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On a trip to the home improvement store...

TheFury

Oh, the humanity!!
So I went to a certain national home improvement chain with a blue facade yesterday to pick up some vermiculite and some sulfur-based fungicide. They had neither. But, after many days of searching for a local source of CPs, it seems that they had just received a new shipment of death cubes.

There was this clown with his girlfriend in front of me checking the cubes out. "I wonder if they eat mosquitoes" ... "I'll only buy it if it can take down a cockroach." His girlfriend chimes in, "Honey, don't buy any of those, you'll just kill them." (amen, sister). I was fine with the comments, and was even about to pipe up with a few growing tips. But then the guy proceeds to rifle through the cubes, open up each and every venus flytrap cube, and trigger the traps with his grubby fingers!! He didn't leave a single one untouched. Then he walked away without buying any.

Then I walked over to the display myself and rescued a D. Adelae and S. Purpurea (I've been looking for those for a while now!)

Anyway, this rant may seem petty - but I shocked myself with the level of anger I felt at that moment!! It was at that point that I realized I've caught the CP bug for sure, and now I'm 100% committed to the hobby, if I can even call it that anymore...
 
Well, having its traps triggered is probably the least of that plant's problems...

But next time, SPEAK UP! Say Hey, you shouldn't do that, it will kill the plant! At which point they will either storm off, embarrassed that they were caught, or start asking you questions, since they're curious and you seem to know your stuff.

Or, do what Schloaty does: wait until they're just about to poke the trap, and scream "LOOK OUT!!!!"
 
I don't think it's petty.
It's blatant idiocy and incredibly frustrating for those that know better.
The only thing worse than these people being ignorant is when they don't care that they're ignorant.
The anger and the sadness that stems from the disregard of anything, anyone is passionate about is perfectly natural. I felt it as I read your story. I felt it as I tried to show my father my garden with pride, only to have to watch him sticking leaves on my sundews, splashing beer on my neps, and putting a stick in my VFT.
I feel it when I hear people say, in the most serious tone "the only good snake, is a dead snake." Snakes being my passion...that breaks my heart more than anything.

And then, for me atleast, there's this sinking sense of hopelessness, cause with the amount of people around, there's just bound to always be crass idiots, that will never wake up, that will never educate themselves, they'll never have compassion.

Anyway, I know what you experienced. I don't think it's silly, or surprising.
But welcome to the fever ;)
 
I happened to stop into Lowes (before going to my weekend job at H.D.) and also looked into sulfur-based fungicides. All they has was one with copper sulfate. No thanks, I'll pass. They also apparently just received a case of (42) death cubes. They had mostly VFT's, several purpureas, some, adelaes, and one so-called red pitcher plant. I was hoping to find a cobra lily but none could be found. They didn't even have any primullifloras. Looks like we were on the same page, as it were! I did pick up the good LFS (orchid moss).
 
Yeah, I didn't notice any cobra lilies or any pings either. I did notice, in addition to the VFTs, D. Adelae, and S. Purpurea, a couple of S. x "Judith Hindle." But since I'm confined to a grow rack, I'm not going to push my luck with anything but straight purpurea!!

I ended up finding a local garden center that has all the right orchid fertilizers, sulfur-based fungicides, and Hoffman brand planting media (perlite, vermiculite, sphagnum, sand, and lava rock). Nice!

So I was wondering about that "orchid moss." Right now I'm working with this long fiber sphagnum that is said to come from Chile. It's the same package that you can see on this page. I've read that this brand is OK - do you have any experience with that? I'm trying to sprout my own live sphagnum out of this stuff - it's been moist under lights in a ziploc bag for a week now and I see some green so far... hoping it's not just algae!

Anyway, it's interesting to see people's reactions to CP ignorance here from a (relative) outsider's perspective. It's refreshing to see people from random corners of the country getting equally passionate about a thoroughly under-represented branch of horticulture. Glad to know I'm not the only one!
 
I can't tell for sure but it looks like th real deal. Lowes sells it for $4.24. Mosser Lee brand is cheaper... and for a good reason. there are more twigs and filler in the bag.
 
Or, do what Schloaty does: wait until they're just about to poke the trap, and scream "LOOK OUT!!!!"
LOL, I love it.

It's too hard not to say something when people act like inconsiderate to any living things like that. I always tell kids (and adults) to stop tapping on the glass at pet stores, aquariums, etc. because I can't not. I have gotten some pretty nasty looks from some parents, but I just give 'em the same look back. They usually don't have anything to say, haha. I hope I just embarrassed you in public, and maybe next time you'll think.
 
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