Nepenthes from Wistuba

Plants are all potted up.

I have always wanted to order Nepenthes from Wistuba in Germany.  I finally did it this fall!  I personally don't care about artificially created hybrids, and Wistuba has the widest selection of Nepenthes and Heliamphora species.  They have so many cool plants, so I had to watch out the budget and be selective.  I received the shipment 2 days ago!  Very excited!  Now all Nepenthes are under CITES appendix II (some are under app. I).  But Wistuba has distributors in several countries including the USA.  So you don't have to go through the importation process by yourself.  You can order via their web page like domestic shopping. Wistuba ships the pooled orders to the US once a month, and the distributor takes care of the importation, and send the plants within the US.  It is a fairly good and simple system from the buyer's perspective.  It costs 60 Euro for documentation, international and domestic shipping, but it is reasonable for the easy import.

My order was supposed to be shipped early October, but they skipped October shipment, so it arrived in November.  I was a bit busy recently, so I have forgotten about it, but when I heard that they shipped the package, I was a bit worried.  Even though it has been warm fall for Alaska, the day time temperature was -13C (9F).  When I opened the package, it was well packed with styrofoam insulation, and all plants seem to be ok (I have indoor receiving, so they were not left in a mail box).

All 6 sides were insulated by styrofoam.

They are individually in  ziplock bag with the roots wrapped in moist sphagnum moss. and the bottom of the root ball was stapled to the ziplock bag.  So plants don't wiggle around in the bag, but it was surely tedious to remove the staples.

I've heard the size of Wistuba plants, but to me they are very reasonable sizes, and they all look in very good conditions.  You can see how they look like in the following photos.  I know that they are not high quality photos since I was in a hurry because my son was waiting for me to play with him.  He has been "mommy mommy mommy" in the last couple weeks, so I had to set the priority right, and I couldn't screw up the opportunity!  But you can see the general size. Most posts are 7.5cm (3") diameter except 2 larger ones.

Nepenthes aristolochioides (Sumatra), Nepenthes ceciliae (Mindanao, Philippines), Nepenthes clipeata (any clone), 

Nepenthes deaniana (Thumbs Peak, Palawan), Nepenthes dubia (Malea, Sumatra, "Rosette" size), Nepenthes ephippiata (Gunung Rajah, Borneo)

Nepenthes flava (Sumatra)

Nepenthes glabrata (Sulawesi), Nepenthes jacquelinae (West Sumatra), Nepenthes pitopangii (Ivory Colored Form, "Rosette" size)

Nepenthes platychila (Borneo), Nepenthes rigidifolia (Sumatra)

Nepenthes talangensis (Gunung Talang, Sumatra) 

Nepenthes macrophylla (Gunung Trusmadi, Borneo)

Heliamphora arenicola (Tramen Tepui), Heliamphora sarracenioides (Ptari, Ven., size: juvenile pitchers), Heliamphora uncinata (Amuri Tepui, size: juvenile pitchers) 

One thing I should note is that their communication is minimal.  I wouldn't say it is a bad customer service, but I wish that it were easier to communicate.  Their customer service is great, and Wistuba will make sure that the customer is satisfied.  But if I asked some specifics (e.g. exact shipping date), those minor details were unanswered.  I've communicated with a fair number of international orchid vendors.  Some of them are extremely difficult, and others (many Brazillian vendors) are easy and smooth.  I do understand that I don't speak their native language, and it is not easy for them to understand or explain in English.  So I can't expect the same level of customer service as domestic vendors.

Since their communication is minimal, people may be anxious about the status when he/she places the order first time.  So here is an approximate time line for your reference:

• Sept: I got notification that the order was processed.
• Oct 25: Notification that they are prepping the documents.
• Nov 4: Notification that they shipped from Germany.
• Nov 14: Notification that the package was shipped domestically via USPS.
• Nov 17: I received it

So the plants were traveling about 2 weeks, but they are all in good shape.

Overall, I'm very satisfied, and they are highly recommended!  I'll surely place more order.