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Discussions about anything related to Venus Flytraps, cultivars and named clones

Moderator: Matt

By Fang
Posts:  208
Joined:  Mon Oct 07, 2013 11:35 pm
#198924
So apparently there is a such thing as venus fly trap herbal extract. I didn't know this. Definitely didn't know FT's were considered an herb. What purpose would this extract serve? Since when did fly traps become unprotected enough to be commercially harvested like this? I personally feel like this is a misuse of the plant, but hey I'm a hobbiest :)
By Fang
Posts:  208
Joined:  Mon Oct 07, 2013 11:35 pm
#198962
Oh wow, that's freaking awful. I kinda figured it wasn't a good thing (obviously it is pulverized flytraps!!). I had no idea it was such a serious issue though. I personally didn't think there was any benefit from this extract. Seen some claims on other sites about clearing up skin lesions and other skin related problems. Waste of a good plant if you ask me. Especially since they are protected. Shameful

Thanks for the link :)
By DontTazeMe
Posts:  58
Joined:  Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:22 pm
#198969
Well, I dont think theres any benefit at all to it, but some people do, which of course, is half the battle, as the placebo effect is quite strong.

Personally, as long as plants arent poached from wild, I'm ok with them pulverizing fly traps. In the previous thread, there was a whole lot of, OMG I bet these were the poachers! or the poachers sold to them! (no statements of which were ever substantiated with facts)

Chances are, some people in this forums are actually growing some of those poached plants and not even know it.
By Fang
Posts:  208
Joined:  Mon Oct 07, 2013 11:35 pm
#198972
That may be true. Its hard to tell ya know. I agree with you on the placebo thing. FDA hasn't made any statements of any benefits that I have seen. So I guess its whatever. Like you said, as long as they aren't poached from the wild :)
By Zombie_walker
Posts:  328
Joined:  Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:30 am
#198982
It takes years to grow flytraps to adult size. I highly doubt these people are growing their own flytraps to smash up into juice. Matt was un-willing to sell to these people and I doubt any other grower who spent years growing traps will be willing to sell them by the hundreds to be killed either. There has been hundreds and even thousands of flytraps poached from the wild that never appeared after being stolen, yet these Extract sellers have not wavered in their business despite not tricking anyone into selling to them. How are they getting the flytraps if they're not buying them?

Also most people here on the forums buy from good sellers such as Matt, Leah, Steve or trade amongst ourselves except for the occasional Lowes rescue.
By DontTazeMe
Posts:  58
Joined:  Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:22 pm
#198983
It doesnt take much to tissue culture a ridiculous amount of plants. Honestly, a warehouse room of space, would make this a very easy enterprise. Ive read that in vessels, you can have 70,000 plants per square meter of area, which is ridiculous, and it is NOT hard to multiply, VERY cheaply. Hire a guy, to do this full time, and you could pay him 50k a year, and between the expenses of that guy and materials, you could EASILY get many many tens if not hundreds of thousands of plants in a year.

And nowhere is this stated to be adult traps, unless im mistaken. You could use tons of small ones in tissue culture, which by the way, is probably better, as the plants would be sterile, and would only require a slight rinse, and pulping to get extract.

Im not saying these guys arent sketchy, but lets be honest. If they could easily steal, why even bother inquiring about purchasing from matt?
By Kevonicus
Posts:  595
Joined:  Mon Apr 08, 2013 12:55 am
#198990
I know I wouldn't be able to tissue culture thousands upon thousands of flytraps just to have them reach a pulverized fate :(.
By mnwatson1
Posts:  696
Joined:  Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:37 pm
#198992
DontTazeMe wrote: Im not saying these guys arent sketchy, but lets be honest. If they could easily steal, why even bother inquiring about purchasing from matt?
I doubt they're terribly picky about where they get their flytraps, and I would guess they contacted Matt because he sells them on such a large scale. It makes perfect sense that they might've been advertising looking for bulk flytraps, and thus may have triggered the flytrap poaching, eventually purchasing them, possibly not even realizing they were the poached plants. So no, they likely didn't poach them themselves, it's entirely likely that they were the reason for the poaching.

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By Zombie_walker
Posts:  328
Joined:  Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:30 am
#198994
Suggest dosage: 50 drops in pure water or cold herbal tea 3 to 5 times a day. For the astonishing low price of $55.95 for 4oz and $5 shipping.

I think if Matt and Leah knew they could be making $50,000 a year to prevent flytrap poaching or if it was possible for them to tissue culture hundreds of thousands of plants in a year for their own store (being our experts here in the US) they would be making bank right now Haha or the lead suppliers of Flytraps in the entire world.

Obviously they don't know what you do about tissue culture or they wouldn't be resorting to asking buyers or looking elsewhere. Having exhausted all the known sites of wild Flytraps (Thankfully most are kept secret by reliable people) they probably HAD to start asking sellers like Matt if they could buy from them.
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By Matt
Location: 
Posts:  22523
Joined:  Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:28 pm
#199025
DontTazeMe wrote:It doesnt take much to tissue culture a ridiculous amount of plants.
I disagree with this statement. It does take a TON of work to tissue culture a lot of flytraps. It's extremely labor intensive in terms of TC work and potting. Even skipping the potting out step and simply grinding them out of TC would still be quite labor intensive, but much more doable. Though flytraps out of TC are completely different entities than those growing in soil. I'm not sure that the extract would yield the same results. Not that it matters because I doubt the extract does anything anyway.
DontTazeMe wrote:Im not saying these guys arent sketchy, but lets be honest. If they could easily steal, why even bother inquiring about purchasing from matt?
I'd imagine they're soliciting everywhere they can to purchase flytraps because it's difficult to find a reliable source for them because they're protected in the wild and slow growing plants in cultivation and not as easy to mass produce as some people seem to think.
By mnwatson1
Posts:  696
Joined:  Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:37 pm
#199026
Really though, keep in mind how little they get from the pulverized plants (as I'm sure they strain out pulp) and how large of a scale that they must destroy plants on. We're likely talking millions of plants, not thousands or hundred thousands. After all, it's being mass produced.

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By Fang
Posts:  208
Joined:  Mon Oct 07, 2013 11:35 pm
#199100
Hard to believe but not surprising that people actually do this kind of stuff.
Zombie_walker wrote:Also most people here on the forums buy from good sellers such as Matt, Leah, Steve or trade amongst ourselves except for the occasional Lowes rescue.
^ This is the right way to go about getting flytraps. I love the FT store and I my first flytrap was a lowes rescue mission, which I'may do again lol :)
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