WELCOME TO PETPITCHER!
PetPitcher website and forum is dedicated to the cultivation of carnivorous plants and it is maintained for the purpose of providing a free place for fellow CPers to network, learn and share their passion for these amazing plants. It is also a place to provide information to anyone who is crazy about these plants or just interested to know more about these wonders of nature. The focus of information and discussions are on the cultivation of carnivorous plants in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia, that is hot and humid all year round.
A LITTLE HISTORY
I started this website and forum because there was a lack of available resources and awareness in Malaysia on carnivorous plants. There was a need for a place where enthusiasts can gather to talk about their favorite “pets”. I also wanted a place to promote and educate fellow Malaysians on these amazing plants. It saddens me to know that though my country is the center of distribution for the largest carnivorous plant on this little green ball called planet earth, yet the majority of Malaysians do not know what this plant is. The species… Nepenthes! Malaysia is also home to other amazing carnivorous plants such as Drosera, terrestrial Utricularia and aquatic Utricularia.
I have always been intrigue by carnivorous plants, particularly the species Nepenthes but they were not available in the mass market within Malaysia back in the 1990s. However, in year 2000 I found my first pot of Nepenthes in a nursery in Malaysia. These were tissue culture plants imported from Holland. However, nurseries who carried them did not know how to care for them nor do they know how to advise buyers on their cultivation needs. As a result buyers found Nepenthes to be difficult to cultivate as they would die or merely survive after a month or so. It was not until the year 1996 when Ch’ien Lee, a botanist and taxanomist specialising in Nepenthes moved to Sarawak where he spearheaded a Nepenthes propagation programme, including a tissue culture laboratory that more species were made available to enthusiasts through Malesiana Tropicals, and a source of cultivation information was made available.
Since 1987, Dr. Charles Clarke, a botanist and taxanomist specialising in Nepenthes has also been studying the ecology of Nepenthes and has spent many years in Borneo for this purpose. He has published his findings in numerous books and publications on Nepenthes. These were valuable resources to information hungry enthusiasts in Malaysia. However, there was still a lack of awareness and interest on these amazing plants in Malaysia as the books were not readily available in the mass market and there was virtually no awareness or information on the cultivation of other species of carnivorous plants. The only available resource on other species of carnivorous plants was from the internet. However, these cultivation information may not be suitable to Malaysian CPers as it is based on the climate and environment in the respective countries.
In the year 2003 PetPitcher website was launched with the purpose of promoting and sharing the passion for these oddities of nature. I began to join carnivorous plant discussion forums around the world. My first experience in a carnivorous plant forum was on GCS in Singapore. It was a fulfilling journey for me in GCS and I’ve made some good friends there. However, I was frustrated… Frustrated because I could not join them in their activities and outings. I began looking for enthusiasts from Malaysia. From PetPitcher website and other forums, people I met and contacts from friends, I found 3 other carnivorous plants enthusiasts from Malaysia.
It was soon apparent that we needed a place for Malaysian carnivorous plant enthusiasts to meet. Together with the Pioneer Members (Tiong Soon aka TS, Mohd Najwan aka artificialive and Choong aka kltower), PetPitcher forum was launched on 12 December 2006 with the aim of providing that place where fellow Malaysians can meet other enthusiasts to share their experiences and plants, or organize events and outings together. We were able to organise group purchases with nurseries like Mohd Fauzi’s 4Ze Plants to bring in species or hybrids that we would otherwise not be able to purchase due to the high cost if you were to purchase as individuals. On top of that there is also the minimum order and hassle of import permit applications. From PetPitcher forum we were also able to source for, purchase or exchange other carnivorous plants and seeds with other members. We have organised numerous activities, events, outings, field trips and exhibitions including the first carnivorous plant competition in Malaysia in the year 2008, which saw over 200 plant entries.
In September 2009, the PetPitcher Seed Bank was launched. The Seed Bank is a non-profit member-only seed exchange program where members can donate seeds for the mutual benefit of other members or request for seeds for building their personal collection. The idea behind this is to promote the cultivation and conservation of carnivorous plants and aid in the spread of seeds so that more members can enjoy this oddities of nature. However, the Seed Bank has been stopped after a year in 2010 as it has become too huge a responsibility for me and I just could not find the time to manage the amount of seeds and requests.
MEMBERS AND VISITORS
Even though we are based in Malaysia, we are not an exclusive group for Malaysians and I hope enthusiasts from around the world would feel at home in this forum. We have members from around the world and we hope more would join us. This is one of the reasons why I made the English language the medium of communication in this forum/website. It is exciting to share this passion with people from every corner of the world. We can learn and share so much from each other, and it is great to get to know people from other cultures in the world. We may have our differences but when CPers get together, these differences seem to dissapear.
Approximately 80% of PetPitcher members are from Southeast Asia with the concentration from Malaysia. The rest of our members are from other countries in the world. Visitors to PetPitcher comes from over 100 countries throughout the world.
MISSION AND PURPOSE
PetPitcher Mission or Purpose is to:
- promote the cultivation and conservation of carnivorous plants
- learn and share information, plants or seeds
- network with other carnivorous plant enthusiasts
Acronym: PLANT = Promote LeArn NeTwork
PETPITCHER FORUM
If you are new to growing carnivorous plants or the forum, please note that there are no stupid questions here as this is a place to learn and share your experiences. So do not be afraid to ask or share your thoughts on carnivorous plants. If you are an experienced enthusiast, your knowledge will be very much appreciated here. We need your experience and guidance to make this place informative and useful.
For more information on PetPitcher forum, please click here.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Special thanks must go to my Technical Administrator, Chee Eng aka tan_ce for helping me with the set up and technical maintenance of this website. Acknowledgment must go to my Pioneer Members, Moderators, Executive Members and Advisors for their effort in making this place pleasant, fun and informative. Last but not least, to the members who share their knowledge and experiences, for without their contributions the forum would not be of any benefit to anyone. Member’s support has also made it possible for PetPicther to gather enthusiasts in one place to promote the cultivation of carnivorous plants.
FINAL REMARKS
I hope this website would excite you on the cultivation of carnivorous plants and that you will catch the “CP bug” if you are not already “hooked”. Most importantly, I hope you will find what you are looking for and benefit from the information here.
If you have any question, suggestion or information to share, please drop me a line or join the discussion on the forum. You can email me by clicking the Feedback link.
Finally, let’s have fun with what we are passionate about! Happy growing…
Best regards,
David Tan