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What's the most expensive?

What are the most expensive Nepenthes currently for sale? Are they all oddly colored varieties of ampullaria or species just introduced to the hobby? Will the cost of these most expensive plants drop as soon as they get going in TC?
 
At the moment, some of BE's plants are the most expensive that I'm aware of: ampullaria 'Williams Red', Ampullaria 'Tricolor' and platychila. The ampullaria variants are either cuttings or large plants, and the platychila are seed grown.

They will eventually come down in price, but not for 12 months or more I'd say. Even then, I wouldn't expect the price drops to be dramatic, because there is little or no competition for these to bring prices down.
 
It's not hard to find pricey Nepenthes from just about all the major producers.  They are usually recent introductions just hitting the market or plants only produced from cuttings.  A special plant only from cutting may decrease in value only marginally over a very long period (years and years).  Recent introductions IF they are also put into tissue culture will most likely drop in price but again your probably looking at a fairly long time frame because of the cost, effort, and time before marketable plants are finally produced out in the grow range.  There is still of course the issue of demand and availability..


I would say though that the most expensive, you probably never see even listed on a pricelist. Special request one of a kind type deal.
Tony
 
Tony, yes I agree with you there. There are plants from species and variants out there growing in serious collectors' collections that most growers think are not in cultivation. Some of those would potentially go for serious amounts of money .... were they to be sold.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (SydneyNeps @ Sep. 30 2004,10:39)]
Is it then safe to assume all (or at least almost all) species are in cultivation somewhere? In some cases this being only one plant?

Was the big drop in campanulata pricing we saw over the past couple years due to it getting established in TC? Or, was there more at work behind the scene?
 
Given the rate of discoveries, there ought to be new species out there not yet in cultivation in the western botanical world. There are still many places that haven't been explored, either due to lack of accessibility, or are just so dangerous no one in their right mind would go their (like some parts of PNG and The Philippines).

But there are at least two species I know of that are not commercially available, that are only grown by a handful collectors, that everyone thinks are still out there waiting to be rediscovered. Remember, it's not only nursery people who wander through exotic and dangerous places looking for plants.

As for campanulata, it would be the same thing that affect prices. Availability and competition. If only one supplier has a species or variant in cultivation, then you can almost guarantee it will be expensive. As soon as there's more than one, competition can start to bring prices down. Tissue culture certainly plays a large role in this process.

As noted elsewhere, it is not cheap to find and breed new species and cultivars, and it is sometimes very dangerous, and nurseries need to recoup costs and make money. And it's part of a market economy for prices to be a high as demand will allow. Given that there are a fair number of collectors who will pay big prices, prices will often be big until their demand is sated.
 
Hmmmm...I guess it depends on how much people are willing to pay...
I can think of one plant Hamish is alluding to that I would pay 5K for right now!

devil2.jpg
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Hmmmm...I guess it depends on how much people are willing to pay...
I can think of one plant Hamish is alluding to that I would pay 5K for right now!

And what might that be? If you don't want to speak publicly,
send me a private message.
 
  • #10
[b said:
Quote[/b] (neps @ Oct. 01 2004,1:42)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Hmmmm...I guess it depends on how much people are willing to pay...
I can think of one plant Hamish is alluding to that I would pay 5K for right now!

And what might that be? If you don't want to speak publicly,
send me a private message.
Jeff, you don't have a true N. edwardsiana fore sale - have you?

Cheers Joachim
 
  • #11
HAHA I will up your bid if we're talking the real deal N. edwardsiana
smile_n_32.gif


Nepgrower no it's not safe to say that nearly all are in cultivation. There are alot of known ones that are not and as mentioned there are a number still unnamed ones. Most likely you won't see what happened with N. campanulata happen again. Alot of irrate consumers and nursery growers over that still...(at least I know I still am). It was not simply a matter of a new plant getting established in TC.

Tony
 
  • #12
what happened with n. campanulata? i wasn't around 2 years ago in the scene
smile.gif
 
  • #13
Robin, might it be...
Dare I speak it?! The ever elusive.
...










Nepenthes Tenuis!
smile_k_ani_32.gif
 
  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Jeff, you don't have a true N. edwardsiana fore sale - have you?

No, I don't. I was simply curious what someone might consider worth 5K.
 
  • #15
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Alot of irrate consumers and nursery growers over that still...(at least I know I still am).

Tony, what are we talking about here?
 
  • #16
Sorry Tony,
I out bid ya.....
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  • #17
so what was the deal with campanulata? Is just every where now? Doesn't have that rarity value anymore?
 
  • #18
The short and sweet version.

N. campanulata went from $120 a plant to $5 in the span of about 6-8 months. Alot of hobbyists while willing to pay alot initially felt burned when they saw the price drop through the floor. Alot of nursery owners stocked up at the initial price only to find that the guy down the street was selling for 1/3 the price and making a profit a few weeks later, and ended up losing a ton of money because his inventory cost twice what the guy down the street was selling them for.

Tony
 
  • #19
Tony & friends:

My two cents on N. campanulata.

I stood on the sidelines as an interested observer during the rapid price collapse on this plant. My take on it is that the initial buzz around it was far greater than the real demand, and that once the consumer perception about it shifted from "ultra-rare" to "abundant", and the stamp collector types all had it, the market was both saturated and faced with an over abundance of a rather plain-looking pitcher plant. I also think that many of the hard core Nep collectors had an inside track (a "private placement" or "pre-IPO" if you will) to acquiring it well before it was formally released and never had to step up to the plate and pony up full retail. I am, of course, sorry that you and others got burned.

I will note that spp. like N. hamata have dropped from the US$ 160.00 per plant (FOB Borneo) that I paid in 1998 to forty-five bucks now, yet I doubt that anyone who acquired them six or eight years ago feels in any way cheated. You are clearly better informed than I, yet I believe that the N. campanulata case stems from a misunderstanding as to how much high-end demand there was for this plant. I doubt that there will be a second case study like this.

BTW - I never did buy one.

SJ
 
  • #20
wowie....

i dont really think campanulata is impressive, it's just cute
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