Buying Orchids In The USA?

[kg5]

Considering how many viruses , bacteria's and funguses are in the US how dangerous is buying orchids from Uncle Sam's Hardware etc?

How do you know if you are buying orchids from a so called clean orchid nursery in the States?

[Orchid Whisperer]

The hardware store orchids are only as good as the outfit that supplies the hardware store. I've had good luck with the BetterGro branded orchids at those stores.

Some orchid nurseries (Carter & Holmes comes to mind as one example) have rigorous and clearly stated virus policies on their website. Other nurseries do not. You can always ask.

[Fairorchids]

You can't lump together virus, bacteria & fungi.

In any international shipment, plants must be bareroot and clean.

The odds of a plant from a reputable nursery carrying bacteria or fungi are extremely remote at that point.

Virus is a different matter. Most are visibly undetectable, as long as the plant is in strong growth. It takes some kind of setback for the virus to show the infection (in the form of streaks or ring spots on the foliage).

Most nurseries test their awarded clones, but they cannot undertake testing of 100,000+ seedlings (which as young plants are less likely to be infected anyway).

I keep track of where I buy plants, and if I see an infected plant, I cross that nursery off my list as a future source. So far, I have only blacklisted two nurseries (neither is a major player in the US market).

[tucker85]

There's always some risk when you buy an orchid. But there are several commercial growers in the U.S. who have their own breeding programs and do their own cloning. There's a better chance of getting a quality plant from one of those growers.

[kg5]

Thank you for all the comments!

Starting to get my head around it all.

There is not that much difference between the animal kingdom & the plant kingdom when it comes to virus, bacteria & fungi.

[Optimist]

Considering most of the orchids in US hardware stores are from Taiwan... Hmmm. Plant viruses usually only effect the plant they are in/on. Not a biologist here so that is all I know.

[Fairorchids]

Originally Posted by Optimist

Considering most of the orchids in US hardware stores are from Taiwan... Hmmm. Plant viruses usually only effect the plant they are in/on. Not a biologist here so that is all I know.

The 'trouble' with the Taiwanese plants stems from, their business model, where different companies grow the plants at different stages (flasking, compots, young plants & prepping for export). Thus, we don't know whether each middle man observes proper plant hygeine (& labelling practices).

For a while they were mostly doing Phals, which do not interest me much. However, now their activities have expanded to many other genera, and I am beginning to see things that make me very cautious as to what I am buying.

At a recent show I saw plants labelled Laelia anceps, which were clearly a bifoliate Cattleya. Plants were not in bloom, so I could not determine what they really were.

The same vendor was selling several clones of blooming Cymbidiums, which were labelled with unregistered names.

Conclusion: Be carefull whom you are buying from. And, be prepared for the random bad experience, unless you know your plants very well.

I do buy from that vendor, but only Vandaceous plants, which I know well enough to detect any obvious 'fakes'.

[Optimist]

Good information, Kim