Where do our carnivorous plants come from?
Where the plants we sell come from: this is how we produce our catalog
At Carniterrace we try to produce all the plants we sell, from sowing a seed to the plant arriving at your home.
Our goal is for you to receive specimens strong, healthy, and acclimated to our climate, not plants freshly taken from an industrial greenhouse thousands of kilometers away.
Even so, it is very difficult to produce 100% of the catalog, and below we tell you with full transparency what we grow ourselves and which species we are obliged to buy.
Why can’t we produce everything?
There are two main reasons:
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Protected cultivars and exclusivities
Just like in the pharmaceutical world where a company that develops a drug has a few years of exclusivity, something similar happens with many plants.
Some cultivars and varieties are protected and can only be produced by certain authorized nurseries, so we cannot propagate them ourselves and have to buy them directly. -
Demand is faster than production
Some species sell so quickly that, even though we propagate them continuously, we don’t have time to meet all the demand with our own production alone.
In those cases, we supplement with plants purchased from other specialized nurseries, always inspecting and acclimating them before putting them up for sale. Even so, we manage to have the most competitive prices on the market.
What we produce and what we buy
Next, we explain by groups how we propagate each type of plant and in which cases we have to turn to other nurseries.
Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap)
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Special cultivars
- The cultivars you see in the store (selected forms, special colorations, etc.) are produced 100% by us through cuttings.
- When we acquire a new cultivar, we buy several plants to establish several mother plants. From them, we start taking cuttings to have a good production base.
- These cuttings are left to grow until sale size, so that when they arrive at your home they have already spent a good amount of time in our nursery.
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Typical Dionaea
- We produce a large quantity of typical plants by cuttings, as they grow relatively fast.
- Even so, we do not manage to produce all that we sell, so we supplement with adult plants purchased in the Netherlands.
- These purchased plants are transplanted and acclimated in our nursery before shipping, to ensure they arrive in good condition.
- Approximately, the ratio between plants produced by us and plants purchased is 50/50.
Sarracenia
In the case of sarracenias, we produce between 80 and 90% of the plants you see in the store.
We work in two main ways:
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Rhizome division
- We have several mother plants of each species and hybrid.
- Each season, when we transplant, we divide the rhizome to obtain new plants.
- This way we maintain strong clones of the forms that work best.
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Production from seed
- In spring, we pollinate the flowers to obtain our own seeds.
- Those seeds are sown and the seedlings are grown until they reach sale size.
- This allows us to maintain a great genetic variety and continue offering interesting combinations and hybrids.
When a specific variety runs out faster than expected, we can restock with plants from other nurseries, but the vast majority come from our own cultivation.
Sundew
With droseras we combine seed and cuttings to have plants all year round.
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Production from seed
- We try to produce a large quantity of seeds from many species and sow them regularly.
- Growth from seed is slow, so these plants spend a long time in the nursery before being sold.
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Production from cuttings
- To ensure a constant supply, we take many cuttings (mainly leaf cuttings).
- Cuttings root and develop faster than seed plants, which gives us adult plants available while seed plants continue growing.
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Special cases
- Queensland Droseras: we propagate them exclusively by leaf cuttings, as they respond very well to this method.
- Pygmy Droseras: we multiply them by gem sowing, which is the most effective and simple method for this group.
Pinguicula
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Mexican Pinguiculas
- We propagate them only by cuttings.
- They produce a large number of new plants from the leaves and grow quite fast, so we can keep a good number of specimens in stock.
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European Pinguiculas
- We produce them mainly from seed.
- Also, in winter we divide the “bulbs” or winter rosettes formed by the mother plants, thus obtaining new individuals for cultivation.
Utricularia and Stylidium
In these genera we use a very simple and effective method:
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Division of mother plant portions
- We take portions from the mother plants and divide them into several sections.
- These portions root and spread easily, so from a single plant we can obtain several new ones in a short time.
This allows us to maintain continuous production without needing to rely on external suppliers.
Heliamphora, Nepenthes, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia
In these groups, for the reasons mentioned at the beginning (protected cultivars, slow growth rates, and high demand), we do not produce our own plants.
- Heliamphora
- Pitcher Plant
- Cephalotus
- Darlingtonia
All of these we buy directly from specialized nurseries, always selecting trusted suppliers.
Once they arrive at our nursery:
- We inspect and repot them if necessary.
- We acclimate them to our conditions before putting them up for sale.
This way we ensure that, even if we haven't produced them from scratch, they arrive at your home in the best possible condition.
Why all this effort?
Because we want you to know when you buy from Carniterrace that:
- Most of the plants you see have been grown by us from their origin.
- We work with selected mother plants, cuttings, divisions, and our own seeds, always seeking quality and adaptation.
- When we have to buy a species, we do it transparently and take care to acclimate and inspect it before shipping.
In summary: we try to ensure that every plant that arrives at your home has a clear story of cultivation and a lot of care behind it.