Addict needs help

[Lauderdale]

It started out simply enough.  I was browsing the net when up popped “petflytrap.com”, a website for the “Amazing Venus flytrap Store”….kinda’ cute little things and on May 15, 2003 three little Venus Fly Traps arrived.  That was the beginning.

They had to have a home so I placed them on a twenty inch round table out back.  Three days later they were frying in the hot South Florida sun so I built a ¾” PVC frame and covered it with a layer of  window screen, then two layers, then three layers and they did fine and ate all manner of bugs.

I somehow heard of a grower in Miami and decided to drive down to see what a carnivorous plant farm looks like.  I came home with four more carnivorous plants…one with fangs.  Two weeks later I returned and got six more.  There wasn’t enough room on the table so I built a small bench…of course I had to build a larger sun screen.  With thirteen plants I decided…
-I do not need any more carnivorous plants.
–I do not have room for any more carnivorous plants.

I joined the PFT Forums.  The plant total somehow got to twenty, the bench had to be expanded and the sun screen got larger.  While buying pots at a local nursery I spotted a poor abused little Coccinea that was barely clinging to life…it is now three feet tall from the tip to the bottom of the lowest of thirty-seven pitchers.  A friend liked mine, bought one but it did not do well on her north facing porch so she brought hers down for me to take care of…it is now two feet tall.
-I do not need any more carnivorous plants.
–I do not have room for any more carnivorous plants.

A total of thirty…not including at least a hundred seedlings…increased to thirty five this morning with the arrival of three more Drosera and two Pings. My Burmanii green is flowering and ready to produce seed.  My refrigerator is full of sleeping CPs…no room for beer.    
-I do not need any more carnivorous plants.
-I do not have room for any more carnivorous plants.
-I need help.

Christmas is near…anyone got any plants to buy, sell or trade?

 

[Ozzy]

Welcome to the addiction. We've all have been where you're at now. I'm sorry to say that there is no cure for our problem, the best we can do is to learn to live with it. In time, you too will come to terms with the addiction. Good luck. We're all pulling for you.

 

[PlantAKiss]

Hi

My name is Suzanne. I am a CP addict.

I started with a flytrap...got a few more. Then came the first 10-gallon tank. Then another. Then a 20 gallon tall...then a 20 gallon long...then more 10-gallons. Then shelving and lights...then more shelving...more lights...a microbog outside...then two. Then the basement expansion...first a bench...and now a table...

The addiction continues to control me...my kitchen stays full of peat, perlite, sand, pots, bowls, sphagnum and assorted tools. My floor always had orchid bark, peat and sand on it. My sink is full of pots and peaty spoons. I have boxes of pots and plastic containers and saucers.

Is there no hope? Will I be engulfed in plants?

The answer is YES! Somehow...some way...there is ALWAYS more room for more plants! Its something magikal about how the space can always be found.

I am a CP addict...and proud of it!

Right on' bro'!

*high five*

 

[Travis]

Yeah, I was thinking of checking into the Henry Ford Clinic in Detroit. I have a burning sensation in my right rear *wallet* and my neps never have juice and my sundews never have any dew.

travis

 

[Trent]

Hey Lauderdale!
When are you coming over? The greenhouse is jammin' with Nepenthes-lots to see-beautiful rafflesianas and ampullarias, and those lowland alatas from Sibuyan Island...and of course, Big Mama, the 55 inch diameter N. bicalcarata...and the hybrids!.....fantastic, beautiful Nepenthes hybrids!

Tons of Sarracenia with their last pitchers before going into dormancy.

..........ain't I a stinker! (quote from Bugs Bunny)

Trent
Boca Raton, Florida

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Quote[/b] (Trent @ Dec. 16 2003,09:51)]Hey Lauderdale!
When are you coming over? The greenhouse is jammin' with Nepenthes-lots to see-beautiful rafflesianas and ampullarias, and those lowland alatas from Sibuyan Island...and of course, Big Mama, the 55 inch diameter N. bicalcarata...and the hybrids!.....fantastic, beautiful Nepenthes hybrids!

Tons of Sarracenia with their last pitchers before going into dormancy.

..........ain't I a stinker!  (quote from Bugs Bunny)

Trent
Boca Raton, Florida

With enemies like this, who needs friends? LOL

 

[Capslock]

Well this one certainly hits a nerve. In April of this year, I had a bowl of sarras, a vft, and a D. capensis. Just like I had a few years ago before a friend's dog overturned the whole thing. But this time, my mouse went a'clicking, and next thing you know, I find this place. My previous net surfing found California Carnivores, where the aforementioned bog plants were purchased. This time, though, I found these forums. Discussion forums are another of my "issues", so I got sucked in pretty quickly. One thing led to another, and off I was to CC to buy one of those mysterious Nepenthes.

Now, eight months later, I have 35 Nepenthes, at least 10 species of drosera, and even several pings. I've purchased a bunch of grow lights, shelving, timers, a R/O water filter (got sick of buying distilled), and tons of peat, perlite, vermiculite, orchid bark, pumice, and gobs of lfs. I'm out of control, and my friends think I've lost it. But darnit, I'm having fun! And there are a lot more expensive hobbies out there, so the expenditures could be a lot worse.

If all my Nepenthes grow up to be huge plants, well, I may have to move to a larger house!

Capslock

 

[Darcie]

at the end of...
1999 - 1 VFT
2000 - 1 VFT
2001 - 1 VFT
2002 - 4 VFT, tons of sundew seedlings
2003 - 3 VFT, 4 sundew, 13 northern pitchure plants, 1 butterwort, 2 Neps

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

The one thing that contriguted the most to my down fall into CP addiction was the internet.  Until I got onto the internet 3 years ago, I was happy with the 3 or 4 VFTs I had rescued from Wal Mart.  A yaer after getting on the net I decided to find more info on VFTs.  One of the places I landed on was PFT.  Shortly after registering Jeremiah offered me some unspecified CPs if I had some for trade.  I didn't have anything but he sent me several plants anyhow (Thanks Jeremiah

).  Then I ordered some N. ventricosa from another site, then some VFTs from PFT, then some Sars, then another N. ventricosa (I had to compare it with the other sites didn't I?), then some dews, etc.  I am now in posession of 24 different CPs scattered in 45+ pots.  All this happened in less than 2yrs, and it is the internets fault!

BCK

 

[Ozzy]

Bck, you know you have to accept responsibility for your addiction. You will never make any progress by blaming others.

 

[Copper]

Trent,  I believe the word is "pusher".

There is never enough.  It is an obsession.  They are magnificent examples of God's ingenuity.

 

[peter]

As of right now I have-
2 green dragon Venus flytraps
20 typical Venus flytraps
3 Nepenthes
5 or six pings coming soon
a lot of sundews

all in a year!

 

[Trent]

,
you said it perfectly, Copper.

At the plant shows it's amazing to see how many people have never heard of a pitcher plant. Flytraps are definitely the best known CP to the general populace, but the sight of a large Sarracenia or Nepenthes always gets attention.

Trent

 

[Tropics]

My own experience in life is that one addiction replaces another.  I began to get interested in CPs only a few months ago, and I feel the CP addiction coming on.  It will probably replace the orchid addiction, which replaced the woodblock print addiction, which replaced the pinhole camera addiction.  I guess progress means replacing one addition with another that is more fun and less harmful.  Lauderdale, I don't know if you are making progress since CPs replaced beer in your refrigerator.

 

[PlantAKiss]

Oh yeah...I forgot the expansion of two tanks in my office.

It has been quite the educational tool for teaching people about CPs. People love to come in my office and gape at the neps and the sparkling 'dews. They ask lots of questions and I've been able to give out ExoticGardens/PFT/TerraForums web address more than a few times. Here too, the neps get the most attention. We CPers get so used to seeing them we are used to how they look...but for people seeing them for the first time...they are fascinated! "I've never seen anything like that before!"

They like the flytrap too...and all of them. The sundews looks like jewels in the afternoon when the sun hits the tank...they are magikal!

So anyone needing more CP space...consider your office if its possible.

 

[Dr_Carnivorous_Plant]

Humm? My CP addiction started after my failed first collection(all died because I was dormacny ignorant). Then I stumbled onto Peter D' Amato's book the SAVAGE GARDEN. I was hooked. Then of course I found the internet as a wealth of information further sucking me into the addiction. Now I have 30 plants and an annoying habit of boring others with my CP knowledge. I think I have a poem thats sums us up..(forgive me if I already posted this)

Ode to the Carnivorous Plant Grower
His mind full of happy CPs
His thoughts consumed by CPs
Drosera
Sarracenia
Darlingtonia
Nepenthes
Are a few of his favorite things.
He is consumed with carnivorous plants
Their oddities and beauty take his breath away.
The carnivorous plants take over
All he does is for carnivorous plants
Capturing their food instead of buying his
Giving them the best room of the house
Running humidifiers day and night
All he thinks about are his plants
How he could improve their growing habits
What role did they play in the whole scheme of things?
Did colonists use carnivorous plants?
He wonders.
They take over his speech.
“Do you grow carnivorous plants?”
He asks repeatedly
“No? Pity they are very fun.”
He replies to their “No”s
He then beguiles them with his knowledge of CPs
Well he thinks that they benefit from this knowledge.
Unfortunately, his hobby separates him
People laugh,
Scurry away,
Avoid him,
And ignore him
Because of his obsession.
Yet he is blissfully ignorant
Going about his hobby
Going about watering
Going about feeding
Going about talking
Going about doing
All things carnivorous plants
Ode to the Carnivorous Plant grower
who is blissfully ignorant of the outside word, and loves his plants

I don't really like to say I am a part of a wide spread addiction, but as a part of a subculture that happens to grow plants that eat things.

 

[PlantAKiss]

lol Very nice, Dr. CP

I like that. That about sums it up.

 

[Slyfi]

I have it bad....I visit my lowes home depo weekly looking for a quick score....I have limited space so I try only buy prime grade stuff....in 4 years I only have aquired 7vtf's, 2nephs, 3 sundews, and one sarr......but the illness is getting worse.....

now I see windows that I could use IF ONLY I had another shelf....the unfilled space makes my stomach turn....

...lost productivity depresses me....my orchids now have companions growing under their leaves in small glass cup minibogs....any insect is a good insect...I enjoy retelling the details my plants kills to anyone within earshot.....I want a hamata worse than I want a new girlfriend....

...I have lost it....

 

[droseradude]

4 neps
2 sarrs
1 darlingtonia
1 ping
1 sundew
6 months

 

[buckeye]

I had some VFTs and a few sarrs prior to when I found this forum. Unfortunately I had lost most of them the winter before due to bad dormancy conditions. I found PFT and bought some more cps to replace the lost ones and that's when i joined the forums. I now have 10+ vfts, 10-15 sundews, five pings, and 25-30 sarrs. Most of my cps are in my bog and the rest are in a terrarium.

-buckeye