FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So I have a question about which plants you decide to grow at the FTS.

Seems like whatever you grow in vitro will subsequently have a sudden explosion in FTS sales and then taper off. Is it because you prefer growing certain plants or varieties over others? Or because demand is mostly staved after a release of product (like releasing FTS etna for XX amount of money, a bunch of people get it fresh and new, followed by a lowering of price and less attention in vitro for the plant)?

For instance do you still propagate large amounts of a less popular VFT. I know that TC'ing a less than amazing VFT isn't as profitable, but I'm just curious about the whole process, how you relate it to marketing and your own plant preference.

I think its cool that you consult the community with new plants and their possible names. How much of a factor is the forum's opinion in your process of selecting among the superior plants to mass produce?

Thanks for the time.

-Dave.

David F wrote:Seems like whatever you grow in vitro will subsequently have a sudden explosion in FTS sales and then taper off.

I'm not sure what you mean here. You mean the supply tapers off or the sales taper off?

David F wrote:For instance do you still propagate large amounts of a less popular VFT.

We base our propagation decisions on what's selling best and how much inventory we have.

David F wrote:I think its cool that you consult the community with new plants and their possible names. How much of a factor is the forum's opinion in your process of selecting among the superior plants to mass produce?

It's fairly significant. I mean, I first choose plants that I like and post photos of them. Sometimes they're not very "mainstream" in terms of what most people would like, but most times there is at least some interest in them. If there is sufficient interest in a particular flytrap, I'll generally propagate it.

Matt wrote: If there is sufficient interest in a particular flytrap, I'll generally propagate it.

How's that FTS Towering Giant coming along?

SFLguy wrote:How's that FTS Towering Giant coming along?

Well, we sold quite a few of them this year and I now have it in tissue culture as well, so we should have more next year too.

Matt wrote:I now have it in tissue culture as well, so we should have more next year too.

That right there made my day

I'm not sure what you mean here. You mean the supply tapers off or the sales taper off?

I mean, is the fewer plants for sale due to decreased production (non-continuous in vitro) or because as the plants come in stock they are constantly sold.

I guess an easier question would be something along the line of: If you made 300 new vitro cultures that you successfully hardened into the greenhouse, how quickly would they sell? And at what point (number of sails) would you decide to produce via TC again?

I'm curious about logistics because I wonder how many plants you guys go through, since you always seem to have healthy specimens on hand, I imagine it to be an all day job of vitro, greenhouse, potting, dividing, germinating in vitro, answering forums questions, collecting darlingtonia seed and finding time to eat a sandwich or something haha.

David F wrote:I mean, is the fewer plants for sale due to decreased production (non-continuous in vitro) or because as the plants come in stock they are constantly sold.

Due to the number of varieties we propagate and sell and our relatively little grow space and operational size (man power), I can only dedicate a certain amount of time and space to each variety unless we just wanted to focus on a few varieties. So I make a guess based on perceived demand and propagate enough of each variety to theoretically meet that demand while trying to balance space and time constraints.

David F wrote:If you made 300 new vitro cultures that you successfully hardened into the greenhouse, how quickly would they sell?

That would depend on the demand for the particular variety and how quickly they grow to sale size.

David F wrote:And at what point (number of sails) would you decide to produce via TC again?

I always try to initialize all plants in TC in the spring and make a decision at a later time as to how many plants to produce of each variety I successfully get in TC based on how many we already have growing and perceived demand. Ideally I'd just create enough out of TC to supply plants throughout the year. The reality is that we have far more plants than we could probably sell. But the problem is that they're all exceptionally small and have to be grown for a while to be sale ready. If the plants are too small, they often will struggle or won't survive in a novice grower's care.

David F wrote:I'm curious about logistics because I wonder how many plants you guys go through, since you always seem to have healthy specimens on hand, I imagine it to be an all day job of vitro, greenhouse, potting, dividing, germinating in vitro, answering forums questions, collecting darlingtonia seed and finding time to eat a sandwich or something haha.

Yeah, running FlytrapStore ridiculously time consuming. I don't think most people understand the amount of time and energy that goes into it all, not to mention all of the various tasks. In addition to the logistics of balancing TC production and demand, initializing new seeds in tissue culture to look for new varieties, initializing flower stalks in TC (in the spring), managing inventory in the store, potting, re-potting, doing tissue culture work, answering customer emails, answering forum questions, hand-pollinating flowers (in the spring), gathering seed, and packing up and shipping orders, there is the aspect of trying to keep the website software up to date and the forum server running smoothly. It's really a ton of work and there's not a lot of money in it, but we do enjoy it! And that's the really important thing in life, I think, is finding something you enjoy. It's really the happy customers, which we have a lot of, that bring the most joy. But, of course, I really love the plants too.

We appreciate your and Leah's hard work!

After simply packing up seeds of drosera for a giveaway. It hit me that you guys would have to work almost all day for the store.

It's pretty impressive Matt, and I really have you guys to thank for keeping me in the hobby. I remember this super noob thread I made and I hadn't even read the caresheets on your website. I didn't know what you meant when you said "flush the media". lol

I've come a few milestones since then and am just trying to grow some drosophyllum as I don't have the time to maintain the size of my collection as it stood last year.