I ordered these Nepenthes from Dr. Andreas Wistuba, of The Nepenthes Nursery, located in Germany. He's set up a US distributor to deal with all the importation and CITES paperwork so without that headache I decided to try an order. I had wanted to for a while, but was hesitant to try (and spend the money on tiny TC seedlings.) However, he's the only vendor with legal Nepenthes clipeata seedlings for sale. This being my favorite Nepenthes, every year that's gone by, the pain and anguish of not having one was slowly killing me.
I only ordered one N. albomarginata red, but two came wrapped up together. They came almost rootless, but I'm not complaining. I was happy they came with any roots at all.
 |
| Nepenthes albomarginata red #1 |
 |
| Nepenthes albomarginata red #2 |
What will one day be the pride and joy of my little collection over here; Nepenthes clipeata clone 3 and clone U. Clone 3's growth point was damaged during shipping, but it looks like it will grow out fine.
 |
| Nepenthes clipeata clone 3 |
 |
| Nepenthes clipeata clone U |
I went with the recommendation to keep them bagged at 100% humidity and slowly acclimate them from there. It's going well. As of today the bags are open at the top, and I've only had some light die off at the tips of the pitchers. The leaves are starting to get more leathery and lose that weak looking lime green color they came with.
So the "test run/desperate for N. clipeata" order appears to be successful, and now that I know I can acclimate the plants fine... I can order more plants with a little higher confidence. I'm already regretting not getting clipeata clone 2, but I guess I'll have to wait and order it next time. Overall, I'm really happy with the whole experience. I was riddled with anxiety over it at times, but from now on I'll just order in fall or winter and save myself the worry if things get delayed.
I know very little about carnivous plants, (I'm a succulent grower), although I did a little reading on Nepenthes, fascinating plants! It was very interesting reading about your desire for the N. clipeata plants and the difficulties in acquiring them. I recently had a similar, but easier experience in obtaining a relatively newly discovered cactus, Astrophytum caput-medusa. I wasn't able to get plants but finally received some seeds which have now turned into seven great seedlings. The challenge in acquiring the plants we desire make them that much more wonderful, if that's possible! Very interesting blog. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThat's the truth, sometimes half the fun is hunting something down. Congrats on your seedlings, too bad you'll have to wait quite some time before they mature and bloom, but it should be more rewarding, growing them out yourself!
DeleteHi Melody,
ReplyDeletegreat news on the Wistuba Order. I'm from Canada and just getting the paper work together for an order. I wan to place it soon so that when he gets back in September it will be waiting for him. I hear horror stories about the lenght of time and lack of communication Wistuba.com gives. When did you order your plants, and how did you find communication? the experience over all was good??
Thanks in advance,
Brad
Hi Brad!
DeleteI ordered my plants in May, got them in July as apparently Dr. Wistuba was ill for some time and things got delayed. I should have ordered them in March/April, or as you are, in September. I think it took about 10-14 days from Germany to Florida, and that would be fine any other time of the year when the weather is a little less oppressively hot. I also wouldn't order in the middle of winter if it snows/frosts where you are
When people talk about "lack of communication" it's due to the fact that he doesn't have the time, (nor would I bother in his situation) to answer every single, "what's the status of my plants?" email he gets from impatient people on our side of the world. He ships about once a month, applies for export/import paperwork at the beginning of that month. So if you order mid month, you'll have to wait. He also doesn't ship every single month of the year too. I got an email confirmation of my order with a month on it that my order was scheduled to be shipped within, a second email about a month and a half later when it was shipped, and a third email when it was in the country and I had a tracking number from USPS. I think most people are used to ordering within their countries from smaller operations that ship within the week to an individual, not within a month or so and through a distributor first, and that's where you get complaints.
All in all, the experience was good, and I'll probably make another order either this winter or spring if what I want is still available. Despite the heat my plants came through fine, but they are a little tender and do need to be hardened off slowly to personal growing conditions. Not long, I had them bagged and slowly oped the bag over the course of 2 weeks. Good luck with your order, I'd like to know how it works out for you too, after hearing the same horror stories that you probably did too!
Thanks for the quick and helpful reply. It is good to know it always turns out well in the end. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
ReplyDeleteBrad
I just read your profile, you may like my youtube channel, Checkout "Brad's Greenhouse" or search Youtube for ICATIZP (thats me). Oh and you don't have to publish this, I just don't know how to send you a msg.
ReplyDeleteTalk to you later,
Brad
No problem, I just so happened to be online when you commented. I've been having massive problems with spambots lately, so anon comments usually are moderated first. My email is in the "about me" section at the top, but I have no problem if you even want to link to your channel in a post. Legit stuff that's relevant is totally ok here, so long as you're not an especially crafty spambot tricking my readers onto a page about insurance, hot girls in your area that want to meet, 100000th visitor: Win a free ipad!, or weight loss.."One weird trick this mom found, doctors hate her!"
DeleteHow are your new plants doing? all good I hope! My order from them has been place and should be shipped in September...fingers crossed
ReplyDeleteBrad
Hi Brad!
DeleteThe plants are all doing fine. They've all been unbagged completely, but are still in my little 10 gal terrarium. They have all put out new leaves, although the newest leaves are slightly smaller than the last leaf...no big deal, sometimes even mature plants do that when acclimating to a new environment. Even the rootless albomarginatas are growing. Fingers crossed for your plants as well, although I'm sure they'll be fine if you'll acclimate them appropriately. I wouldn't be worried about them being in the mail. I didn't even get the express shipping and mine made it ok, and only situation I can think of that might be worse than mine is ordering them to the northeast in winter! Good luck, I know it's a hard wait knowing they're out there in a box somewhere.