Marcel van den Broek

Glad you like the Leiden lectures. This years program looks just as good to me..this years hosts are working very hard to get the last details ironed out but what is sure at this time is already more than worth it.

Nadja (and all): views change over the years and we must never forget that at some point all plants got taken from the wild. However, these days many species are highly endangered and what is even more worrying: collections are more and more not done to bring material into cultivation or to do research, etc but to make a profit or because people don't want to pay the price for a perfectly healthy cultivated specimen. If someone follows the laws and regulations that apply to the specific country and location than there is technically no problem with a responsible, small, collection. What I try to add to the discussion is the question of the need to collect even if you are allowed too... New species should be collected professionally because a) we don't know how rare it is yet and b) because many private collectors screw things up..the administration is off, they press the herbarium specimens wrong so they can't be used, etc. Species that are known and are in cultivation can be bought from reliable sources and offspring gets shared. New locations etc certainly have a value as they enrich the genetic basis of the secies in cultivation and could be collected within the rules as they apply... I just try to encourage people to think about the points of ethics I made. Taking your own example...you said you followed the rules to the best of your knowledge..so that is fine You didn't do it to get rich and you spread the material around There was no/hardly any material from Swaziland in cultivation so the material was genetically valuable It didn't involve new species. Nobody else was doing it or intending to do it. That sounds pretty ethical to me...but there are too many people who won't even bother thinking about it....

Laws and regulations vary all over the world, but for me personally it is not so much a case of being allowd or not (though of course you should always follow the laws and regulations that apply). It's a question of ethics and those might be just harder to have than just follow the law. Basically people manage to convince themselves that seed should be taken because a location isn't doing well, the place is burning or flooding or whatever. Most common is of course..there was so many of it I only took X. What the real issues here are: SHOULD YOU COLLECT? For that you have to answer some questions: (again, this is my view, NOT an offical policy of anyone, just something I myself think everyone should consider). SHOULD: Is it legal? Is there really enough seed? collected amounts even for scientific purposes are set very low! Is the habitat really going to go or are fires, floodings etc natural processes? YOU Am I a good enough grower that I will get a high yield? No? Leave it to somebody else! Are you good enough at methods and keeping records that your collection will have a scientific value? No? Especially with rare species.. keep your paws of it! Do I want the plant for myself or to make money? Let it be, not ethical. Is it my intention to make the species more available to growers? Possibly ethical, check the other points. COLLECT Is the plant not available in cultivation already..or is it just to expensive/I myself have to wait too long? If not available...report the location to a scientist and see what can be done otherwise...leave it! Correct collections have permissions and paperwork that show who took what from where. Is it a possible new species? Take lots of pictures and register the location but don't touch...go to the nearest Univeristy or botanical garden and report your possible find. They will know how to do it right. This is of course not a complete list...but I hope it will give people something to think about.

some updates available...registrations will open soon (Yeah!): http://www.thecps.org.uk/page.php?id=17

We did it! The IUCN-CPSG is pleased to report that we reached our initial goal of $ 25,000 for a workshop assessing the carnivorous plants. We would like to thank everybody that helped to achieve this and we will keep you informed as things proceed.

Come on people..two weeks to go. We all give a lot of money for plants to get them in our collection, how about a little for the ones in the wild?

We could use some more cash people... The how and why is on the red list pages, and there are all kinds of facts and blog being done.. I'll share this one done by some crazy Dutchman..... http://support.iucnredlist.org/updates/endangered-plant-and-not-so-wise-man please concider helping to raise the amount needed.

The IUCN Carnivorous plant specialist group has started a campaign to raise money so that the conservation status of all carnivorous plant species can be assessed. This is a very large job, but an important one as these assessements form the basis of the Red list of endangered species that many governments use for their policy. The job requiers time and money and the work of many specialists. Now the IUCN-CPSG tries to raise enough money so that in the week before the 2016 ICPS conference a "Red list workshop" can be held. The aim of this workshop is to get specialist together and to assess as many species in this short time as possible. This should really make a dent in the "to do" list. Please spread the word and if possible make a donation. The campaign wil have blogs, usefull information and other news bits to accompany this fund raising effort. You can find it all here: http://support.iucnredlist.org/carnivorousplants have a look, navigate the pages and support this massive undertaking.

To make that a bit more clear...The Dutch CPS sometimes can get the owner to agree to have an open day on a Saturday.We try to do that every 2 or 3 years depending on how we are fixed for events in a particular year. As per policy of the Dutch society we invite members of our sister societies to come and join in the fun. This was last done this year in May...

Just received some excellent petiolaris complex from David...

Yes it is full spectrum at 6800 K so basically it looks almost white to the naked eye (more pleasant than all those strange colors) but does have a blue spectrum accent so it is optimal for plant growth. I have one over my heli's and two smaller ones over my petiolaris. Basically it is a bar containing a lot of leds mounted on a cooling mechanism, fully watertight. Underside cool, cooling ribs on backside get rather warm. It can be hung in the tank but also rest on top. It comes with options for both and adapters to fit it into excisting T5 or T8 mounts (disonnect the power to those mounts!). No heavy adapter and even an on/off switch on the power cord. How many you need depends on planttype and size of the tank. I use two for the petiolaris because they want it bright, but for the size you give and regular plants I guess you can do with 1. They state that 1 unit replaces 2 T5 tubes and the light covers a 120 degree arc.

I use these...love them:http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/aqua_lighting/led_spot/430291

In the field things are very much going into rest already..also it would basically be the same species as in Finland. Hortus Leiden is indeed the best place to see some good cp's. Keith might be a bit to far in the South of The Netherlands. Shows are also over (you're just 1 weekend late for the last one in the Hortus Platage (Amsterdam). In Amsterdam there is a nice seller of plants who ahs occacionaly really nice plants for not too much money on the Flowermarket (next to the Mint tower, dead centre in the Amsterdam shopping area). Name is Will van Someren, about in the middle of the market.

yep..dead slow for the last two days or so..no issues with other forums so really a CPUK thing..

You ca go to a bigger container but leave the originall root + soil clumb intact! The roots break easy and root damage is often deadly. If you want to feed...basically the plant is set up to take its food through the absorbtion...so use a foliar feed if you have to and make it a weak one!

This was made by Melanie (Creepy) based on my pictures and text: It's a couple of years old but the tank is basically the same..though I now no longer use the 3 t5 but 2 28wat "Easy LED" 6800 K full spectrum led bars. Less power but the plants have never done better...

Two new pages by the IUCN Carnivorous Plant Specialist group are available on Face book. Just starting, but expect reports on species assessments, pictures, conservation discussion, etc. There is a forum type page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1462966880625521/ and a businiss type page with no discussion just information https://www.facebook.com/pages/IUCN-Carnivorous-Plant-Specialist-Group/1435150910107799 ..choose your digital poison..join and share! :party:

There are very few restrictions on the movement of plants and seeds within the EU. Just a couple of species are restricted, none of them carnivorous to the best of my knowledge. Restrictions can come into play if you are talking large shipments, which I gather is not the case. However, your real issue is your postal service that created this rule. Basically, several postal services decline to ship living plants, mainly because they don't want to deal with claims if shipments get delayed and the plants die nor do they want to have the knowledge to identify any of the restricted species so they take the easy escape and say they don't ship.. Only thing you can do (besides violating their rules which I of course advice against) is look for a courier service that is willing to ship. I have only on rare occacions heard that plants got destroid by the authorities of the receiving country and unless they are destroying any of the few restricted species that would in any case be a violation of the EU rules on free transport of products, people and goods within the EU....but good luck on winning that fight as a private individual. Outside the EU (and mind you, not all of Europe is EU e.g. Switzerland)..all bets are off and all kinds of international and local regulations come into play.

They stop growing and reduce in size for maybe 4 months a year.

In general the plant will decide if it wants to grow or rest. Australian sundews are not easily forced from what I can tell. I keep the light and humdity high the whole year with about 10 degrees between day and night and when the plants look like they want to rest I have the waterlevel low so that t just touches the pot. In full growth I'll have it about 1 cm up. They are doing fine and are several years old. This works for me anyway..with falconeri, petiolaris, fulva, delato-petiolaris and ordensis. I would be interested what others do though

Hope the buyer is happy..but I would say the 20 each was a fair price..

yes, but since the new ones are out thar is to crazy to even consider unless you collect for the collecting and not for the content.

The old ones or the new (Magnus opus) ones? The new ones are about 35 GBP dependng where you order. The old ones...what somebody is willing to give for it. they are outdated and even if you don't accept all changes in the new ones many things do have changed and new species are added..so technically their value is about zero. Sentimentally/collectability value is something else...that is up to how deep the persons pockets are in relation to wanting to have it as a collectable..nothing objective about it. Keep in mind several sets became available when people bought the new ones and didn't want to keep the old ones....that sunk the rather inflated prices that were paid at some point when they where the only Aussie CP books available (besides Rica Erickson's Plants of prey).

Registration is open. http://eee2015.dionee.org/index.php/en/inscription Conference dinner registration will be another month...