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Being a Responsible CP Grower

Thanks to the efforts of several very dedicated CP-lovers,  many rare plants which were once impossible to obtain are
finally being collected and becoming available, sometimes in very limited quantities.  
Many of these are rare because they grow in very hard to reach areas in countries with few CPers.  Some of them are very difficult to grow. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on any of these species, PLEASE do your best to keep them alive and distribute them.  I've encountered quite a few inexperienced growers very anxious to get their hands on rare plants only to neglect them or slowly kill them because they cannot provide proper growing conditions.  If you're one of these people, please find a more suitable home for these plants so they can receive proper care and be propagated.  I know it's difficult to let go of such a rare plant but, as a responsible CP grower, one should exercise selflessness when dealing with species new to cultivation.  Once they've been propagated to decent numbers and have found their way into "experts" collections or have been mass produced by tissue culture, try again as much as you'd like.  Why?  Well, who knows how long it will be before someone else will return to the same location to collect more of that rare species you've hoarded and killed?!  I don't mean to discourage beginners at all but I speak from experience.  In the 80's, I was able to obtain some plants which were new to cultivation.  While I was very successful with several, I did not make much of an effort to propagate and distribute them and, as a result, when I went away to college and my collection suffered, these clones were lost.  Even several  plants which were once common in cultivation (eg. D.capensis 'Crestate') are absent from most collections today.  Please be a responsible CP grower by keeping your plants alive and give extras to other CPers who will do the same!  If you decide you want to give up your boring old pitcher plant collection in favor of the much more interesting sundews, please make sure your plants find a new home where they will be well taken care of!

If you are serious about tissue culturing CP on a non-profit basis, please drop me a line.  

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