Hey, I bought plants from Tails and scales a little while ago. In particular, I got 2 nepenthes, one of which was listed as being 'out of tissue culture' The plants are all from Borneo Exotics, and reality is I think most (if not all) BE plants are from TC.
The more mature plant (N. robcantleyi x [sibuyanensis x ventricosa]) was a good size, good root mass, and had no issues adapting to my conditions, unfortunately, the same cant be said for the one listed as being from tc (N. bellii). At the time I got it, the bellii was like fresh out of tc and hadn't been hardened off at all, and it did not ship well (although it was in the mail for over 2 weeks). very little root mass, very thin leaves, very small plant.
both plants were shipped with the roots wrapped in some LFS, and then were placed in a plastic back with their label. they were then wrapped in paper and placed in a box.
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I will say that while it looks like garbage, it is still very much alive and producing new leaves. This photo was taken back at the beginning of August, 9th, roughly 2 weeks after I received it in the mail.
Honestly, I would purchase the more mature plants from Tails and Scales, but I would not recommend the ones listed as being out of Tissue Culture. It has been a while since I ordered and my experience is with Nepenthes, so assumably they have hardened the plants a bit more, and I don't want to deter you from buying Tissuecultured plants but you can find larger, more established and better priced Heliamphora here or from
@WillyCKH's shop.