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Post by pinglover on Apr 20, 2007 3:20:59 GMT
I need to purchase 8 healthy VFTs that are all about the same size. I need them for a future project and I've dealt with kids long enough to know that I don't want to be dealing with somebody whining that so and so's VFT is bigger than theirs.
I don't particularly care if they are straight species of a cultivar as long as all eight are the same and all about the same size.
This is not a solicitation for a donation. This is a request for the names of nurseries that I could contact that might be able to sell me what I want so that I don't end up having to deal with overly competitive youth.
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Post by maraxas on Apr 20, 2007 11:52:08 GMT
Well there is no information in your profile about where your are... so I don't know if this helps, but if i needed that I would go to Home depot and just pick up some plants. They sell for $4 potted and you could pick out the ones you wanted. I know all the ones around me have them in stock now. Of course I would rather support a CP nursurey, but if I just needed cheap flytraps already potted, I'd probably try Homedepot and Wal-mart. Just a suggestion. Also if your doing projects with kids I would check out: www.carnivorousplantnursery.com/sales/teaching.htmThey have activity books, coloring books, flip books, free sundew leaf clippings and all kinds of other resources for teachers.
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Post by Not a Number on Apr 20, 2007 14:54:42 GMT
Plants For Kids / Booman's Floral in Vista, California (San Diego area) sells 2 and 3 inch potted typical VFTs. They are one of the local suppliers to the garden centers like Home Depot, Lowe's. Unfortunately Plants for Kids' website says their VFTs are out of stock but there is no reason not to contact them since this is for educational purposes - they might have something in reserve.
At least in southern California Nursery Man's Exchange / Bloomrite, Plants for Kids / Booman's Floral, Gubler's and Altman Plants are all suppliers of carnivorous plants to the garden centers. They all have websites that you can find easily enough. Gubler's and NME/Bloomrite may just be reselling or distributiing AgriStarts3 plants.
I'm sure Peter at California Carnivores would be glad to help you out.
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Post by rsivertsen on Apr 20, 2007 15:08:06 GMT
Having some experience with young competative children myself, you just KNOW that some will find a reason to whine and complain about something! lol, but you might try to turn it around and present a challenge to see who can get their plants to produce the MOST growth; those with already larger plants will be handicapped! Just a thought.
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Post by pinglover on Apr 20, 2007 20:38:36 GMT
Meant to say I didn't care if they were straight species or a cultivar just as long as they were are all the same and all of similar size.
I have purchased from Michael before. He sent very nice plants to me. I also like his board game. Rather creative! Is he per chance a member here?
Plants for kids... I have no familiarity with them. I will go check them out. I won't buy from Home Depot or WalMart etc for these types of kids because I need healthy plants that haven't been in some sort of an acrylic coffin for lord knows how long.
Peter is another person I have purchased from in the past. He sent me healthy plants, albeit on the small side but his plants were very healthy. He's a good sport and I suspect that if I mentioned to him that the plants were for a special project, he would probably select 8 that were decent proportions and all about the same size. He's another good idea.
I have an account at Agristarts and have always been extremely pleased with their plants however they are starts and as such they would be considerably smaller than what I would like to pass out.
rsiversten, excellent comments. I take it you have children. Oddly enough, I don't deal with these issues with my own. I used to, but nipped that in the bud a long time ago in an attempt to preserve my sanity with ice cream of all things. Mine were doing the whine routine and it started with Jacob, Conner, and Jared demanding to know that they were going to get the exact same amount as Nick and Ricky while Ray was monitoring the Hershey's that was getting poured on top. I'd about had it so I dumped it all in the garbage and told them we were starting from scratch. I then paired them up and told them to choose who would scoop out portions and add chocolate because who ever got to do that had to let the other one pick which bowl they wanted. Talk about watching kids scoop ice cream with precision. Needless to say my husband and I watched with amusement as they painstakingly tried to ensure that quantities were the exact same because they knew the other one would get to pick. Ridiculous. I applied the concept to other areas of my life and within no time at all, they all realized how ridiculous they had been... particularly insomuch as they always could have gone back for more ice cream. I don't know how old your kids are but this "leveling of the playing field" principle of empowering one's own kids works well when shopping because you can give them each x# of dollars to spend and if they want something special, you can allow them to dip into their own savings accounts or keep the difference if they select a lower priced item and let me tell you they ALL turn real conservative in the blink of an eye when it's their money and no more whining about so and so getting the more expensive pair of gym shoes. Try it, you might like it but there will always be a few days you will still view your own children as poster kids for birth control.
Unfortunately, I will be dealing with other people's children this time around and you hit it smack dab on the head, "some will find a reason to whine and complain about something!" I really do like the idea of challenging them to see who can get the most growth but in this particular situation I will only have three sessions with them spanning three weeks. Not enough time to compare growing skills which is a real bummer. I do have the patience of a saint... at times but not when it comes to this type of nonsense. Interestingly enough, differently-abled kids are not competitive, unless they are siblings. Stick a VFT the size of a quarter in front of an autistic kid who is working next to an autistic kid who gets a VFT the size of a baseball and they are both happy as larks to have a plant and could care less whose is bigger. Now, try that in a 7th grade classroom of "normals". Isn't going to fly.
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Post by Steve D on Apr 20, 2007 22:07:04 GMT
(...) I won't buy from Home Depot or WalMart etc for these types of kids because I need healthy plants that haven't been in some sort of an acrylic coffin for lord knows how long. "Acrylic coffin"-- what an excellent description! ;D rsiversten, excellent comments. I take it you have children. Oddly enough, I don't deal with these issues with my own. I used to, but nipped that in the bud a long time ago in an attempt to preserve my sanity with ice cream of all things. Mine were doing the whine routine and it started with Jacob, Conner, and Jared demanding to know that they were going to get the exact same amount as Nick and Ricky while Ray was monitoring the Hershey's that was getting poured on top. I'd about had it so I dumped it all in the garbage and told them we were starting from scratch. I then paired them up and told them to choose who would scoop out portions and add chocolate because who ever got to do that had to let the other one pick which bowl they wanted. What an excellent story and excellent solution. You have the mind of Solomon. The idea of giving the authority to the kids instead of trying to hit them over the head with one's own adult or parental authority, and figuring out how to do that in such a way that the child is forced to think and make choices instead of just complain to the one in charge--because the one in charge is him- or herself now and not the parent--is just great. I have often wondered how I would deal with children (I have none.) It's great to hear how another person has creatively dealt with this kind of thing. I'm reminded of the saying, although it pertains to mistakes specifically rather than to experience in general, "Learn from other people's mistakes; you won't live long enough to make them all yourself." Hey! Didn't I hear that from you? Steve
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Post by rsivertsen on Apr 20, 2007 23:33:53 GMT
Now that my youngest son is a freshman at East Stroudsburg University, I can now enjoy parenting at a safe distance with some fond memories, (thanks to some wonderful forgetfulness). I've also been involved in their schools as they were growing up, and the biology teachers often had me come in with a “show-and tell” session of CPs, occasionally a field trip now and then.
You can also try to have the 8 kids select their 8 plants from a dozen plants so that the last one doesn't get the feeling like he/she got stuck with the last remaining "reject".
Empowering creative, energetic and competitive young minds are usually the best way to handle potential disputes. I still love it when I hear the “ah-ha” or “Whoa!” remarks from school children as they discover these things first hand, and for the first time, and recall how I was once blown away by these very same things when I was their age. It’s a beautiful thing!
btw, I still have a few things that I got from my kids over the years, such as a bumper sticker that says "I'm not suffering from insanity, I'm rather enjoying it, actually!" and another that says: "Insanity is inherited, you get it from your kids." ;D
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Post by pinglover on Apr 21, 2007 2:03:28 GMT
I just love it when I get the best of my kids. Keeps them on their toes and aside from that, some mistakes aren't all that much fun that they find them worth repeating. (evil giggle)
Duct tape comes to mind ;)
Braggart.
Back to plants, I honestly don't want to buy 12 or so. I'd get stuck caring for the left overs and I'm sort of out of space these days and I sort of don't want to get stuck caring for anything else.
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Post by cvistisen on Apr 23, 2007 4:11:23 GMT
I don't know how you feel about buying plants from people on Ebay, but last spring I bought about twenty VFTs from the seller "veronicaohms." It was supposed to be fifteen but there were a few extras. The plants were shipped bare root and they were beautiful and mature. She generally sells VFTs in groups and posts pictures of the actual plants that are for sale (not examples.) I had my plants in a couple days and every one of the plants is still beautiful.
She's had many plants up for sale already this year.
Good luck.
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Post by pinglover on Apr 23, 2007 4:13:13 GMT
I've bought from E-Bay before. Never thought of checking there.
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Post by cvistisen on Apr 23, 2007 4:15:35 GMT
"veronicaohms" has ten VFTs listed right now and the auction ends in about 24 hours.,
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Post by pinglover on Apr 23, 2007 4:57:07 GMT
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