Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 02:10:53 -0400 From: "Paul V. McCullough" <pvmcull@voicenet.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1609$foo@default> Subject: Home Depot, Etc.
Dustin Howarth wrote:
> I've been wondering about something to do with the great buys at the
> superstores:
>
> Has anyone considered or, better yet, investigated the origin of the plants
> they sell? I think that most of us are generally concerned about the
> ethics of growing and selling these plants -- and some of us (like me) are
> downright fanatical about it. Three dollars seems like a pretty low price,
> and I don't have the impression that these stores are going to
> painstakingly investigate the ethics of all of their suppliers.
>
> I like a great buy as much as the next guy, but not at the risk of
> supporting unscrupulous suppliers. Can anyone shed any light on this?
>
I take your position seriously- there was a lot of talk about this on
the list last year, too. It seemed as though no one ever looked too
deep into the situation. The only thing I remember about that was that
one of the suppliers I saw listed on one of the plants at home depot
said TPN nursery. I think someone tried to assert that this had to be
PPN (sigh- because it had similar letters) but I wasn't able to get any
farther then that.
While I think your point is a valid one, I'm troubled by the assumption
that because these plants are low priced, the ethics of Home Depot's
suppliers must come into play. Wouldn't this be true of amazingly high
priced plants, too? These plants look like nursery raised plants-
they're incredibly healthy- and free of any obvious pest damage. They
don't look like they were recently bog collected. I guess it's possible
that someone out there is collecting them and regrowing them in green
houses then selling them as nursery grown. Sure, there may be some
nasty supplier behind it. Or maybe... just maybe some honest business
trying to promote CP- something EVERYONE on this list should be happy to
see. I commend Home Depot for taking the risk of selling plants that
aren't on the typical list of otherwise dull flora usually found in such
establishments.
There's no supplier mentioned on the directions that come with the
plant, but there aren't any on azaleas or rhododendron sold there
either... I'm sure the manager of the plant department could find out
who the supplier is for anyone who's curious. I will say that Home
Depot's supplier has gotten their act together on the instructions
shipping with their CP (finally). They detail quite nicely the needs of
the plant; the front of the tag shows a Pitcher plant in the foreground
and VFTs in the back. It says "Pitcher Plant" (Yay!) under the
picture. On the back it says "Sarracenia Family" (Yay!)- it then goes
on to describe exactly how pitcher plants capture prey- and it's right
on the money! The growing instructions tell you to set the pot in a
small bowl and keep water in it at all times (Good instructions...). It
tells you what kind of bowl works best. It tells you to keep the plant
in Sun but to avoid high temperatures... to NEVER use fertilizer or
plant food. Goes on to say to keep the soil moist and for additional
planting material, to use peat moss. In bold print it gives the best
info of all: Use Distilled water only- NO TAP WATER. While I would have
added rain water to the list, distilled water's never killed any of my
plants.
This is the first time I've ever seen such concise and accurate
instructions on a CP label from any store. I'm impressed. I didn't
even bother to look at the label (due to past inaccuracies) until I
started making this entry. This sounds like a respectable supplier, not
your typical "rape the landscape" supplier (and if you guys are out
there, we CPers are ready to do battle!). Next time I'm in HD, I'll try
to look up the manager of the garden center and find out for you. One
thing should be taken into account though... I think Home Depot uses
different local suppliers- there's a lot of plant diversity at Home
Depots from region to region- and even from local store to store. So
you might want to find out who supplies your local store- probably some
conglomerate- then you would need to find out who supplies him. There
are a lot of honest CP nurserues who aren't net savvy and who probably
aren't aware of the untapped gold mine they have. As such, they sell CP
as curios- not top dollar must haves.
Cheers,
Paul
PS- warnings have gone out already that ticks will be extremely
prevalent this year due to the warm weather and tons of rain here in the
northeast... anyone planning to come to NJ to visit our bogs should be
well prepared (Even now!) and well equipped to prevent tick bites and
the possible spread of Lyme disease. Another factor in this is the ever
increasing deer population in the state, already at alarming
proportions- Lyme disease will be a BIG problem this year. Take it
seriously.
-- Paul V. McCullough Webpage: http://www.voicenet.com/~pvmcull
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