opinion: Mellichamp: The Green Swamp hosts the largest diversity of carnivorous plants in the world. It also holds the most carnivorous plants in terms of sheer numbers of plants. There are probably a million of them throughout the region.

Perhaps most noteworthy, however, is that the Venus Flytrap, the most famous carnivorous plant, can be found only within a 60-mile radius of the Green Swamp, just south of Wilmington, N.C. This is the only place in the world that the Flytrap grows naturally in the wild!

There are also more than a dozen other species of carnivorous plants to be found there. For example, there are four different kinds of pitcher plants, four types of Sundews, three types of Butterworts and eight species of Bladderworts. There are literally thousands and thousands of these plants growing wild throughout the savannas, ponds, and wet ditches.
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