FlyTrapCare Forums

I wonder if nepenthes have some narcotic properties like tobacco plants and opium poppies. Not really a nepenthes person, so I just don't get it.

https://www.wired.com/story/nightmare-h ... nepenthes/

Plants are collectable, doubly so when they are hyped up (think back to the aroid craze in lockdown). Throw in a dabble of rarity and status and it ends up like the situation in the article, I must say that is on the extreme end of growing though. It is a good case for horticultural propagation efforts to be intensified, although some nurseries push negative myths about TC which makes it harder.

That's what I don't understand! Neps are not that difficult to propagate via tissue culture. Couldn't ICPS propagate them and sell them as a fundraising activity, the same way Meadowview Biological Research Station sells plants?

Right now, flytraps are the most addictive for me, I just bought some plants overseas.

Did you buy them from eBay or someone like Green Jaws or Carnivoria?

Oh yes, that article. While the writing style is a tad sensationalist, I do like that they’re bringing attention to the poaching crisis currently going on with Nepenthes. With that being said, it’s perfectly easy to build up an ethical Nepenthes collection by buying exclusively from reputable, sustainable sources (e.g. AW, BE) and not hyper-focusing on a specific, ultra-desirable species that eventually will lead to looking around at sketchy sources.

elaineo wrote: ↑Sun Nov 06, 2022 5:25 pm That's what I don't understand! Neps are not that difficult to propagate via tissue culture. Couldn't ICPS propagate them and sell them as a fundraising activity, the same way Meadowview Biological Research Station sells plants?

Nepenthes are quite difficult to introduce to TC via explants because all species contain a symbiotic fungal strain that hangs out inside the stems. The process to remove this strain for tissue culture almost always kills the cuttings. Some nurseries like Carnivero, however, are working on better methods to exterminate the fungus when introducing nep cuttings to TC.

The most effective way to introduce Nepenthes material in-vitro is via seed. Seed is quite difficult to acquire of most species and usually has very short viability. Furthermore, some commonly-poached species such as edwardsiana are not fans of multiplying in-vitro which makes it even more difficult to grow out meaningful amounts of these species to reduce the desire for poached specimens.

Lastly, a couple certain nurseries (cough RedLeaf cough) are determined to convince growers that TC plants are always inferior to their “seed grown” cousins via a string of delusional and/or misguided assertions, which is also effectively hindering the mass-production of these species and keeping the prices (and corresponding incentives for poaching) high.

Sundews69 wrote:Did you buy them from eBay or someone like Green Jaws or Carnivoria?

No a company in Italy, Diflora. I was able to pick up AR Werewolf, Wine Mouth, and a really cool clone called Carboni Ardenti, and Candy Cane.