Expert: Christopher Littrell - 5/28/2007

Question
what websites do u recomend to find cheap plants and seeds?

my mom says i hav to use my own money

Answer
Hello William,

Some people trade seeds and plants on gardenweb.com in the carnivorous plant forum. There is a section set up just for exchanges and some growers give away seeds and plants they have too many of.

If you try ebay be careful, as you never know who you are buying from and what condition their seeds and plants are in.

Other than that, you can go on websites devoted to carnivorous plant nurseries like cobraplant.com and californiacarnivores.com as those sites have good stock and sell healthy seeds and plants. In that case, you will just have to look for something affordable.

If you are a first time grower, try to get plants rather than seeds as first time growers find raising carnivorous plants from seeds more difficult than learning how to grow them as adult plants first. Also, go for the easy to care for plants that will work for how you want to grow them. For instance, if you want them indoors in a sunny window or under florescent lights, you might try some tropical sundews like Drosera adelae, Drosera capensis (a good plant to get seeds from constantly), and Drosera spatulata or Nepenthes like N. alata, sanguinea, ventrata or ventricosa. If you want them outdoors in full sun, you might try Venus Flytraps, Sarracenia Pitcher Plants (particularly the Purple Pitcher Plant), and North American Sundews like Drosera rotundifolia.

Make sure you look up all the best information on how to care for them and follow that advice strictly. Cobraplant.com has some great care pages and there are some good books on the subject out there.

Keep looking around and you will find some good places to get some plants from.

Christopher