Coffee Break [11/3/24]

11/3/24 Hannibal 49

Like most people, I’ve heard of the illegal harvesting of ginseng. But I first became aware that Venus Flytrap poaching was also a thing from an episode of Criminal in 2014. Ten years later it’s still happening. Last week, two people were arrested for the possession of almost 600 of the rare plants stolen from nature conservancy land in North Carolina. If you have an extra 20 minutes to spare, listen to Dropping Like Flies, or you can read the transcript. It’s fascinating. I had no idea that the carnivorous plants only grow wild in a specific region of North Carolina. And that they are vulnerable not only to habit loss from development but also their popularity as cheap novelty home decor, as well as an alternative medicine as part of the wellness grift.

If you want one of the cute little flesh-eaters, use these tips from US Fish & Wildlife to make an ethical purchase. I know we have some gardeners here on DeadSplinter. But what do you have growing inside your homes? I have one houseplant, a 20 year old ficus that’s alive not because of, but in spite of my me.

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49 Comments

  1. We only have one plant growing in the Casa Encantada and it has a strange provenance.

    When my brother died almost two years ago I didn’t really tell anyone, because I work for myself and neither I nor the people I work for want to be over-bothered by each other. Better Half and I leashed up the Faithful Hound and hit the road.

    He, however, had alerted his company that there had been a death in the family so he might be out of touch for a couple of days. HE, not I, got this cactus arrangement in lieu of flowers. The cactus is still alive, even though we ignore it for weeks at a time.

  2. We have WAY too many houseplants to the point that my buddy that house sat for us while we were in Europe was a stressed out mess.  He didn’t want to kill any of the plants & my wife & daughter had put sticky notes on each plant with specific instructions.  We have a Venus flytrap that wasn’t doing too well & our carnivores plant place said just stick it outside.  We thought that the cold would kill it but nope, doing way better.  We have about 10 different carnivores between our garden window & the greenhouse.  My wife can’t go to the farmers market or plant shows without buying something & this place shows up at both every so often.

    https://www.cascadecarnivores.com/

    I recognize a bunch of these as being in the house.  Helps with the fruit flies and gnats that seem to show up every summer in the house.

      • I guess that would depend on how much bugs you have on your patio & how many plants you have?  It is definitely not as effective as a bug zapper or even a few lizards/frogs but in an enclosed space where only a few bugs get in, it can be effective.

  4. I just read instructions for taking care of a venus flytrap, and they sound like a real pain in the neck to keep alive.

    Also, you can buy them for $7 from Walmart because it’s easy for mass retailers to propagate huge numbers of them, so I assume poachers are probably getting even less. It’s hard for me to get my head around where the profit in poaching them is, but I realize a lot of poachers aren’t operating like normal businesses.

     

    • Places like Lowe’s  are buying them from nurseries that purchase from poachers. Lowes was named in an article I read after I first heard the podcast. I suspect Walmart does too.

      • That transcript talks about how a poacher might make up to $200 per sale at a $0.25 per plant, which considering how much work it must be to find them, dig them and transport them, sounds pretty crummy. How many even survive? I could easily see you have to find and dig up two for every one you sell for a quarter.

        There’s probably better money working at Waffle House, but I realize straightforward thinking isn’t always the hallmark of poachers.

        • They definitely aren’t bringing in the kind of money the ginseng poachers are. I imagine it’s enough to buy meth or whatever their drug of choice is.

      • Same. There’s a learning curve for their care, and frankly, if you’re in the wrong climate and you don’t have a fully climate-controlled greenhouse, you’re wasting your time. They grow here. They won’t do well even a couple hundred miles north. Well, until climate change turns Georgia back into coastal bayous.

        • Orchids can be very temperamental & don’t like to be moved but if you find a warm, moist place with good sun they are amazing.  We keep most of ours in the garden window which is right above the kitchen sink so they get lots of steam and warm moist air.  We have had the same ones growing for 20+ years though my wife has to split them every so often.  One of them our friend got a Trader Joe’s that is beautiful & since he passed away it only blooms once per year on his anniversary & my wife’s birthday (same day).  I can’t find a picture of that one but this is another one that too may have come from Trader Joe’s 20+ years ago…

            • Some orchids only bloom once a year so I am guessing it might have been for her birthday & was blooming when he gave it to her but better story to not think that was the case.  Bruddah Gary was a special dude, my Hawaiian brother from another mother & NOBODY loved his dogs like Gary (Spike pictured here)

    • Exactly. Bring back macramé. If you remember the TV show “Rhoda” it was a festival of potted plants in macramé holders. In the debut episode we’re introduced to Rhoda and Joe in their Manhattan terraced co-op, so much macramé, and Rhoda is having a little economic anxiety (I doubt Rhoda would have voted for Donald Trump, despite what “The New York Times” would peddle as an explanation for the 2016 presidential election result.)

      Rhoda says something to Joe like, “$200 a month is a lot of money, Joe, if we’re going to stay in this apartment.”

      I almost had an aneurysm.

  7. One bay leaf plant, one Norfolk pine returned to us by my mother-in-law. My role in their care consists of “Hey, didja water these lately? It’s dry in here with the heat on.”

  9. One of my crazier ideas was starting a Ginseng Farm, but there were a few issues with that:

    1) I’m no farmer.

    2) I’d need mountainous land preferably with the slope on the southside

    3) A bolt action rifle with Starlight scope to keep poachers from poaching.

    4) Money for 2 and 3.

    5) Market collapsed.

    6) My idea was to only grow 7 old Gingseng (apparently the ideal age), but how would I eat for 7 years?

  10. There is a story in this month’s Mother Jones about this, too!! They’ve been trying to get the Venus fly trap on the protected list for decades. And a couple of years ago there was another article in Wired about underground rare plant rings (etsy, craigslist, ebay…) and how those are similarly poached just so some person can have a rare pink whatever in their living room.

     

    I have a medium amount of plants. Maybe 20-ish. But I generally research the kind of care it requires before I buy it. You don’t want to get sucked into “filtered water only” shit. Why is this houseplant eating better than me?

  11. (omg the image finally posted)

    These are my houseplants. The pink princess is slowly dying though it does still manage to “wave” at night. I’m waiting for it to give up so that I can get a new fuller plant and a matching yellow pot. The other two are made of sturdier stuff and are accustomed to neglect minimal care.

  12. i honestly couldnt tell you what all ive got in and around the house…i have a lemon tree and an olive tree…a few strawberrys a rhubarb and a couple cacti that i can name…everything else has names like big purple thing…or small blue thing out front….or catnip…ive got all the catnip…mostly near the orange things

    also and unrelated….apparently the cold room at my supermarket broke down…so they were giving away free cake/pie to everyone in the shop

    went shopping for some ham and rizla…came home with a free apple and lemon crumble

    nice 🙂

        • I tried reading after the switch, but without the comments, there’s no point. And one of the first comments on their allegedly paid system WAS A BOT (“I am so pleased to discover your delightful blog, please reply…”). The company that bought Jez said they are also trying to get their hands on Splinter.com

          I kinda figured after Jez, they’d start selling the whole thing for parts. Comments going off on the Root was a tip, I thought they’d be first. I still like the Root and Takeout (even Gizmodo sometimes).

    • I read that. I don’t want to sound unsympathetic, I hate that they lost their jobs but if they expected any sort of loyalty from Spanfeller they were crazy.

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