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How did everyone start??


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Might be a bit random but, I'm a new grower and interested to know how everyone built their collections.

 

I started about a month or so ago. Got a greenhouse coming soon and have met a couple amazing people who are filling me with knowledge.

 

I just wonder around their collection and say "I want that one"

 

I'm just intrigued as to how everyone else started their collections from the start.

Did you have a favourite plant or was it just random selections until you found your happiness?

 

 

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My introduction to CP's was meeting with Peter from Wacks Carnivorous plants at Harrogate Flower Show two years ago. I took one look at the Sarracenia's he had on display and instantly decided I want one of those. Six months later my partner bought a Nepenthes for me as a gift. The rest is history and now I have about 13 established plants, about 30 seedlings along with seeds still awaiting germination. My daughter says I am addicted. I say I have an interest lol. 

It is a very easy to get hooked on CP's and can end up expensive if you take into account the desire to purchase a greenhouse etc.

This isn't a fly by night hobby, but one where dedication and patience are needed. Rewards are plentiful when you see your first seed germinate and develop into a miniature CP.

These plants are amazing.

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The greenhouse I'm getting is free, just needs taking down and moving to my garden. My current pot count is 25 including the 2 vft seed pots.
I always wanted a vft and got one a few weeks back. The I got a sarracenia stevensii and it's just rapidly grown from there.
I know I'll have to slow down at some point but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.


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I started with a vft from Homebase then added a Sarracenia and a Ping from a local garden centre, finally stumbled across CPUK and on it went.

My 2nd growing interest (cacti and succulent plants) also started through CPUK after I got my first Stapeliads from Stephen Morley.

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I started with other plants than CP; chinese roses and orchids. Usually I leave my chinese roses outside, but one time it rained a lot and I took them inside. The result: Lots and lots of annoying fungus gnats. So I started to look for a solution and found Drosera capensis. Once I got those, I got fascinated and got VFTs to get rid of bigger flies as well.
The next year I got sarracenia's. I started to read everything I could on CPs to take good care of them and learn what else is out there. When I found Nepenthes, I was in love. These are my favourite cps. I started with the easier plants, and then over the years got more difficult ones.
But I also don't have much space, so now I am trying to stick to what I have and not expand. But every year I buy 1 or 2 more plants just because I can't help it... I made a wishlist for myself, so I keep having something to look forward to and i don't buy too many new plants. I dont need every type of each species, I just stick to my favourites. It is addicting, isn't it?

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'Nicking' (I considered it rescuing) some VFTs from Asda back in the 1970s!!  They only had a limited life as I didn't know what I was doing but I was hooked.  Found the CPS in the early 1980s and with the knowledge of what to do to actually grow them it all started with a couple of window boxes of CPs somewhere around 1984.  The rest, as they say, is history.....

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I started with other plants than CP; chinese roses and orchids. Usually I leave my chinese roses outside, but one time it rained a lot and I took them inside. The result: Lots and lots of annoying fungus gnats. So I started to look for a solution and found Drosera capensis. Once I got those, I got fascinated and got VFTs to get rid of bigger flies as well.
The next year I got sarracenia's. I started to read everything I could on CPs to take good care of them and learn what else is out there. When I found Nepenthes, I was in love. These are my favourite cps. I started with the easier plants, and then over the years got more difficult ones.
But I also don't have much space, so now I am trying to stick to what I have and not expand. But every year I buy 1 or 2 more plants just because I can't help it... I made a wishlist for myself, so I keep having something to look forward to and i don't buy too many new plants. I dont need every type of each species, I just stick to my favourites. It is addicting, isn't it?


It is very addicting. I'm only a couple months in and my current pot count is at 33. I can't buy any more now until I get my greenhouse on Sunday. Unless I buy some that will live outside in Wales....... now there's a thought [emoji2]


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I started off by buying some bog standard (please excuse the pun) sarracenia from the local DIY store which I kept outside in a container for a couple of years and then decided I wanted to get in to the hobby a bit more seriously and started buying plants off eBay. This meant that I then needed something to keep them in and so bought a polytunnel. If you look at my growlist you can see that the number, and variety, of plants I now have has grown to the point that I have two 8' x 6' greenhouses and still not enough space !

The one thing about having limited space is that you start to become more selective about the plants you buy because the danger when you first get in to the hobby is that you buy everything going. I really like leucophylla and so I decided after a while that I would concentrate on them plus plants that have a leucophylla influence such as mooreis for example. The bulk of my collection is made up of these plants but I also have other plants that I just like the look of. My advice would be just that, buy the plants that you like but be careful of buying plants just because you haven't got them because before long you'll be struggling for space.

Dave

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