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Whats the worst price?

lets start a thread with stories of people who have eaither been riped off and got a ridiculus steal on a cp.

Last weekend i went to a farmers market and bought 3 vft's for a dollar each.they look like dente and are real big. I thought that was pretty lucky.

whats are some of your stories?
 
I got a N. Miranda at at the state fair a few years back. It had 12 6" pitchers and it cost me $12. The local vo-tech high school had grown them and the teacher who was growing cp's was retiring and none of the students wanted them.
naich I live in NJ also, what farmers market did you get the vft's at, and did they have any other cp's? I'm always on the prowl looking for plants especially neps.
 
The most I have paid so far is 80 bucks for a S. Reptilian Rose. Although I saw a sarracenia for sale for 500 bucks from a place that is supposed to be non-profit.
 
The most I have paid so far is 80 bucks for a S. Reptilian Rose. Although I saw a sarracenia for sale for 500 bucks from a place that is supposed to be non-profit.

I know the place of which you speak. I personally don't mind if they charge that much, the $ goes to a very good cause. They do important work there and are trying to purchase land to protect Sarracenia, as well as genetic research and other endeavors. The guy that runs that certainly isn't pocketing that money. If you are a member of that place, you get a 50% discount, although I still would never pay that much for a plant. But there are people out there a lot more wealthy than I ever will be.


I'm a pretty frugal person, so I've never paid that much for a plant. The most would be from the aforementioned place, where I've bought a couple that were in the $75 range, but I did have the 50% discount. The best deal I've gotten would be this past month, where I got about 5 plants from someone on Ebay, but they sent a bonus "grab-bab" of 16 Sarracenia rhizomes. 21 plants for about $60 was a steal to me, although it put a serious dent in my available space.
 
The most I have paid so far is 80 bucks for a S. Reptilian Rose. Although I saw a sarracenia for sale for 500 bucks from a place that is supposed to be non-profit.

your point? it still costs money to run them......im involved with 4 non profits......even in this lil poor middle of nowhere tiny town we pull in several hundred thousand dollars a year between the 4 of them.....

for example with one of them.......we need to collect $10,000 a year for insurance alone, another couple grand is needed for the accountant to do the books every year.....around $30,000-$40,000 a year for heat, lights, water and minimal upkeep to our building.....trying to figure out now where we are gonna come up with a spare $12,000 to have a floor refinished.....and this is before we start giving out scholarships and give money to other needy causes.....non profit does not mean it doesnt cost anything to run.....
 
Sarracenia, how do you become a member of that place? they certainly have some sars I want to get my hands on.

I know how much it costs to run a nonprofit, my mom owns a no-kill animal rescue center. But come on, 500 dollars for a plant is rediculous. They would sell more of them and thus bring in more money if they would lower that price a little bit. But it's their call.
 
well, volunteering got me alot of my sarracenias for free, another was an online nursery where i got 2 one year sarrs for $2.

~billy
 
if you think $500 is ridiculous you aint been involved in the horticultural world for very long......aint hard to find plants in that range.......granted i wont buy a sarr at that price but i fully believe there are ppl that will, ive watched ppl drop a grand on an orchid........
 
back2eight: Becoming a member is explained in the catalog and on the order sheet, and gives you half off. Considering what their plants cost, the cost of membership, even if you give over the minimum, instantly pays itself off. Also, I consider it in my mind to be them giving me some plants for free for me supporting their research and conservation, because I could just as well buy from a for-profit place at the member discount price, but chose to buy from that particular place for the aforementioned reason.

Best/worst price:

Best: I got sale unlabeled nepenthes in 3" pots that didn't look so good for ~$3-4 each, of some regular easy varieties (vent, sang orange and red, maybe copelandii?, and something else that didn't make it) as well as some other more fancy hybrids and species on sale, that have mostly popped back to health except for one 4-5 months later and are my best looking pitcher-ers. The down side is that they looked cruddy because they were probably bug-infested so that I had to neem my whole collection down for a few months...but I consider it a learning experience because this was the first time I have successfully fought and won a bug-battle on my plants, and I learned that you just don't buy from some nurseries even if they're giving stuff away for one shiny red cent.
Also, the N.leuco I got from flytrapshop if HUGE for the price I paid, considering the other Sarrs I have ordered from elsewhere. It helps that leuco is my favorite Sarr :love:

Worst: I got an ampullaria from that vendor that everyone knows sends dead-ish neps that are mite/aphid/thrips infested that died a slow, agonizing death for the month after I got it. On the up-side, I did get a pretty big Platychila from them that has been thriving with me from day one.
 
  • #10
Well theres was a sale on neglected plants and for 5$ each nep.. I bought 3 and I got N.[known] , N.Flav and an N.sing for 15 dollar I think thats about it..

Edit: And I also won a monthly give away.. I got a free VFT :p but that was like YEARS AGO..
And most rip off is from the dead plants... :( So expensive and yet.. I killed them :(((((((((
 
  • #11
Yeah, my best buy was also from that $5 deal. I still haven't ID'd any yet, but four of my five are getting ready to pitcher. One might not make it- I haven't gotten it "dialed in" yet. No pitchers = no ID. Is it HL or LL? It won't say. :(

On the plus side, the most vigorous is turning red red red!

066-1.jpg



Dunno what this one is, but it looks like a hairless N. talangensis.
067.jpg






My worst deal? I can't say I've ever had a bad buy, yet.
 
  • #12
Sarracenia, how do you become a member of that place? they certainly have some sars I want to get my hands on.

I know how much it costs to run a nonprofit, my mom owns a no-kill animal rescue center. But come on, 500 dollars for a plant is rediculous. They would sell more of them and thus bring in more money if they would lower that price a little bit. But it's their call.

Basically, just send them $25 and you're in. They take Paypal. I'm guessing the $500 plant is in very limited quantity and they wouldn't put it at that price if they knew it wouldn't sell. I've already seen people selling divisions of plants from there at much lower prices, though not the $500 one...yet.
 
  • #13
On the plus side, the most vigorous is turning red red red!
066-1.jpg

looks very similar to my N. burbidgeae. if it is-->highlander conditions will get the ball rolling!

---------- Post added at 09:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 AM ----------

best price: a couple i guess--
3 heliamphora pulchella plantlets for under $60- one if currently inflating its first mature pitcher!
a mature ceph with 4+ growth points for $35.
(not dirt cheap, but still...)

worse:
a juvie TCed h. minor for $25--seriously? 4 leaves barely clinging to life, and only now, do i see it producing a new leaf. (i bought this plant 2 months ago!)
 
  • #14
Best deals? Well, at the NECPS Silent Auctions of course! Although I've donated far more than I ever bought... so I suppose that sorta negates that.

Worst deal? I really can't say I've had one. Any time I paid a bill that was kinda steep, the plants were so nice an healthy they were surely worth it!
 
  • #15
My best deal? $75 for a 6in N.jacquelineae.

Worst deal? $8 N.ventricosa that came with rust fungus and killed half of my nep collection. :cry:

Also, $60 for a large, but very weak looking N.burbidgeae that died a month after I got it. :-(

PM me if you need a warning about the bad vendors.
 
  • #16
hey njnewbie...im in monmouth county and this fair was in my neighborhood..very smal fair, and havent seen the cp guy around since. Had no website either. And wow glad to see this caught on.
 
  • #17
Hey, that's right! The best deal I've ever had is the BACPS raffles!

Usually 20 tickets for a few bucks, and guaranteed to win-- they keep pulling numbers until all the plants are gone. I once walked off with a hundred dollars worth of plants for twenty bucks worth of tickets.
 
  • #18
I got 8 mature S flava cuprea f2 plants for $40(maybe $50 I can't remember exactly) last year through the NASC auction. They are all beautiful and many have much more red than your typical cuprea.
 
  • #19
I got a decent sized clump (mature pitchers) of Heliamphora minor at the Montreal Botanical Garden, for 9$. That's the best deal I ever got on a Cp, i think...
 
  • #20
Best Deal: Heliamphora tatei for the price of a raffle ticket:$1.00 - BACPS Meeting
Worst Deal: S. "Candlewax": $250 - Meadowview - was dug up by raccoons and ultimately didn't make it.
 
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