Thank you for using your platform to educate & preserve indigenous people, their cultures, & their homes. I’d like to see more efforts to accredit indigenous people. We take from them everything & resell it to the world & they get no revenue. We even name their plants & animals after the poachers who take it from their lands. Even bigger slap in the face is when poachers name plants after their secretaries & pets. At least they gave one plant an indigenous name. I💚your docuseries.
When I was in Panama, I went to the village of the Embera, a neighboring indigenous people. I fell in love. They were so fascinating. I definitely want to visit the Guna next time I visit Panama.
Yours is the only channel that talks about aerials that I apreciate. Most of them talks about plants like they are only objects that unfortunately have to be taken care of. You really apreciate plants like living beings, and values actions and people that preserve them and the ecosystem. Props to you for sheding light to the fight of the indigenuous people of the world for the maintenance of their way of living and the preservation of nature.
Thank you for making this! Parts of this video made me quite emotional. This message is so important. We could learn alot of what we've forgotten from the indigenous people indeed. Living a symbiotic relationship with nature.
I have never been to Panama but I have been with several indigenous communities in North and Western Colombia. On my trips I have seen wild Dressleri, Queremalense, and Veitchii. These types videos are so important not only to the conservation of these species, but to the cultures that protect them. Thank you so much for this!
This video is of EXCEPTIONAL quality!!! Thank you so much for the lesson, especially as someome new to the hobby who decidedly does NOT want to contribute to poaching! Hope to see more of this from you, as well as the more casual sit downs 💜
I don't know you in person, but I felt a strong connection and appreciation for you after I realized that: 1. you frequent my favorite plant store here in NYC 2. that you're close with Jira 3. that you visited my home country, Panama, and began doing videos covering it! So just wanted to say thank you. This one was quite touching and made me miss home 🥹
@@plantgayforlife I'm from the capital, so is my dad. My mom is from Chiriquí, which is on the west side of Panama. Next time you go you should visit Boquete and Volcán Barú in Chiriquí and venture into Bocas del Toro!
I luv when you do the voice. Lol I also luv when you educate us. lol That friggin plant is friggin gorgeous and perfect. I didn’t know any of that. Thank you Jake. ❤ More please. I’m the biggest plant dork who will ever follow your channel. lol Luv it ❤❤❤❤
I know you’re only one person and have life outside of UA-cam but can we get a longer episode? Something lite ya know, nothing to crazy… lol maybe something about 3-500 business hours long everyday 15 times a day…😂 lol It’s seriously just so calming, relaxing and educational!! I can listen and watch these all day long! 😩 You’re really doing your thing with these mini series! thank you!!🙏🏽 💚💚💚
Thanks! I’d love to make them longer! The biggest issue is that there’s very limited information out there on aroids, even though they’re so popular. Not many botanists study them so there’s not much public information out there to research. Luckily the aroid mania these last few years has created a new generation of botanists who are continuing the unfinished work. So we’ll continue learning more about these plants long after these videos are published😁
That was really interesting. I just started following you and have seen a few of your video's, that have been the more funny repots and such. This is a whole different side of you. I like both. You've got a great voice for narration. Loved it!
I believe that we can improve things gradually, one step at a time, but if everyone takes a step together, perhaps it won't take as long. Thank you 💚💚💚💚
Recently I saw that tropicals sellers have various anthuriums that are related to poaching and I get the impression that they don't even question how they have plants and sell them at low prices to control the market and be a monopoly
There’s been a lot of finger pointing. If a large nursery suddenly has a lot of stock of a very rare plant then odds are it was poached. Usually you can tell because they are all stem cuttings with big chonks below the soil. Not grown from seed.
At timestamp 0:31 the plant is similar to philo subhastatum but with less blush. I have a hybrid labeled omly 'morona hybrid' with this same pattern. It grows jist a bit different from subhastatum but Ive been bale to get zero information about it. Can you offer any insight? P.s. I just discovered tour page and am absolutely loving your content 🎉
It would be really helpful for those of us that are plant collectors to have a list of places where we can buy plants from without destroying the nature
this is kind of difficult as what we buy is almost always propagated and there isn't a good way to track lineage back to the person that collected it, poachers don't really deal on etsy, they are looking for the growers that have the money to buy parent plants.
A great idea. The problem is these aroids all have their 15 minutes of fame. When the market is hot, the mature wild plants sold at their highest. One year prior or one year later they weren’t worth nearly as much. The poachers are simply taking advantage of a short lived spike in demand. Similar to Aroidmania, Orchidmania in the 1800s lead to mass poachings and orchids are still a shadow of what they were in the wild. It happens every time there is a demand. We are also seeing it happen with Californian succulents being sold in Asia. The way to stop it is to create awareness.
Guna Yala is a beautiful region. The islands are like paradise and the jungle in the mainland is amazing. I visited for the first time 20 years ago and the most distant islands were intact, the coral reefs were fantastic. One could only see the jungle from the car. Five years ago, the coral reefs were all bleached and the islands overpopulated. I don't recommend visiting anymore. The Guna people are not friendly and they are armed. They look like they are going to shoot first and later ask what plant you wanted to see. The area is also very dangerous due to drug trafficking.
Let’s put it in perspective. The Guna are probably not friendly to outsiders because they have historically been neglected and taken advantage of. The Guna Yala rainforest is also a very remote place along the Caribbean coast of Panama and might be a place of criminal activity which the Guna are not fond of. I don’t blame them for not welcoming foreigners into their land with open arms. But from what I understand, many places in Guna Yala are safe to travel, especially the San Blas Islands.
@@plantgayforlife I don't blame them either. Just stating the fact that they are not friendly. For example, they scare children. My little niece doesn't want to go there anymore. To arrive at the harbor where you take the boat to go to the islands, you need to go through many checkpoints from the Panama government and the Guna Yala authorities. They are all armed. You are safe as long as you never leave the car in all the trip from Panama city to the islands. Once you are at the beach and the Guna people are out of sight, you can relax and enjoy. But, as I said, the coral reefs are totally bleached.
They are rare in nature and cannot be sustainably propagated in large numbers from wild populations. That being said, there are enough on the market to breed with and create enough seed-grown specimens to feed the demand. I hope to breed my Kunayalenses once they flower. But first we need to educate people on the poaching. If more people know about it and boycott the sellers who have poached stock, there will be less incentive to continue poaching when it’s not selling. In my opinion at least.
@@plantgayforlife can they only be grown by seed? I've seen vids about tissue culture, seems some people are doing that from home. I'm not sure if that works with this plant tho. Agreed about the breeders, maybe there can be a verification system to show which breeders have poached stocks. Maybe the gov't can reserve the wild harvesting for itself, propagate those, then distribute them to breeders as some sort of mother plant.
The government doesn’t care about the plant market and would have zero interest in providing resources to harvest these Instagram famous plants. The only ones who are willing to do it are the locals who see an opportunity to make a lot of money and feed their family. It’s the same reason poachers kill rhinos and elephants in Africa. They’re not evil. They’re just seizing an opportunity to make a lot of money and provide for their family. The real blame has to be put on the market, because consumers decide how much something is worth based on what they are willing to pay for it.
I mention where the plant is from, what the name means, why the leaves are bullate, the insects that pollinate it, and the animals that disperse the seeds. What else were you looking for?
Thank you for using your platform to educate & preserve indigenous people, their cultures, & their homes. I’d like to see more efforts to accredit indigenous people. We take from them everything & resell it to the world & they get no revenue. We even name their plants & animals after the poachers who take it from their lands. Even bigger slap in the face is when poachers name plants after their secretaries & pets. At least they gave one plant an indigenous name. I💚your docuseries.
When I was in Panama, I went to the village of the Embera, a neighboring indigenous people. I fell in love. They were so fascinating. I definitely want to visit the Guna next time I visit Panama.
Soooo glad, that in a world full of plant influencers, we have you Jake! Well done!😻👏
I don’t even know what to say 🙏
Thank you for this video. It’s so hard to bring awareness to the climate crisis when it seems like nobody cares but you are doing it. BRAVA!
Much appreciated! Thanks for watching!😄🙏
Yours is the only channel that talks about aerials that I apreciate. Most of them talks about plants like they are only objects that unfortunately have to be taken care of. You really apreciate plants like living beings, and values actions and people that preserve them and the ecosystem. Props to you for sheding light to the fight of the indigenuous people of the world for the maintenance of their way of living and the preservation of nature.
I appreciate that very much! I hope to bring a new appreciation for our favorite plants 😊
Such an underrated channel
🙏☺️
When you talked a lot about kunayalense in the last video I thought you would make a documentary about it..and you did! Well done Jake!
Foreshadowing😉
I think your beautiful heart that loves nature should be shared with many people.👍
Love your narration Jake, thank you abundantly 😊😊😊
Beautiful and informative! Loving all about it! Thank you Jake!
Thank you for making this! Parts of this video made me quite emotional. This message is so important. We could learn alot of what we've forgotten from the indigenous people indeed. Living a symbiotic relationship with nature.
Absolutely! We can learn so much from them.
Great job, Jake. Respect for acknowledging Indigenous centrality in biodiversity.
I have never been to Panama but I have been with several indigenous communities in North and Western Colombia. On my trips I have seen wild Dressleri, Queremalense, and Veitchii. These types videos are so important not only to the conservation of these species, but to the cultures that protect them. Thank you so much for this!
Thank you! Are you on Instagram or Facebook? I’d love to DM some questions about your trip. I’ll be going to Colombia next year😊
"It's easy to forget the existence of the humble." 💚
Keep them coming! We love it! 💯 My new favorite Tv show.💚🌱
Im really enjoying your videos especially these historical ones. Very informative!
Loving the documentaries
Literally the best both in information and editing. Excellent work 🏆
This video is of EXCEPTIONAL quality!!! Thank you so much for the lesson, especially as someome new to the hobby who decidedly does NOT want to contribute to poaching! Hope to see more of this from you, as well as the more casual sit downs 💜
So glad to hear that! Thanks for watching!😁🙏
Astonishing!! Congrats!! ❤
I don't know you in person, but I felt a strong connection and appreciation for you after I realized that:
1. you frequent my favorite plant store here in NYC
2. that you're close with Jira
3. that you visited my home country, Panama, and began doing videos covering it!
So just wanted to say thank you. This one was quite touching and made me miss home 🥹
That’s so great to hear? What part of Panama?
@@plantgayforlife I'm from the capital, so is my dad. My mom is from Chiriquí, which is on the west side of Panama. Next time you go you should visit Boquete and Volcán Barú in Chiriquí and venture into Bocas del Toro!
I might return to Panama late next year or 2026 and will definitely consider checking out Bocas del toro! I’ll be exploring the Caribbean coast😁
I luv when you do the voice. Lol
I also luv when you educate us. lol
That friggin plant is friggin gorgeous and perfect. I didn’t know any of that.
Thank you Jake. ❤
More please. I’m the biggest plant dork who will ever follow your channel. lol
Luv it ❤❤❤❤
Thank you. This was beautifully done. 🇵🇦
I know you’re only one person and have life outside of UA-cam but can we get a longer episode? Something lite ya know, nothing to crazy… lol maybe something about 3-500 business hours long everyday 15 times a day…😂 lol It’s seriously just so calming, relaxing and educational!! I can listen and watch these all day long! 😩 You’re really doing your thing with these mini series! thank you!!🙏🏽 💚💚💚
Thanks! I’d love to make them longer! The biggest issue is that there’s very limited information out there on aroids, even though they’re so popular. Not many botanists study them so there’s not much public information out there to research. Luckily the aroid mania these last few years has created a new generation of botanists who are continuing the unfinished work. So we’ll continue learning more about these plants long after these videos are published😁
Such an important message given so eloquently. Well done Jake you outdid yourself on this one 👏👏👏
Thank you for saying that!😁
Please keep making these. Omg I love these
Wonderful deep dive. I never would have known this if not for you making this video!
I hope more people in the Anthurium trade become aware of the Guna people🙏
@@plantgayforlife Let's hope!
This was great Jake ❤
Excellent video and information
i love your little documentations and your voice is so fitting for it too
They truly are!
So good, Jake!
Please do more videos like this. You’re speaking voice sparks intrigue and mystery in a documentary style
More to come! And more in my documentary playlist!
@@plantgayforlife thanks for the reply and yes I binged them all. Recently found your channel Big new fan of yours.
Great work Jake! Well done my friend 😊
This is so beautiful thank you ❤
That was really interesting. I just started following you and have seen a few of your video's, that have been the more funny repots and such. This is a whole different side of you. I like both. You've got a great voice for narration. Loved it!
Thanks for watching both sides of me!🎭
Amazing video!
You are such a great filmmaker! So entertaining, so beautiful, so knowledgeable. I am smarter for subscribing to this channel. 😊
I’m so glad to hear you’re learning from my channel☺️
Thank you ❤
Amazing ❤
Excellent video bro!!! Just as good as the green earth or our planet documentaries.
I appreciate that!😁
Well done
Thanks for this 💙
I believe that we can improve things gradually, one step at a time, but if everyone takes a step together, perhaps it won't take as long. Thank you 💚💚💚💚
Agreed! Small steps! No one solution will fix everything.
Nice one, Jake ❤ I'm just commenting for algorithm 🙏🏼
I appreciate that!😁
Quality content 👍👍
Thx!
top notch!
🏝
You should enter this to Teavel and Adventure, NatGeo or Planet channels
This voice is a Plant Gay For Life EXCLUSIVE
Recently I saw that tropicals sellers have various anthuriums that are related to poaching and I get the impression that they don't even question how they have plants and sell them at low prices to control the market and be a monopoly
There’s been a lot of finger pointing. If a large nursery suddenly has a lot of stock of a very rare plant then odds are it was poached. Usually you can tell because they are all stem cuttings with big chonks below the soil. Not grown from seed.
At timestamp 0:31 the plant is similar to philo subhastatum but with less blush. I have a hybrid labeled omly 'morona hybrid' with this same pattern. It grows jist a bit different from subhastatum but Ive been bale to get zero information about it. Can you offer any insight?
P.s. I just discovered tour page and am absolutely loving your content 🎉
Hi! Check out this great website that talks about hastatum and subhastatum😁
www.exoticrainforest.com/Philodendron%20hastatum%20pc.html
It would be really helpful for those of us that are plant collectors to have a list of places where we can buy plants from without destroying the nature
this is kind of difficult as what we buy is almost always propagated and there isn't a good way to track lineage back to the person that collected it, poachers don't really deal on etsy, they are looking for the growers that have the money to buy parent plants.
@@Gee-xb7rt sure but a list of recommendations for plant shops?
The best way is to buy seedlings. Stem props of plants might have come from wild specimens. Seed grown is almost always done artificially 😉
definitely difficult to grow.. 😅
What if someone teaches the poachers/natives how to pollinate and collect the seeds rather than removing the mother plant from the wild.
A great idea. The problem is these aroids all have their 15 minutes of fame. When the market is hot, the mature wild plants sold at their highest. One year prior or one year later they weren’t worth nearly as much. The poachers are simply taking advantage of a short lived spike in demand. Similar to Aroidmania, Orchidmania in the 1800s lead to mass poachings and orchids are still a shadow of what they were in the wild. It happens every time there is a demand. We are also seeing it happen with Californian succulents being sold in Asia. The way to stop it is to create awareness.
Guna Yala is a beautiful region. The islands are like paradise and the jungle in the mainland is amazing. I visited for the first time 20 years ago and the most distant islands were intact, the coral reefs were fantastic. One could only see the jungle from the car. Five years ago, the coral reefs were all bleached and the islands overpopulated. I don't recommend visiting anymore. The Guna people are not friendly and they are armed. They look like they are going to shoot first and later ask what plant you wanted to see. The area is also very dangerous due to drug trafficking.
Let’s put it in perspective. The Guna are probably not friendly to outsiders because they have historically been neglected and taken advantage of. The Guna Yala rainforest is also a very remote place along the Caribbean coast of Panama and might be a place of criminal activity which the Guna are not fond of. I don’t blame them for not welcoming foreigners into their land with open arms. But from what I understand, many places in Guna Yala are safe to travel, especially the San Blas Islands.
@@plantgayforlife I don't blame them either. Just stating the fact that they are not friendly. For example, they scare children. My little niece doesn't want to go there anymore. To arrive at the harbor where you take the boat to go to the islands, you need to go through many checkpoints from the Panama government and the Guna Yala authorities. They are all armed. You are safe as long as you never leave the car in all the trip from Panama city to the islands. Once you are at the beach and the Guna people are out of sight, you can relax and enjoy. But, as I said, the coral reefs are totally bleached.
Can't their government propagate these plants and flood the market with them, discouraging poaching?
They are rare in nature and cannot be sustainably propagated in large numbers from wild populations. That being said, there are enough on the market to breed with and create enough seed-grown specimens to feed the demand. I hope to breed my Kunayalenses once they flower. But first we need to educate people on the poaching. If more people know about it and boycott the sellers who have poached stock, there will be less incentive to continue poaching when it’s not selling. In my opinion at least.
@@plantgayforlife can they only be grown by seed? I've seen vids about tissue culture, seems some people are doing that from home. I'm not sure if that works with this plant tho.
Agreed about the breeders, maybe there can be a verification system to show which breeders have poached stocks. Maybe the gov't can reserve the wild harvesting for itself, propagate those, then distribute them to breeders as some sort of mother plant.
The government doesn’t care about the plant market and would have zero interest in providing resources to harvest these Instagram famous plants. The only ones who are willing to do it are the locals who see an opportunity to make a lot of money and feed their family. It’s the same reason poachers kill rhinos and elephants in Africa. They’re not evil. They’re just seizing an opportunity to make a lot of money and provide for their family. The real blame has to be put on the market, because consumers decide how much something is worth based on what they are willing to pay for it.
how is this relevant to A. Kunayalense? Nothing you mention is concrete regarding the plant
I mention where the plant is from, what the name means, why the leaves are bullate, the insects that pollinate it, and the animals that disperse the seeds. What else were you looking for?
@@plantgayforlife what do you know about the native's relationship between this plant?
By protecting their undisturbed rainforests, they are protecting the endemic life that lives within, including A. Kunayalense.
I’m a big fan of these mini documentary series 🫀🫀🫀
I’m a big fan of YOU🫵🫶