Ok, first off to answer the question of why Phill has ancient and huge looking plants the man is a Master grower if even one walked on two legs. Phill is an amazing man, even amongst amazing men. He is sort of a hybrid between Crocodile Dundee and Charles Darwin and has explored all of Australia and much of Borneo studying and collecting these wonders. He also has a nice greenhouse operation in Australia, and so has perfect conditions.
Secondly, this is not MY plant, LOL. This thing would take half my growroom to fit it in. I can't comment on the growing conditions.
As for wanting one, I can relate! Imagine how I feel! If you know me at all you know the depth of my addiction. I would LOVE to cultivate these plants dproperly, but I have no GH. If I did, I would likely be buried in Nepenthes, but I can't accept them under my conditions....so I sweat and itch a lot, and look at photos and sigh. Phill is good at making me do that.
This one is in the production phase of things and won't be available right away I think. As Tony commented, the seedlings of this cross produced very varied forms, and this one was Phill's favorites from the lot.
I knew you guys (and gals) would appreciate this photo, hee hee. Now you know how I feel and we can all lust together.
Maybe I can get him to actually post a comment on this thread, he IS a member of TF, although he is always too busy hopping around the outback to have time to post.
By the way, my marketing of his CD "Carnivorous Plants of Australia" was to raise funds to support his efforts in introducing the Australian CP species to TC, and to support his addiction which has got to be one of the worst cases on Earth. The CD remains available for 15.00 to US resdients and 20.00 outside the US. ALthough it does not cover Nepenthes, it is a great CD. It runs for about a half hour and is as close as may of us will ever get to OZ. I encourage you to purchase one today, you'll be glad you did!
