Size Guide
For all intents and purposes, my size guidelines are the same as all the other carnivorous plant sellers. If you want to know more, or simply enjoy my tendency to be overly verbose, you may read more below.
Dionaea, Drosera, & Pinguicula:
3 sizes used, Small, Medium, & Large.
Small: is going to be about 0.5-1" in size and ~3-12 months old (pings younger, others older). It will be large enough to consider a "plant". See note at bottom for X-Small plantlets/seedlings. Root system will still be pretty small. Enough to grab onto the soil but don't apply any pressure.
Medium: Middle range and most common. 1-2" in size and 1-1.5 years old. Root system will be slightly smaller than species typical range but big enough to easily hold the plant in place. This size is probably the one you are imaging when you first think of ordering a plant.
Large: A youthful adult to fully mature. 2-3" in size but can be larger. Capable of flowering, or at least should flower if my growing conditions imitated seasons. A "type" plant. Root systems are larger than average, but might be less robust if recently imported (see note below).
Basically the same as above but size increments increase slightly faster. I don't have any for sale at the moment so will write this section later!
This only exists because my inner optimist and OCD self made me include it in the genus list. Unfortunately, Heliamphora don't like those versions of me, or any version of me really. Best to just assume I don't have any.
5 sizes in total, X-Small, Small, Medium, Large, & X-Large. To determine sizing, plants are measured from one leaf tip to its opposite leaf tip. The curvature of the leaf is included. Think length of a parabola, not just the space the plant occupies on the x-axis. Most of the time a straight diameter will work, but some species really like to curve their leaves so I try to accommodate.
As with all genuses, their are diminutive species (glabrata, micramphora, bellii, etc.) that are outside the standard measurements. Sizes are scaled to appropriate classification.
X-Small: Diameter is 0.5-1.5" and is known to be still quite young. Plants are 85%-100% acclimated to normal nepenthes growing conditions. In other words, don't put them on your windowsill! Pitchers are still immature and difficult to identify. I try not to sell them this small, but sometimes it's all I have. Also nepenthes tend to be a bit more robust than other carnivorous plants so should be considered safe.
Small: Diameter is 1.5-3" and/or is an older, but still young plant (see note below). Plants are fully acclimated to there respective sub-group. Most can actually withstand conditions outside of this if not sudden or is known to be a sensitive species. Pitchers are beginning to take shape and be representative of their species. Expect pitcher height to be about 1-2".
Medium: Diameter is 3-6" and/or is an older plant (again see note on age vs size). Acclimated +. Pitchers easily identifiable. The size of plant you expected to get when you first started growing, not the tiny ones you got. Average pitcher height would be 3-4". Only lower pitchers, no vining. Root system typical for age of plant assuming it hasn't been recently imported (see "Note on root systems" above).
Large: Diameter is 6-12" and/or is plant. A well established plant producing standard sized pitchers for it's species. The vast majority will still be in their lower pitcher stage, but should start to vine within ~6 months. Like the others before, acclimated +,
X-Large: 12" + or considered a "premium" sized plant. They typically are 2-4 leaves into their vining stage. Smaller species will be even further along. Most will also have a basal plant attached. Currently the ones I have available have been in my possession between 5-7 years, actual age add another year or two. If the Large sized Nepenthes makes you "wow", these fall into the "oh ****!" category. I'll let you decide on the expletive.
Alright, last one I need to write! Three tiers: Small, Medium, Large. I'm going to make this one short. Assume all the basic stuff you read before this, except height is the major deciding factor. Plants might be upgraded if they have multiple growth points. If you just came for Sarracenia sizing, bounce back up read those!
Small: 3-6" in height, young plant, will take a year or two for it to flower. Same as before, I try to not sell seedlings unless specifically requested.
Medium: 6-12" in height, older plant that should flower the next season if it hasn't already. Realistically the maximum size to ship with pitchers fully intact.
Large: 12-36" in height. Has flowered usually multiple seasons and is a full on established plant. Can have extra growth points on rhizome. Feel free to request that and I can accommodate. Pitchers will most likely have to be cut before shipping. If you want to leave them intact let me know and I'll see what I can do. Expect extra costs for shipping.
Utricularia: This one is easy! Literally one size. Depending on species a self sustaining plug or ball about 1.5-3" in diameter. Terrestrial on the smaller end. Epiphytes on the larger. I've never grown Aquatics but did get some seeds recently. If something happens with them, I will update this page!
Notes:
*Disclaimer: While I try my best to use objective measurements to size things, there will inevitably be some deviation and/or personal judgement used to determine sizes. All "sized" plants will typically fall into these ranges but they are not meant to be strict definitions. Furthermore, to simplify the number of plant options, other attributes like age, exceptional characteristics, extra basal offshoots, personal favorites, etc might be factored into the sizing calculus. A plant might fall underneath the size rating but still deserved to be upgraded to the next pricing tier. Think more of a tiered ranking system where physical diameter is about 70% of the ranking formula. Don't ask for the formula, it doesn't exist. Basically, this is a guide you can use to approximate where I think an individual plant lies on a 1-3 or 1-5 scale. Any large deviations I will make sure to communicate to the customer before the order is fulfilled.
*Note on X-Small Dio., Dro., Ping. plants: Internally I have an XS category that I use for plantlets/seedlings. This is not advertised on the site. If you really want a particular species, but we are sold out, feel free to message me as I might have some available.
*Note on root systems: 20-50% of plants may have recently been imported, so root systems on all sizes might be smaller. I typically give plants about a 2 month time window to recover. However, in that 2-ish month window, they were bare-rooted before shipment, group/temporary potted when they first arrived, repotted into an individual pot, and then removed again once sold. So the Drosera you purchase might be large, but the roots have "seen some things".
*Nep Age Size Promotion: Occasionally I have a few species that are grown outside of their "ideal" conditions. My grow rooms are limited in size and conditions can fluxuate depending on modification schedules. Some species/specific plants I can confirm are older, they are just currently smaller than the category they should be in. In these cases, age will supersede diameter and plants will be marked a tier higher. Once you place the plant where it should be, it will quickly grow to match its age. As an example, see these bicalcarata pics. Both are in the "Small" diameter rating but vastly different ages. The latter would be boosted to a "Medium" to reflect this.