FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

@matt - Market inflation is real here. I'm even talking hobbyists avoid selling off rare natural hybrids of Sarr and Nep. I even know a certain guy on Instagram who sells helis, neps, and cephs for way elevated prices - like 3x. Here's his basic business model:

- About 30% of his revenue comes from eBay auctions. People get impulsive here, especially with buy now, pay later things like paypal financing. Plants worth 100 can go north of 450 on eBay auctions.
- About 20% of his revenue comes from new customers. Since CP's are currently a big thing right now in the houseplant community, selling $20 helis and cephs is a good way to make quick cash. The only thing is these plants are probably 3 months old at most. I 100% expect about half of them sold to be dead in the next year.
- The other 50% is a phenomenon I've named "metered selling", like when golf tee-times or airplane flights change prices dynamically to get the most profit, and meter the amount of reservations. He sells plants only at highs, and several of each plant. Since some of these are rarer clones in the US, he can drive up the price by 500% just by pumping and dumping these plants. Then, once the plants are devalued due to more circulation in the market, he waits until demand is high and supply is low, and dumps his investment. This is possibly irritating to me since I think if the market is small enough, he can hurt other growers trying to sell for a little extra cash after he dumps.

Anyways, that's my scooop.

Matt wrote:

Nepenthes0260 wrote:I agree, mine had some rotty roots. Not nearly as healthy as plants from Mike Wang or Calen Hall.

Hah! Does anyone have as healthy roots on their Sarracenia as Mike and Calen?! I ordered well over 100 Sarracenia this year from at least 8 people (maybe more I can't remember) and Calen's plants had the healthiest root systems overall. Mike's were also extremely healthy. I believe that Calen and Mike grow the same way in 100% course peat moss. But almost all of the plants that I got from every grower were very, very healthy with nice white roots.

I think a few things can cause the rotty Sarracenia roots including when the plants are a left a little too long between repotting. Many of the plants I'm sending in the spring Sarracenia sale on FTS are that way because I haven't repotted them in over 4 years and they are growing in pots that are too small for them! Perhaps CC's bare root Sarracenia sale is similar in that regard and they are selling plants that really need a repot. The good news is that Sarracenia are super strong growers and extremely hard to kill.

Agreed! They both have some of the best sarrs money can buy. Mike Wang's plants are smaller than Calen's- still large compared to other nurseries though. He also has a bit higher prices. But he has a massive selection and is the only person in the US selling some of the clones.

Dang

Nepenthes0260 wrote:Agreed! They both have some of the best sarrs money can buy. Mike Wang's plants are smaller than Calen's- still large compared to other nurseries though. He also has a bit higher prices. But he has a massive selection and is the only person in the US selling some of the clones.

Spot on assessment with my experience. It makes sense that Mike's plants are a little smaller and a little higher-priced because I believe he does much more business than Calen, thus it is harder for him to grow plants to larger sizes. But Mike's selection is unrivaled, his plants are always super healthy, and he's a really great guy to deal with!