Do you have a store in Manila or other cities?
No, we are a dedicated online nursery, shipping our plants nationwide. This saves us from store rental and sales staff salaries and much travel to keep them up and running. If we had a store, we would have to increase prices of the plants, so it is actually better to pay for shipping instead of having more expensive plants, especially if you get more than one. Remember, shipping is free if you order for P5000+ – how can you beat that? Plus many customers actually enjoy selecting our plants in the evening after work or even during working hours 🙂 and then have them conveniently delivered to their doorstep – which also saves money and more importantly time.
How do I pay you?
Just visit our website buy.pitcher-plants.com and compile a list of plants you are interested in – just click on the shopping cart icon when you like to order a plant. You can add as many plants as your like. Once you are done, or you want to change your order you can press the check-out button. If you are ready to pay, press the submit button in the check-out and you will be asked for your name and address. Once you submit this, you will get an e-mail with your order details and payment options.
I am not from the Philippines. Can I also order?
Sorry, no. We are purely serving the Philippine market. Legal export is a major headache and illegal export is illegal 🙂 Most other countries have great carnivorous plant nurseries as well.
Can I pay the plants upon receiving?
Sorry no. In most online transactions products are paid prior to receiving. For plants this is specially sensitive, as when buyer is not ready to receive, or just changes his/her mind the plants might be dead, after they return – if at all. We have every month several people ordering plants, but in the end not sending the payment.
Can I order by phone?
Please avoid using the phone. It is too tough, spelling the plant names, address, repeating account numbers etc. Texting can be annoying, too as it can take us 30 minutes to sell a single VFT to a customer… And it can take forever to find the customers name, address and order in separate SMS messages, as we can’t put names to each number calling/texting us. Often we get a message ‘I have paid this afternoon’ a few days after initial contact, which is great news, but it takes a bit of detective work to find out who is ‘I’, what was ordered, what address… 🙂 Therefore it is easier to do all communication, plant species, prices, bank account number via e-mail. We are very online here, you won’t wait long for an answer! You are online while reading this, right?
I ordered already, but I want to order more or something else. Can I add or change my order?
Yes, if the shipping deadline hasn’t passed, there is no problem. Please be aware though, that this situation sometimes confuses us on shipping day and we forget to ship the add-on/changes – most of the time this doesn’t happen, but in rare cases it does. Please understand that we can only credit the added payment for a future order in that case, but it does not qualify for a free shipment of the missing plants as it is not totally our fault only.
How can I trust you? I haven’t even met you!
If you Google for Volker Heinrich and pitcher plants you will find me in many corners of the net. selling plants, guiding expeditions, discovering new species and more. Carnivorous plants are my life and joy. You will see that people are happy with the plants and the service. Many sales sites are interactive and allow feedback of all kinds. Some people are even posting pictures and updates of the plants that they have received. You can also go to website of Department of Trade and Industries (dti.gov.ph) and see that the Pitcher Plant Farm is registered since 2009 – certificate 03492776.
Can I visit you at your farm?
Sorry currently not, as I am simply busy with (other) work. Our staff is not qualified and authorized to entertain visitors.
Can we do a meet-up?
Sorry no, I simply don’t have the time. Everything runs through JRS.
When will you ship?
We usually aim to ship weekly. Our staff in charge of shipping only works on Saturdays. The Saturday after you order will be used for Geotagging, the following week is DENR and PQS permit processing, so we can ship on the second Saturday after your order.
Is your website up to date?
Yes always. But sometimes, we just find out during the geotagging that a plant is not available. We will contact you in that case for replacement or refund.
Can I request a picture of the actual plants before shipping?
Sorry no, it just creates too much logistics. The plants you are receiving are growing since years (mostly “made in the Philippines”) on our farm and are very sturdy – unlike some nurseries who just import, keep them “alive” and sell quickly.
Can I ask to send me specially nice plants – “better than the others”?
Sure you can ask 🙂 but since every customer gets the nicest plants, better than the others, it’s sort of pointless … 🙂
How should I contact you ?
You can use messenger, or once you have ordered you can reply to the email. E-mail is a bit faster. v at pitcher-plants.com Please do either OR, not both. No need to search for a phone number, we don’t use it.
Do the plants come with care instructions?
No, the care instructions can be found here in the Cultivation Guides in the top menu next to this FAQ. Here they stay dry and up to date and can’t get lost.