Divide and Culture Review
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2015 10:03 pm
I recently made a purchase from an Ohio based carnivorous plant supplier, Divide and Culture (owner's name is Jon), and thought I would write up a review. I bought two Heliamphora from them, a H. nutans "giant" and H. 'tequila', both of which were nice sizes with healthy root systems and not recent divisions. Jon does have a website, but does not have any plants listed there. I made contact with him through his facebook page, but there are other forms of contact listed on the website http://www.divideandculture.com/. I have noticed that they sell through eBay from time-to-time as well.
Customer service and response time was great (both before and after the sale of the plants), and Jon readily answered any questions I had along with providing photos of the exact plants he could sell me. Once everything was paid for the plants were shipped out promptly. If it weren't for the USPS errors (yes, multiple errors in shipping) they would have made it to me within a couple of days. That being said, the USPS took a week to get them to my post office where I requested they be held for pickup. Despite the plants being in the mail for a week, the plants looked exactly like the pictures provided. The packing was very thorough and kept the plants secure, and the box was well labeled "live plants" and "fragile". The plants themselves were also well wrapped (which can be seen below in the pictures). I even received a free plug of Utricularia calycifida. I should also mention, I opted for the plants to be shipped potted.
Overall my experience with them was wonderful and would gladly do business with them again. As I understand it, he does not have a large amount of plants available all the time, but it sounds like he is expanding. Anyway, here are the photos of the plants before and after repotting.
Heliamphora Order by Adam B., on Flickr
They use a numbering system for marking where to start unwrapping the plant, which is actually convenient.
Heliamphora Order by Adam B., on Flickr
Here they are completely unwrapped and prior to repotting. I didn't get a picture, but the top of the pots were covered with cut up filter pads (from what I could tell) and wrapped with saran wrap.
Heliamphora nutans "giant" and H. 'tequila' by Adam B., on Flickr
Repotted, H. nutans "giant" on the right, and H. 'tequila' to the left. Note: that is not my grow area for them, but I cannot get proper photos of my plants under the LED grow light.
Heliamphora nutans "giant" and H. 'tequila' Repotted by Adam B., on Flickr
Finally, a close-up of one of the H. nutans "giant" pitcher.
Heliamphora nutans "giant" by Adam B., on Flickr
Customer service and response time was great (both before and after the sale of the plants), and Jon readily answered any questions I had along with providing photos of the exact plants he could sell me. Once everything was paid for the plants were shipped out promptly. If it weren't for the USPS errors (yes, multiple errors in shipping) they would have made it to me within a couple of days. That being said, the USPS took a week to get them to my post office where I requested they be held for pickup. Despite the plants being in the mail for a week, the plants looked exactly like the pictures provided. The packing was very thorough and kept the plants secure, and the box was well labeled "live plants" and "fragile". The plants themselves were also well wrapped (which can be seen below in the pictures). I even received a free plug of Utricularia calycifida. I should also mention, I opted for the plants to be shipped potted.
Overall my experience with them was wonderful and would gladly do business with them again. As I understand it, he does not have a large amount of plants available all the time, but it sounds like he is expanding. Anyway, here are the photos of the plants before and after repotting.
Heliamphora Order by Adam B., on Flickr
They use a numbering system for marking where to start unwrapping the plant, which is actually convenient.
Heliamphora Order by Adam B., on Flickr
Here they are completely unwrapped and prior to repotting. I didn't get a picture, but the top of the pots were covered with cut up filter pads (from what I could tell) and wrapped with saran wrap.
Heliamphora nutans "giant" and H. 'tequila' by Adam B., on Flickr
Repotted, H. nutans "giant" on the right, and H. 'tequila' to the left. Note: that is not my grow area for them, but I cannot get proper photos of my plants under the LED grow light.
Heliamphora nutans "giant" and H. 'tequila' Repotted by Adam B., on Flickr
Finally, a close-up of one of the H. nutans "giant" pitcher.
Heliamphora nutans "giant" by Adam B., on Flickr