Our very first interviewee, Domonick Gravine of Redleaf Exotics, has jumped the gap from hobbyist to professional crack dealer... ::ahem:: Nepenthes nurseryman using expert growing skills, business acumen, and a metric ton of passion.
The Story Behind The Carnivorous Plant Resource Marketplace At the tender age of 11, your dear author was quite the budding artist. I mostly drew gnarled monsters, aliens and dinosaurs, but once I found carnivorous plants, two fascinations converged. All I could do was read about carnivorous plants (thanks Peter and The Savage [...]
Time to transplant or repot your Nepenthes? You've come to the right place! In this post, we'll cover the do's and don'ts of taking that tropical pitcher plant, and building it a cozy new home where it will thrive for years to come. While Nepenthes pitcher plants tend to be more finicky than Sarracenia [...]
TLDR Venus Flytrap Care Summary Water Your Venus Flytrap with Distilled Water Ditch the Humidity Dome Plenty of Sunshine Feed Your Venus Flytrap (but not too much) Respect Your Flytrap's Dormancy Bonus Item: Enjoy Growing Your Venus flytrap!! Growing Venus Flytraps - Basic Care [...]
It's well-known among carnivorous plant growers that the plants require purified water. But what does "purified" mean, and why is it so important for healthy plants? Strap on your goggles, and let's dive into this water topic. What is purified water? Purified water is water that has gone through advanced filtration to remove impurities [...]
A few folks have asked me how I photograph my carnivorous plants. My answer? Well, it sort-of depends. I use three different devices based on the type of photo I'm looking to capture. Am I trying to photograph an entire Sarracenia? Maybe just a single Venus flytrap trap? Or what about individual sundew glands? [...]
D. binata root cuttings 2 weeks in D. binata root cuttings 3 weeks in D. binata root cuttings 4 weeks in Drosera binata root cuttings at 9 weeks. What troopers! They demonstrate near-capensis-levels of heartiness. What are root cuttings, & what Sundews can you [...]
Mesa Exotics, expertly run by Mr. Don Elkins, is a carnivorous plant nursery that sells at plant shows throughout California. His primary focus is on Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula) and North American Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia). More specifically, Don is a leading seller of Dionaea muscipula King Henry, a giant cultivar that [...]
How do scale infestations happen? Last year, I purchased a Nepenthes talangensis x sibuyanensis at the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Society Show and Sale (totally recommend going - it's an excellent event that falls on June 3rd, this year) and introduced it into my Nepenthes terrarium without a full [...]
What's in a name? If it's a plant name, quite a lot, actually. Plant taxonomy, including carnivorous plant taxonomy, is the science that 1. identifies plant characteristics, 2. classifies those characteristics, and ultimately 3. describes them via a name. Frequently, Latin is used to describe unique characteristics as a way to differentiate species. The result is a name that doesn't [...]
