"Strategies" for "rescuing" orchids from grocery stores/big box stores

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

OK here is my unpopular take on this. Why? These plants are mostly mass produced in Taiwan, and I would guess a large number of them are virused. Why do we want to encourage people to send their money overseas to some mega corp when you could buy from a reputable small grower here in the US? These folks invest a lot of time and money creating lovely new hybrids or growing species from seed. Many even do their own cloning. These small greenhouses are closing one by one because they cannot compete with the $9 Walmart orchid.

I feel my money is better spent buying quality plants from a source I know and trust.

Kind of nice to see that this type of attitude still exists in the online orchid community. I was beginning to wonder.

[james mickelso]

Yes they are just plants. But here in america, land I fought and nearly died for, we tend to have so much and then when it hasn't sold, we throw it away. Just imagine the amount of fuel it took to transport those throwaway commodities from wherever to the market then to not take care of them and then they are thrown away. The effort to grow them (heating or cooling the GH's, water for them, feed for them, labor, transport, ventilate) ect. For what? So we can have something pretty for a week to 10 days and then throw them in the trash. That's all I'm saying with the america remark. It's just a fact of this country. America is many wonderful things to many here and around the world. I'm not bashing america at all. But there are things we do that could be changed. And I am one of those who buy from the local market whenever I can. I'm a firm believer in and practitioner of supporting small business over MegaMart. But when I see for instance, phals being thrown away....it irritates me no end. So I applaude those who take them home and nurture them. Others have differing opinions. That's cool. This was just mine.

[Rowangreen]

Throwaway orchids happen here too.

I think to many people here they are just an alternative to cut flowers. When you think of it that way they might actually be saving some energy if they last a month or two compared to new flowers every week. The waste involved in the cut flower business is horrendous.

I agree though that 'saving' them is pretty fruitless. If you see one you want, and it's fun, go for it. But generally there's thousands of clones of each, and probably hundreds of nearly identical clones, so you are not really saving something uniquely precious.

Perhaps a better alternative is to try and educate people about how to grow them? Think I'm going to have a think...

[quiltergal]

Rowan is right. Most of these plants are being marketed to the cut flower people. If it's virused they don't care because it gets tossed once it's done blooming. Many of the big box stores get reimbursed by the wholesaler for the plants that either died or didn't sell. That is why some of them will not mark down the plants for a quick sale or let you retrieve them from the dumpster.

I guess my point was that every time you buy one of these including the $3 rescues you add to the demand for these type of plants. If we stop supporting this cut flower industry and buy from reputable growers who actually care about the orchid world then I think we as orchid collectors will all be better off. Maybe we can stem the tide of disappearing small greenhouses. Our society had to cancel our show after 30+ years because nearly all of our vendors have closed their greenhouses. One of my vendor friends told me when they closed that "Orchids aren't special and exotic anymore, when you can go down to Walmart and buy one for $9.". It's really sad.

[SlipperGirl]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Rowan is right. Most of these plants are being marketed to the cut flower people. If it's virused they don't care because it gets tossed once it's done blooming. Many of the big box stores get reimbursed by the wholesaler for the plants that either died or didn't sell. That is why some of them will not mark down the plants for a quick sale or let you retrieve them from the dumpster.

I guess my point was that every time you buy one of these including the $3 rescues you add to the demand for these type of plants. If we stop supporting this cut flower industry and buy from reputable growers who actually care about the orchid world then I think we as orchid collectors will all be better off. Maybe we can stem the tide of disappearing small greenhouses. Our society had to cancel our show after 30+ years because nearly all of our vendors have closed their greenhouses. One of my vendor friends told me when they closed that "Orchids aren't special and exotic anymore, when you can go down to Walmart and buy one for $9.". It's really sad.

You have me convinced. I am going to start buying more orchids from people here in the US and not all those phals in a big box store. Its sad that all those orchids die but I would rather help somones business here in the US then somone over in China or wherever those orchids in the stores come from.

[Stray59]

Sorry to offend - I love America also, but I don't respect the "got 'em cheap - just throw then away" attitude that many distributors have. Stats show that Americans throw away more food (and other resources) than most small countries have available to them. It all comes down to the fact that we, as a country, have had plenty of resources for so long we don't appreciate the smaller things like a rescued plant. I have rescued plants for years, no NoIDs - all have tags, and I have yet to bring home a virus or disease of any sort - it all depends on the overall condition of the plant - and i have brought in some ROUGH looking plants, but none that have fungus or deformed/color streaked leaves.
When you have the money to afford to purchase from a small grower, then fine; but many of us can't afford to spend the cash right now, so why not take advantage of a free resource? Even if the plant if mass produced in a foreign country, some of us enjoy those and the plant itself is not to blame for our economic issues -
So I say - rescue what you can if you want - be aware you are buying a damaged plant and thus you have to be alert to any infection issues, but if you can get them cheap, they will give you invaluable experience in reviving neglected plants - that will come in handy someday and you can't just purchase that knowledge. And the reality is, orchid fever will strike regardless of your pocketbook! There have been times that I could not afford a $20.00 orchid, but a $2.00 orchid provides me with a new project to play with.
I purchase from anywhere if I like the plant - and if I get a disease, well no greenhouse, regardless of size, can guarantee that their plants are disease-free although they may replace it for you or comp your purchase money. I just look the plant over and if there are no insects, no obvious infections and I want to plant - well, I have no problem with a "cheap thrill" as I said.

Again - I love my country, but that doesn't mean I have to approve of all the resulting effects of mass consumerism that drives the American economy.
Just my two cents worth -
Steve

[james mickelso]

Another interesting part of this discussion that I think should be voiced is the fact that without the big box stores and mass marketing/mass production of orchids like phals and cyms there would be no market for the small grower/hybridizer to compete in and we would pay twice and sometimes 3 times what we pay for an orchid now. It wasn't until the late 70's and early 80's that the majority of people here started to buy orchids and these were from garden centers and supermarkets around the country. A cattleya corsage was an expensive investment in your girlfriends breast. Most were just carnations the cost was so high. So we can thank the geniuses in marketing for broadening the appeal of orchids. And we can blame the cost of doing business in america for the decline of small orchid growing operations. Power, water, labor, shipping, ect are the main reason for this decline. I agree that if you can buy american the better. Anytime you can buy something made here the more small operations can stay in business as long as they have a good business plan. But if you have room, take the phals and cyms home with you and once they get better, give them to someone you love.

[Cactuseed]

Originally Posted by Cactuseed

i love orchids but jeez they are plants. a reproducible commodity that we all enjoy. Some of them die.
no need to diss America

"letting them die the american way"
"America is horrible about such wastes"

I never said anybody didn't LOVE their country. We love the usa and home depot or we don't shop there or we do and bitch about the experience as we please. The big box boyz do help to introduce the public to orchids (that is good, no?) Orchids are pretty plants grown for profit just like corn get over it !

[escualida]

Don't get me started on CORN lol!

In the end this is how I see it, the plant that I'm rescuing isn't taking the place of another plant from a better seller, if I wanted a better plant I would get one, they're not mutually exclusive (for me at least). So it's not like by rescuing a plant I'm therefore not going to buy a different plant from a US seller, I just feel like I want to rescue it and then maybe give it to someone else when I run out of room for the other (better) plants.

As far as viruses go, I've had "reputable" US sellers sell me virused plants so you're taking a risk either way. Just have sanitary practices and if you're really concerned, test the ones you care about and keep the ones that aren't tested away from them.

[quiltergal]

Wow, everybody take a deep breath. No need for getting so testy. Seems like it's happening more and more on this board and I'm not sure why.

Stray I am not offended by your opinion. I understand that not everyone can plop down $20 for an orchid. I remember when I got my first Phal. I paid $50 for a NOID . Which I promptly killed within six months. Expensive lesson. I get the allure of buying something cheap in bad condition and having the satisfaction of bringing it back from the brink. I've done that with several plants I own though they were purchased from a small grower who could no longer afford to heat her greenhouse. I guess I am through with that phase of orchid growing. I can count on one hand the number of orchids I have purchased in the last year.

Adrianna, you are correct buying a rescue and buying a better quality orchid are not mutually exclusive........yet. There may come a day when you are bored with rescues and want to take your collection in a different direction, and you won't be able to because there won't be a source for those kinds of orchids anymore.