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Cook’s
Carnivorous Plants
By Timothy Dickey
Cook's
Green
House |
“We want to make sure that the plants we offer are higher
in quality, and the growing instructions are such that the customer
will succeed. We have
had some of our plants (return shipped) in boxes from one end of the
country to the other, i.e., because of a wrong address.
They are in the complete dark, but still growing after 3
weeks.”
In any business where the product can self-propagate, not
everyone is willing to disclose trade secrets to successful
gardening. But in
a world where wild, tropical places are increasingly affected by
urban development, Cook believes the continuation of the species is
very much in the hands of the next generation.
“We
don’t keep secrets about how to grow our plants. If we can teach everyone who purchases (our plants) how to
grow them, then that will be history.”
One
little known fact is that carnivorous plants don’t actually have
to kill to survive. They’re
satisfied with a regular diet of water and sun.
But the insect food source is like “a natural fertilizer,
the octane boost of sorts,” according to Cook.
Atropururea
Flowers |
Yes, but will they eat me if I doze off in the greenhouse?
Cook says no. “Sorry, (we)
have too high fat content and wouldn’t do any better for the
plants than hamburger.”
Saved
by our fat--woohoo! For
science projects, Cook suggests crickets, mealworms, or very lean
meat.
“For lean meat, you will have to massage the trap to make
it think it is a live insect, so it will go through all the steps
required to fully digest the soft tissue.”
Again, feeding the plants bugs is not essential, but it does
increase their vigor and size.
Cook’s best seller remains the classic Venus flytrap.
They’re the most popular for science experiments, and kids
love them because they move. Cook
agrees, “For a plant, that is spectacular.”
Up and coming are pitcher plants, which are stunning in
design and color, and particularly effective at capturing insects.
The most common is the sarracenia,
Cook’s favorite because they’re easy to hybridize and grow, and
the more tropical nepenthes.
Judith Hindle
Flowers |
The sarracenia
is the hardier of the two pitchers, but the nepenthes
may be the greater prize to carnivorous plant collectors (yes, there
are collectors). The nepenthes
needs a warmer, more humid winter climate, but rewards its owner
with interesting vine growth and pitchers as large as a 2-liter soda
bottle.
All of Dean Cook’s carnivorous plants are available wholesale and
come pre-packaged for easy care and impulse buying at the register
(see sidebar).
He is especially proud of his selection of hybrids, many of
which he’s created himself.
Cook
speculates that in time he’ll find a way to cross a tiger with a
Venus flytrap. He says
he wouldn’t feed them dentists, as in the movie “Little Shop of
Horrors.” But he may
have to move next door to a lawyer farm.
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