FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have started a small collection of carnivorous plants over the last year and wanted to share my experience buying from different vendors. This may be helpful for anyone looking for CPs, but I hope this is especially useful for new CP growers and enthusiasts. I will speak to my time buying from these sites, knowing other people have had different experiences with the same vendors. More detailed information to follow, but I have in my collection now 4 VFTs, 3 Sarrs, and 2 Sundews growing in a mini bog, 1 potted VFT and 1 Nep. I Live in zone 7b.

TLDR: I would definitely buy again from Carnivorous Plant Nursery and Flytrap King. I am less likely to buy again from California Carnivores and from Jeremiah’s Plants.

Vendor Reviews

Flytrap King (6/19)- Asheville, NC, USA
https://www.flytrapking.com/

Plants Purchased: S. “Judith Hindle” 3in potted

• Pros: Despite the name of Fly Trap King, selection of Sarrs is the vast majority of inventory; fast, potted shipping in very well packaged materials; very healthy plant

• Cons: Limited variety of CPs

California Carnivores (6/19)- Sebastopol, CA, USA
https://www.californiacarnivores.com/

Plants Purchased: Sarracenia ( x 'Godzuki' ) x purpurea ssp. purpurea "New Jersey" 3in potted

• Pros: Wide selection overall; some interesting and complex hybrids; great care information; healthy plant

• Cons: Definitely pricey in comparison to others; size info less accurate than others; plant came potted with some other plants (D. Binata and an unknown utric. I guess this can be seen as a positive since the sundew is doing well after being repotted).

Jeremiah’s Plants via Carnivorous Plant Resource (7/19)- Colorado Springs, CO, USA
https://carnivorousplantresource.com/

Plants Purchased: D. Muscipula “Clumping”; D. Muscipula “Petite Dragon” x “Jaws”

• Pros: Wide selection of VFTs; often affordable prices; low shipping costs; if looking for mature VFTs this is a great option again, considering cost.

• Cons: Little aside from VFTs available on CPR currently; Poor communication with CPR and Jeremiah. I made my purchase on 7/5 and that day received an email from CPR saying Jeremiah was away at a conference, should return around 7/10 and that shipping would be delayed. On 7/15 I emailed CPR to get contact info for Jeremiah to check in. They responded on 7/19 after another follow up, seemed like they responded to Jeremiah (who had some travel trouble and didn’t get back until 7/15-7/16 ). The plants arrived on 7/19 in great shape. I am going a trip later in July and did not want plants to arrive while I was away. Got antsy when there was less communication and an unknown timeline for shipping. Rather than the delay itself, my issue was with the poor communication. I did not know that there would be a significant delay until after I made my purchase. I saw that another vendor, Curious Plant (Loveland, Ohio, USA), blasted a notice about shipping delays due to a break on social media and had a persistent banner on their website. Something like that would have been helpful in my case here. Very happy in the end with what I got though.

Carnivorous Plant Nursery (7/19)- Smithsburg, MD, USA
https://carnivorousplantnursery.com/

Plants Purchased: D. Filiformis var. Filiformis 3in; S. Leucophylla 8in

• Pros: Very wide selection of different cp types; detailed care instructions; clear labels to indicate relative ease of growth (plus affordable plant collections specifically for beginners); healthy plants; clear size definitions.

• Cons: Bare root shipping cost ( wrapped in LFSM and paper towel in baggie) unless specified. Normally this keeps shipping costs down, but shipping was still somewhat high (shipping for small temperate sundew and medium Sarr cost as much as the plants)

Growin Green Nursery (Farmer’s Market) (10/18, 6/19)- Nashville, NC, USA

Plants Purchased: D. Muscipula “Dentate” 3in potted, D. Muscipula “Akai Ryu” 4in potted; N. Sanguinea 3in potted

• Pros: Cheap; well potted; in person customer service (bought at farmers’ market); no shipping costs

• Cons: No online store; limited selection of VFTs and Neps; not CP specific growers (although one grower was very knowledgeable about CP needs and soil ingredients); mixed bag in terms of health and size from selection I saw

Lowes (7/19)- The Underworld, NC, USA

Plants Purchased: D. Muscipula ‘Typical’

• Pros: Saving and potentially rehabilitating a doomed plant; it’s cheap; opportunity to practice repotting and experimenting on plant in low stakes way

• Cons: Sick and poorly treated plant; contributing to a system that perpetuates the selling of sick and poorly treated plants

Future Plans

Aside from the above vendors, these are a couple vendors I have not purchased from but am interested in. If you have bought from these before, please share your experience.

Flytrap store- Every review for a plant for I’m interested in on FTS has been nothing but glowing it seems. The next time I’m interested in expanding the VFT collection, this will be my first stop. The main reason I didn’t commit this year is the price. It seems the quality is worth it, but since I am new to growing, it’d be a big bummer to annihilate a $20-30+ plant. Fingers crossed moving forward though.

Cook’s- The variety of types of CP and the low cost is very appealing. In general, a lot of Neps can be pretty pricey and seem advanced in terms of growing technique. Cook seems to strike a nice balance of interesting nep species while still offering competitive prices for them. In my current set up I don’t think I’ll be getting any more neps soon, but in the future, I’d love to expand my collection.

I hope this has been helpful, especially for newish growers. I would love to hear if you have had the similar or different experiences from these vendors. And if there are other vendors with good options for beginners besides these, let me know.

Thank you for this post. I think it’s really helpful for those that are seeking a US-based nursery that they can trust, tailored to their individual desires. I was considering making an order through Jeremiah’s Plants, but I’m hesitant.

I haven’t bought from any of the sellers that you mention that you have—Flytrap King, Carnivorous Plant Nursery, or Growin’ Green. But in the last month, I have bought from:

•Cook’s Carnivorous Plants (http://www.flytraps.com/scripts/default.asp)
• Bergen Water Gardens (https://bergenwatergardens.com/)
• Carnivero (https://www.carnivero.com/)
• RedLeaf Exotics (https://redleafexotics.com/)
• Pet Flytrap (https://www.petflytrap.com/)
• Sarracenia Northwest (https://www.growcarnivorousplants.com/)
• a handful of specific sellers on EBay

Cook’s offers a decent selection at very reasonable prices. I bought two 4 - 6” nepenthes hybrids on 7/29/2020. I got the plants on 8/10/2020. They arrived bare root, enclosed in produce bags, some moist spag moss, a paper towel, & bundled together with a rubber band. They were surrounded by wadded-up construction/corrugated paper inside the shipping box. I received one email from the company during the whole experience, when my package was shipped (8/4/2020). That should cover the essentials.

Please take the rest of this with the necessary grain of salt—I am ambivalent towards ordering from Cook’s, again. They are cheap, a little too obscure, and might really benefit from a website upgrade.

I am pleased with their plants so far, as they arrived in seemingly good shape. I haven’t noticed any pests or signs of poor health *yet,* and their pitchers were mostly in tact upon arrival.

I did choose to put them in larger sealed bags to preserve the integrity of new pitcher growth, & to add some moisture to the pitchers. The package job was a little haphazard, but not awful. I’ve wrapped much worse Christmas gifts, & have no room to talk!

I was mostly annoyed that I had to keep logging into their clunky website to check on the status of my order. I would have preferred a few email updates, but I know I can’t have my way all the time.

The website indicates that the communication is limited, so I never reached out about what was happening with the order. I just waited with crossed fingers—which obviously worked, in the short term.

• Try out Cook’s if you are not as insecure about communicating with online nurseries, as me.
• Pet Flytrap is not the most helpful or polite with their customer service. Their plants are shipped in pots & miles of scotch tape.
• Be careful of infested plants if you order from Bergen’s Water Garden. Their stock page is also not always updated.
• Strongly consider ordering from Carnivero to save a little money on healthy plants. The owner is very intelligent, robotic/left-brained, can come across as dismissive, & is spacey with responses. Plants are shipped bare root, but securely in large plastic bags; taped at a corner to make a ‘root cup.’
• RedLeaf Exotics is the most well-rounded & bougie nursery. Their plants are smaller & can seem pricey. But they had the fastest turn around (same day shipping as my order). They sent potted plants with all moss secured by 4 rubber bands & a produce bag. All the plants were enclosed in one large stapled plastic bag, then individually wrapped in a plastic acclimation bag. The plants were shipped in a large postage box with plenty of packing peanuts. They answered every question I had within 2 hours, provided me with options, and were very kind.

Sorry to blather on! Any more desired info on any of the other sellers I mentioned previously, I will happily share more about my personal experiences. Hopefully this helps others out as they choose a nursery!

zendercosm_11 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 11, 2020 1:52 pmI was considering making an order through Jeremiah’s Plants, but I’m hesitant.

My 2¢ worth: I've placed several orders (all Venus flytraps) from Jeremiah's Plants via Carnivorous Plant Resource, and they have all been fine. The plants were a good size, and they arrived in 3-4 days. I never had to contact Jeremiah about anything, and apparently I didn't place any orders when he was going to be out of town.

steely_phil wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2019 4:17 pmGrowin Green Nursery (Farmer’s Market) (10/18, 6/19)- Nashville, NC, USA

Plants Purchased: D. Muscipula “Dentate” 3in potted, D. Muscipula “Akai Ryu” 4in potted; N. Sanguinea 3in potted

• Pros: Cheap; well potted; in person customer service (bought at farmers’ market); no shipping costs

• Cons: No online store; limited selection of VFTs and Neps; not CP specific growers (although one grower was very knowledgeable about CP needs and soil ingredients); mixed bag in terms of health and size from selection I saw

That grower may have been me. Were you talking to a guy who looks like he escaped from a Renaissance festival?

I sell my extra plants to Growin' Green. I haven't been to the state farmers' market much this year due the pandemic, but I've delivered some Drosera filiformis, Drosera intermedia, small Sarracenia flava, and Sarracenia rosea. I'm hoping to deliver some flytrap cultivars in the next 2-3 weeks: A2, B52, Flaming Lips, Grün, Low Giant, and Royal Red.

Joshuamarshall792 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 11, 2020 8:32 pmWait... Your just gonna get rid of them??? I mean your collection is HUGE but if you don't want them send them to me I'll take them

Get rid of them? Nope. When I said "deliver", that was "deliver for sale".

Lol Mikeb now I really feel like I need a photo. Just to put a face to those knowledgeable brains of yours. I swear it's not to see you in a vintage dress (escaped a renaissance festival).

Well, sporting long hair pulled back in a ponytail and a "circle beard" (mustache connected to goatee, called this because it circles the mouth), wearing ye olde jeans and a t-shirt (no pantaloons at the market). And I like Renaissance festivals: ale, mead, women in bodices....

Sounds like a unique style! I made mead once back in the day it was nice and pretty strong.