Phal Value / Price

[Discus]

Originally Posted by DweamGoiL

I don't own a car. I know in other places this seems hard to believe, but here, I can get around everywhere I need to go without one. Maybe I can bribe a friend to take me and turn it into a day trip

I can believe that. Big cities with actually functional public transport make it quite easy to believe. I've also managed surprisingly impressive travel itineraries in Switzerland with nothing but feet, trains and buses (Protip: this really helps).

Bribing a friend is always an option. And you might induct another member into the Cult of the Orchid...

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by DweamGoiL

I don't own a car. I know in other places this seems hard to believe, but here, I can get around everywhere I need to go without one. Maybe I can bribe a friend to take me and turn it into a day trip

Originally Posted by Discus

I can believe that. Big cities with actually functional public transport make it quite easy to believe. I've also managed surprisingly impressive travel itineraries in Switzerland with nothing but feet, trains and buses.

Yep, that's me In Philadelphia. A 20 minute walk to the train station to work and a 10 minute bus ride to the Fedex to pick up my plants. And finally the last piece of the puzzle slipped into place this year when SEPOS moved their annual orchid show and sale from the unreachable-by-public-transit Longwood Gardens to the Academy of Natural Sciences, which is about a 25 minute walk from my place. Used to drive a few decades ago, but wasn't particularly good at it (attention deficit disorder and driving don't mix).

[FSUOrchids]

Most of the stores you mentioned are not places that would generally have orchids with ID tags. Ive seen some tagged orchids at Lowe's and Home Depot, but it varies.

Never buy orchids from floral shops, they charge way too much for plants that are generally sold for $10-15 at farmers markets.

[Skayc1]

It doesn't matter to me if it has an ID or not, I like saving an orchid that would have been thrown away, and that to me has value, It's not a Price Value, but a deeper Value.

[pipsxlch]

I know some are against it, but the bag babies at Home Depot and Lowes are tagged; I've not had one I've purchased mistagged so far. Keep in mind the picture on the hangtag probably isn't of what's in the bag though. The larger size is fairly often large enough to bloom on its next cycle; I've even seen them blooming in the bag. My Lowes also sometimes gets tagged bloomers (there may be tagged ones mixed in with the noIDs), though it's been several months sadly. HD hasn't gotten anything but noID phals for probably a year. Too bad, years ago they would get some GREAT stuff, all tagged.
All the groceries near me, including Walmart and Aldis, get noID phals. Sometimes they look pretty good. Of course, you can find noID phals on the side of the road for $5-$10 here.
One of my jobs is delivering for a florist. They buy their orchids from HD/Lowes/Walmart/fleamarket vendors, so all their extra price is markup, not value. The also trim leaves/whack off roots/spray with shiny stuff not good.*shock*
There are good online vendors- I'd go to the feedback forum and read reviews. I've had pretty good luck with eBay also, but that is a crapshoot.