carambola

Using tap water just once shouldn't be a problem, it's the buildup over time of minerals in the soil that causes them to kick the bucket. Luckily I still have some rain water left over, but some leaves (or animals, hopefully not) must have gotten in the tank, because it smells horribly foul. Distilled water it is, then!

Great to hear, just goes to show many plants are a lot tougher and more adaptable to less than ideal conditions than some people make them out to be. Thanks for the info and the lovely pictures!

Those Nepenthes are looking wonderful, are they standing on heatpads? Superb pitchers on the one sitting on the table, too.

I recently ordered off Roraima and have to say it was a pleasant experience. The plants arrived in great condition and I even got a nice freebie as well. For some reason the order status on the website showed the package as sent even though it wasn't sent yet, which made me a bit worried at first, but everything got sorted out in the end. Great prices, great plants, great experience. Highly recommended.

I've tried taking pictures but they don't really come out well. If I get a better camera I'll give it another go, but it's more or less a combination of the two below (except the plants are still younger and there are significantly less flowers yet). I don't cover the top because it would get too hot. For reference, the first picture is from here and the second from here.

If you don't harden it off it will look sickly for a couple of days but afterwards will get right back to its regular growing schedule. However if it's excruciatingly hot and dry outside you're better off hardening it off because the shock might just be too big for it to shrug it off.

I recently (about two months ago) filled a fish bowl with live sphagnum moss and put Heliamphora minor x heterodoxa, Utricularia sandersonii and some pygmy sundews in it and sprinkled some Drosera regia seeds on there as well. So far they all seem to be liking it and all the seeds germinated. It's on a south facing window but the light is filtered slightly. The lack of drainage isn't as big of a problem as some make it out to be and the living moss provides ample 'breathing space', and even if something should go wrong it's easy to see it on time through the clear glass bowl. Next time I won't put pygmy sundews in this kind of setup anymore, though, because they're so small you can barely spot them against the moss. I water until the water level reaches 2 or 3 cm, then wait until it's fully depleted again (but the moss is still wet) before watering again. Easy to keep track of, easy to care for and it looks nice (and will look even better as the plants slowly fill up the bowl). The plants would grow just as well in a normal pot, though. I'm thinking of doing a similar setup with a Nepenthes, but the only one I know of that would stay compact inside the bowl is Nepenthes argentii and it's pretty expensive.

The first one at least looks like it's still somewhat alive. You could try snipping off the good-looking leaves and put them on your soil mix and keep them moist. If they're still alive you should get several tiny plantlets sprouting from those leaves in a matter of days/weeks. If they aren't alive anymore you won't have lost anything. Of course if they're still alive they will just resume growth eventually anyway. I hope it works out, Drosera rotundifolia is a lovely plant (and I hope someday someone will discover a tropical variety of it so it can be kept indoors).

Incredible! There's even another fly at the top of the picture ready to take the plunge. Maybe the big drops of mucilage are part of why they're more attractive. It does make me wonder how such a brilliant hunter hasn't spread across a wider area than the one valley it lives. I've just started mine out from seed, and looking at pictures like these I don't think I'll have to fertilise it very often. I can see why other people would prefer fertilising a green plant to having a pitch black insect graveyard, though.

Some plants just have worse genes than others, I don't think anyone or anything except those genes is really to blame if one of your plants suddenly gives up the ghost after a bit of stress. It just ran its course.

At some point you start wondering if you can really call these pygmies anymore. A huge dwarf seems like an oxymoron. Looking good, though!

David just got back to me, apparently he has a huge backlog, which along with the exhibitions is the reason for the delay. All seems to be well now, and I'm looking forward to receiving my new plants by the end of the week (or the beginning of the next).

Well, then it'll be at least four weeks since I sent my money without receiving so much as a message in return. And it seems those exhibitions only started eleven days after I paid. Even then, there's no way replying to a customer is too time consuming even after a long day. Last time I also received nice and healthy plants (although unfortunately one of the pygmy drosera has died, but the others will produce enough gemmae to make up for the loss), and I'm sure the new plants will be just as nice. Just wish I'd have an idea of where they are and when they'd be coming my way.

Just signed up to add my experiences: I paid for an order two weeks ago but haven't heard anything from David since, not even a confirmation he received the payment, even after sending followup emails. I don't think there's any ill intent behind it because the first time I ordered from him, everything went well. Still, my money is now in limbo and I have yet to see any plants. I don't mind waiting for them a bit longer, as long as I would have an idea of when they would be sent. Now, I don't even know if they will be sent. It can't be that difficult to send a quick email saying he's received the payment but is busy with something or other so can't send the plants until a certain date. It's hard to recommend a shop that doesn't reply to customer emails, especially if you've already paid but haven't received your product yet. I hope this will be solved soon.