Is OrchidWiz useful for learning about species?

[Brotherly Monkey]

Originally Posted by slipperfreak

I haven't read the Baker sheets, so I can't say for sure. But, I would guess that it is the same information. The prices I have seen for individual volumes with Baker's data are atrocious though; I think OrchidWiz is a better value.

I guess it depends on how often you plan on using the service. For me, I,*maybe*, order thirty sheets a year, which works out to 25 dollars


That wouldn't even cover one of the annual maintenance plans from Orchid Wiz

[camille1585]

From what I've seen, the species info is pretty much the Baker sheets. But like you say, it depends on the amount of use that you'll get out of it. For people who want only info on a few species, then getting the sheets is probably better, but for those that are interested in hybrids as well, then the complete OW package is probably better.

It also depends if you want info on just the species that interest you/are growing, or if (like me) you also want to increase your general orchid knowledge. When I'm on OB it's pretty often that Orchidwiz is also open to check on plants that people post about.

It's too bad that this thread didn't come up earlier, because until Dec 31st 2009 Orchidwiz was offering awesome group discounts. But I think that OB still has some sort of discount running all the time.

[Bolero]

Orchidwiz is an excellent program for researching and learning about both species and hybrids. My judging panel use it as a reference and I use it regularly to check cultural and identification information about species from all genera. There will be some species where little is known and it will take real research to find more but for most things you commonly find Orchidwiz is excellent and an indispensible tool.

[Undergrounder]

Great to hear your judging panel is using it, i didn't think my local judges even knew it existed... but to the original question: It gives a little information about most species, but the real power of Orchidwiz is in hybrids - Looking up parentage, awards and info about lines o fbreeding, not species themselves.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Undergrounder

Great to hear your judging panel is using it, i didn't think my local judges even knew it existed... but to the original question: It gives a little information about most species, but the real power of Orchidwiz is in hybrids - Looking up parentage, awards and info about lines o fbreeding, not species themselves.

You call the species info 'a little'? It has much more on each species than most websites. And it seems to have more info on species than most of the orchid books I own. While there be greater proportion of OW's overall content dedicated to hybrids, the species info is far from being 'little' IMO. Perhaphs I'm one of the rare people who has OW for the species part, and not the hybrids part!

[slipperfreak]

The fact is that OrchidWiz is the most complete orchid encyclopedia you will ever find, so if you really want to learn about the whole family, it's a must-have product. You can look up just about anything, anytime, and it gets better every quarter. You don't have to pay for the updates, but you'll always be able to update when you decide to. It's great value.

I didn't know you could buy individual Baker sheets; I guess they're not available in Canada. I've only seen volumes; for example one that covers all genera from A-C, and those were like $150-200 on the websites I was looking on.

[slipperfreak]

Oh, and I agree with what Camille is saying regarding the species. The reason why a greater proportion of the program is devoted to hybrids is because it covers the whole family, and there are about 4 times more hybrids than there are species, at least. Therefore, there are more hybrids to talk about than species. But the species are very well-represented and more data on them is added every quarter.

[Brotherly Monkey]

Originally Posted by slipperfreak

The fact is that OrchidWiz is the most complete orchid encyclopedia you will ever find, so if you really want to learn about the whole family, it's a must-have product. You can look up just about anything, anytime, and it gets better every quarter. You don't have to pay for the updates, but you'll always be able to update when you decide to. It's great value.

I didn't know you could buy individual Baker sheets; I guess they're not available in Canada. I've only seen volumes; for example one that covers all genera from A-C, and those were like $150-200 on the websites I was looking on.

If you go to the Bakers website you can buy prepaid plans for 10-25 dollars (10-30 sheets). Then you can order individual sheets on a per-need basis.

Culture On Demand - Orchid Species Culture Sheets

[chris_todd]

Thanks for all the feedback and information, everyone. This has been a really helpful thread, and I appreciate it.

OrchidWiz certainly seems powerful, and I may get it someday, but I think I've concluded I don't need it yet. The IOSPE and Baker culture sheets would seem to meet my relatively modest needs (at least for the moment) more economically than OW.

[Brotherly Monkey]

Originally Posted by chris_todd

Thanks for all the feedback and information, everyone. This has been a really helpful thread, and I appreciate it.

OrchidWiz certainly seems powerful, and I may get it someday, but I think I've concluded I don't need it yet. The IOSPE and Baker culture sheets would seem to meet my relatively modest needs (at least for the moment) more economically than OW.

Todd, here is a list of a few sample sheets from the Bakers, which will allow you to get an idea of what they cover, before deciding to make a purchase

Orchid Species Culture - Free Sheet Index