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it may be on a bigger scale but it does look remarkably like my ventrata, especially with the forming pitchers- I'll post a pic of the half formed pitcher on mine later tonight for a comparison. but I would put my money on it being N. x Ventrata :D most supposed "alata" bought from a g/centre are actually x ventrata. personally I've always felt this goes against trading standards, falling under the false advertising/description category. :dry:

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So I'm back with pics...

Pitcher from my plant

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Beegirl's pitcher

IhHHe7D.jpg

Also, this is my smaller x ventrata, which I can't help feel bares a certain resemblance to yours when it was small...

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When you graduate and get a job earning fabulous amounts of money, you could buy a tabletop distiller to produce distilled water. Yes I know about deionised water filters, but they do use a lot of waste water and are not ideal for a flat. I have been using one for years with great success. They will cost you a few hundred pounds though.

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Yeah, it's almost certainly a N. x "ventrata" (in case you don't know that's N. alata x N. ventricosa hybrid), need to see fully formed pitchers to be 100% certain, but that just means it'll be 'easier'.

... most supposed "alata" bought from a g/centre are actually x ventrata. personally I've always felt this goes against trading standards, falling under the false advertising/description category. :dry:

I agree. I really can't understand why garden centres are permitted to get away with such lax standards. Mislabelling of plants is by no means limited carnivorous plants -it's extremely unprofessional, customers are being mislead and it potentially masks illegal trade in protected species. There needs to be much tighter regulation. As for the suppliers of these CPs, I don't know where they're all coming from (Carniflora?) but they really need to sort themselves out.

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I'm wondering if us all writing en masse to trading standards about the systematic mislabelling of plants across the country might get a better result, if it gets drawn to their attention that this is a nationwide problem surely they would have to at least investigate?

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I get annoyed when the latin name doesn't get put on the labels cos latin is universal in the plant name, vernacular names change depending on where you are from, I never called my nep a monkey cup for example, i have always called it a pitcher. and in france they are most deffas not called monkey cups. I would also like orchids to have the full name not just the family or the "common" name or even the genus. I have a dendrobium orchid and I am pretty sure it doesn't have a real name cos i can't find it on the tinterweb (it does) it just has so many varieties of common name or species name so I am unsure. (for those that know their common orchids please help because I am better at the more tropical kind that haven't been cross bread) its got three yellow sepals, two petals and the lip is sometimes dark purple or a light purple, even pushes to the pink at times, there are photos on the internet but each website has a different name for it.

there is something that came up recently at uni, we were also trying to understand why some plants are mis-named or mis labelled, its not just the consumer who complains, it is also lack of knowledge from the growers' point of view. So many people who have absolutely no knowledge in horticulture are getting jobs and not being trained. This is why horticulture is slowly becoming unpopular....people aren't being taught right and they need to be educated. Hense learning something like this is important, why don;t you all get jobs in a garden centre or working for a grower, they need people like us!!! *RANT OVER* ;)

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there is also a possibility that some places put labels with the most recognisable name on the label. Some people also get freaked out at the thought that one plant could have come from two plants of the same genus but a different species, my boyfriend always have trouble with this. I always have to explain to people that a plant called X ventrata (using this here cos i can't think of any others) is like a child. I always say the child is X ventrata because it has come from a mum that is called alata and a father called ventrocosa. THey always say, yeah but where does the X come from and I have to say, well where did you're X or Y chromosome come from that makes you a girl or boy. Their eyes usually glaze over by this point so i have to explain like this "Okay so imagine you're parents individually are the only other people in you're family for now, imagine that you have no ancestors and that YOUR parents are like "Adam and Eve" the "first" ever people, well they had sex and they have you. When this happened you became a copy of both A and B with some slight changes, you either become a girl or you become a boy, hair colour etc. This makes you a cross breed because you are a mix of A and B therefore making you A x B . Get it? So this is what happens to plants. A plant has to be of same genus to the other in most cases as they hold similar genetic information. However, you can breed two plants of a same genus that have differences, e.g. Flowers, resistance etc. This will make a new plant and the X is there to show people that the new plant is crossed from two others."

I can guarantee you, you have to explain this slowly to someone who doesn't get it but they do eventually and it makes, your and their life easier.

People will only get worse if this isn't explained! haha

My english is a little rusty after living in france for ten years so my grammar might be all over the place but i hope you get the gist of things! haha

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I think we definitely get the gist of it :) Spot on there bee girl. I think the decline in knowledge of horticulture is also partly down to the fact that it's not "cool" to do gardening, kids and teenagers would (for the most part) sooner play on computers than go out and get their hands mucky weeding a veg patch or similar. It's quite depressing really because all the knowledge and skill held by the older generations is just lost to the world instead of being passed on.

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I don't think its that its not cool they think it boring. In my eyes, if horticulture modernised its self slightly it may attract more people to study it, it is a bit oldy worldy in some cases and people like Darmiud Gavin get slated at RHS Chelsea flower show cos they don't conform to the standards.

The RHS needs to start changing as well if they want to attract younger generations, i got into gardening and horticulture by accident, i was supposed to go into floristry and you know what, the decision to stay was the best thing I ever did!!

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Bee Girl, I originally trained as a florist and trust me all that waits out there is, if you're lucky to find a job in the trade, is minimum wage standing in pretty much one place day in day out in the freezing cold trying to make something out a customer's very little money. Now I'm a music teacher and couldn't be happier.

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Its not just about standing in the cold, its about making a garden be a little safe haven for people, I don't mind the cold, I used to live in the Alps, just wrap up warm. Minimum wage straight out of uni is not bad. I have been looking at the jobs to see what there is, there are some jobs out there that have quiet good wages.

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I think Florestry has changed since then, a lot of my friends are doing that as a degree in the same place as me and one of them is making quiet a bit of money. People are probably more open to paying for the floral designs than they did in 1995. I have no interest in florestry myself, i did do it for a year as an extra module on one of my hort courses cos i believe, if you're going to spend £20 on flowers, you might as well buy an orchid or something cos it lasts longer!

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I agree I'd usually rather have a plant. I did my floristry qualifications in Cornwall but live in Ireland now. Last time I worked as a florist it was really hard to get people to pay enough for things.

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I'm much better off as a musician. I payed £180 for a coffin spray for my Dad two weeks ago, but that's here the UK. In the area of Ireland I live flowers are much cheaper because people don't want to spend the money on them.

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