"I've been
present for the birth of every little creature on this island" (John Hammond,
Jurassic Park) "I've been
present for the birth of every little creature on this island" (John Hammond,
Jurassic Park)
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Keehns
Carnivores, a division of Real Keehn Concepts was conceived by my
passion for things that are just outside of the ordinary. I still
remember the first carnivorous plant I owned as a child; it was of
course a Venus flytrap. I purchased the plant from a nursery center,
brought it home, placed it in a window and stared at it fascinated by
the thought of a plant that could move and eat other living things
bringing some prehistoric world to the imagination. I managed to keep
that plant alive for just about a year before it finally succumbed to
the minerals in our tap water, there were no real directions with the
plant other than 'water frequently'.
When my children were at a young age I wanted to share the same fascination with them but more times than not our forays for the plants through stores and nurseries produced nothing. When we did find some Flytraps (there was never any other type of CP available) they were usually in very poor condition because they had been shipped from a supplier in the United States and had suffered severely from the journey. It was at that time that I decided to explore the possibilities of producing the plants myself so as to have some availability and felt sterile tissue culture would be the way to proceed. I began my initial training with an instructor I found on the internet who did a thorough job of introducing me to the basics of plant tissue culture. As tissue culture of carnivorous plants is not as widely covered a field as that of agricultural crops the protocols and techniques used for them were difficult to find and at most times misleading as I learned from the failures of following (to the letter) many published papers on the subject. Not being one to give up on the pursuit of the dream I sequestered myself away for 3 years and began my own experimentation in earnest. It was at this time that I developed plant specific sterilization procedures, site specific protocols and proprietary media formulations which enabled me to propagate many varieties of carnivorous plant quickly and efficiently. Almost all of the carnivorous plants that we sell have been cloned "in vitro" by my self. We are located in Lumby, British Columbia which is nestled at the edge of the North Okanagan. The main nursery is stationed on a secluded parcel of land in the ALR which is bordered on 2 sides by a natural spring fed fen with an amazing wildlife interface area. It is not uncommon to observe White Tailed Deer, Black Bear, Lynx, Raccoon, Beaver, Martin and a constant variety of songbirds and migratory game fowl in and around the property throughout the year. The main lab and growth chamber have been set up close to our residence for ease of access and required monitoring of the in vitro cultures. Environmentally controlled hardening rooms have been constructed in out buildings to handle the volume of cultured plants that have recently been transferred to soil. Although we have the benefit of country living we are only 3 km from Highway 6 and 15 minutes from the city of Vernon, BC where we make use of Clark Freightways and Ace Courier for guaranteed fast, safe and secure temperature controlled shipping to our wholesale customers.
- Richard Keehn |
