Welcome to Here…But Not—it’s an plant blog created by me—Dustin. I’m a Canadian plant enthusiast from Calgary, Alberta Canada.
Dustin’s Plants & Orchids
I have well over 500 plants of various types, but I mostly grow orchids, aroids, nepenthes and oddball plants. My conditions are of the harshest you’d expect for indoor growing: my humidity averages 35-40% most of the year, my water is quite alkaline (7.9pH & 250ppm CaCO3), but I do have big windows on a Southeast corner of an apartment building. Even though my light is good, I still run multiple grow lights to help speed up growth, flower count and prevent a winter “dormancy” with my tropical plants.
If you want some gritty details about my perspectives on growing plants in Calgary, read this post.
Photo of me with some NOID Phals
Where’d the name @here_butnot come from?
The backstory to the name “here…but not” is underwhelming. I’m often physically present, but not always dialed in because I’m daydreaming about my plants. I love researching plants, about their care, discovering new species, pondering possible hybrids, and just generally obsessing about the details of successful plant growth. The fallout is that I’m often distracted and only half paying attention to my friends and family—you see… I’m “here…but not”
Frankly though, beyond having mild ADHD with hyper focus on plants…I also just needed a name and a starting point. I figured “orchid blog” was too obvious or restrictive, and I didn’t even know the direction this blog would take when I launched it. So…it’s herebutnot because it was better than not_here_at_all *haha*
Photo of a few of my orchids under growlights
Why I Started the Plant Blog @here_butnot
This blog is the central point for me to share my knowledge and experience with the world. My goal is to help new growers experience success and knock back naysayers and fad chasers in favor of good, tangible, and valuable plant-growing advice. I have personal frustration with bad advice that prevents growers from experiencing success and because of that I love breaking myths. That’s what this blog is for, to share my findings with you and help keep more orchids alive longer.
For updates follow me on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram; I have Twitter, but I’m not much of a tweeter – sorry.