FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I posted here recently about my recent return to the hobby. And my search for some nice VFT's. Particularly the
sometimes elusive B52. I had been hoping to find some available on the Flytrapstore website, because I know
that if I purchased one there, that it would be a beautiful healthy plant. Matt has always sent me nothing less.
But I guess there are none for sale right now.

In my desperation I ordered one labeled "B52 Larger Plant" from California Carnivores. The photo on the
website shows beautiful healthy plants. The price was not too bad it seemed. $19.99 In the meantime I ordered
two other varieties from Steve over at Flytrap Ranch. After my order went through I inquired to Steve if
he might have any B52's in stock anytime soon. To my surprise he wrote back that he had a few that plants that had
suffered a little sunburn, and he was throwing one in for free with my order.

Well I received both packages today. I'm enclosing a few photo's. The California Carnivores plant is the small, sickly
yellowing looking plant in the foreground. ( I'm just hoping that it survives ) About the size of B52's that I've gotten
in Flytrapstore Bargain Bundles before. The nice healthy plant in the rear of the pot is the free plant from Flytrap ranch.

When I sold a bunch of B52's on Ebay last year as i was getting out of the hobby, I never would have sold a plant that
resembled the one that I received from California Carnivores today. I would have been too afraid of letting down the
customers, and them demanding a refund. Plus California Carnivores charges a fortune for shipping. From now on if I want
a plant that's not available at either Flytrapstore or Flytrap Ranch I'll just wait. I'm tired of getting burned.

That is a sad looking B52...I guess you ordered it bareroot?..perhaps there was some shipping damage. Here is the one I received recently from CC. This is a pic of when I first got it.

Its interesting that most of their venus fly traps have the same super red color when you first receive it..Do they grow them under lights or something?...

But I do have to agree CC does sell some small plants and their shipping and handling is OUTRAGEOUS....I ordered a P. Lauena from them $14.75...after shipping and handling it totaled around $26....what I received was very disappointing..

However, if you are ever lucky enough to go to CC or attend one of the show and sales the prices and plant quality is much better! I feel like when you order online from them they send you the lower quality ones they are trying to get rid of..

I wouldn't recommend buying from them online...

Hey and I've heard of Steve giving out free plants in the past...does he do that often?...That was super duper generous..i wish I got free plants haha

I think that Steve and Matt both considered me to be a good customer in the past. After a long hiatus from
the forum I was surprised that Matt remembered me right away, including my real name ( Mike ). And Steve
remembered me right away too. These guys are both great guys and they always make you feel like a valued
customer.

I bought a lot of VFT's from Flytrapstore in the past. I think that might be why Steve was so kind and
generous with the free B52 this time.

I'm really envious of your California Carnivore B52. But it really makes me more dissapointed in the junk
that he sent me. I'll never purchase from him again.

I'm hoping that I can nurse this one back to health. Any advice on this from my fellow forum members ?

That sucks that you didn't get what you were expecting given the cost. At least the plant Steve sent kind of averages it out.

I thought of you since I noticed this morning that FTS had B52 back in stock but I remembered you saying you had already found one.

I ordered their ginormous and a g-14 rosetted from cc. Both potted, I always try to get plants potted to reduce stress and the ones I received were extremely healthy. And yeah super red in color. But their shipping is a little high. Steve's plants however never disappoint. I ordered a b52 from him back in may I believe, and the plant I received had a very healthy root system and rhizome. It hasn't colored up much but it's putting out a lot of traps and seems to have divided already

I had a very similar recent experience with an order for 'Ginormous' from California Carnivores. I think the plants they sell are fairly typically sized for most vendors. But when you order from Steve or FlytrapStore, you will get something larger than from other stores.

I sent my photo's over to California Carnivores along with a note expressing my dissatisfaction. To my surprise Peter Damato E-mailed me back promising to ship me a new potted B52 at no charge. I hope it resembles yours dycSUS. I now give California Carnivores an A+ for customer courtesy. I'll post some photo's when my new plant arrives.

You should definitly visit his nursrey though, they have some wonderful plants their.

I've seen pics of his nursery, it looks great unfortunately I'm on a different continent but maybe he was having an off Day when he packaged yours up

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DTDream18 wrote:I sent my photo's over to California Carnivores along with a note expressing my dissatisfaction. To my surprise Peter Damato E-mailed me back promising to ship me a new potted B52 at no charge. I hope it resembles yours dycSUS. I now give California Carnivores an A+ for customer courtesy.

Wow, that's great customer service! Good on Peter!

I'm giving a shout out to dycSUS for posting the photo of his B52 here on this post. If I never saw yours I never would
have been motivated to write to California Carnivores expressing my displeasure. I'm one of those low key, easy to
please guys who never complains about anything.

When I wrote back to California Carnivores I wasn't looking for a free plant, or a refund or anything. And I didn't
ask for one. I simply mentioned my displeasure that my plant had no resemblance to the one pictured on their
website. And I received an E-mail personally from Peter Damato about an hour later with his generous offer.

Kudos to California Carnivores and all my fellow members of this forum. You guys provide half the fun of this
great hobby.

DTDream18 wrote:I'm giving a shout out to dycSUS for posting the photo of his B52 here on this post. If I never saw yours I never would have been motivated to write to California Carnivores expressing my displeasure.

I'm glad I could help!

I just received my replacement B52 Flytrap from California Carnivores. Here are some photo's of the plant taken as soon as I unwrapped it. Now this is much more like it !

Yeah, much better plant. Maybe I should have written to them about the plant I got

I also recently had a not-great experience with them. My friend ordered some sundews for us from them. They accidentally sent them to the BILLING address instead of the SHIPPING address. He emailed them immediately but they said there was nothing they could do. They offered to send to him whatever made it back to them alive, even though the error was theirs.