What's The Most You Ever Spent For A Single Orchid?

[jeremyinsf]

I have a couple I paid $150 for, then a few that I paid $100 for, then a group in the $60 range, etc.

To get me to spend a lot, $150 or more on a plant, I basically have to feel in my mind I will never see another like it.

I agree this all gets more expensive as I go along, in terms of taste etc. I saw two plants I liked a couple months ago - one was for $350, and another was for $1000. I passed on them both.

I don't track everything forever, but I do have a spreadsheet of everything I've bought, at my average price is $24.26.

[quiltergal]

The most I have paid was $60 for a Paph. seedling. I have considered spending up to $100 on an extraordinary example of Phal. bellina. Ultimately I did not buy it and it's probably just as well.

[euplusia]

100 Euro/USD 130 for a blue C. maxima and 100 Euro for a blue C. labiata (still struggling). 50 Euro for a small seedling of Chysis violacea.
Normally 40-50 Euro is the sonic barrier that I do not want to break.

[Fairorchids]

I am into Paphs, which can't be propagated via meristem method, so that leads to entirely different prices. Also, I buy plants for breeding purposes, that makes it worse.

There are some on my wish list, which list at $2500 or more for a single growth, but I have not gone that mad yet. The most I have paid was 3.1/2 days of work for one plant (white complex).

In direct cash, up to $250.00 for a multigrowth Winston Churchill.

In my other obsession, small Vandaceous, I have paid $100 for a rooted keiki (1st and only one so far) of a white Darwinara Walnut Valley), which the owner does not want to meristem. This grex is normally various shades of metallic blue to purple.

[jeremyinsf]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

There are some on my wish list, which list at $2500 or more for a single growth, but I have not gone that mad yet.

Can I ask what's on the list in this range for Paphs?

[AvantGardner]

Wow I thought I was going to be a low-baller here. I spent $100 on my Fdk clone and $110 on another nice catasetum. I am saving up now for a package deal of four NBS paph rothschildianums. That will also set me back +/- $100 a plant depending on the package.

I saw an album brachy go for $50,000 on eBay once... Can't remember which species it was. Bellatulum I think? Tokyo Orchid Nursery sells divisions of their awarded roths in the $17,000 - $20,000 range. I once offered Marilyn LeDoux $5,000 for her variegated paph. stonei, jokingly, to which she said no way. Not for sale.

[Fairorchids]

Some of the top flight complex Paphs go in that range (or more, I know of plants selling for $5-10K).

Also, plants with known good breeding qualities, such as Paph Skip Bartlett 'White Pepper'. The only place I have seen it listed, it is $1500 for a single growth.

The same nursery offers Paph Via Pekeruru 'Green Moon' for $2000, and Paph Mem Jack Tonkin 'Marriott Spotted Galaxy' AM/AOS for $3000.

Of course, if a clone grows well, after some years divisions start to become a little more 'reasonable'.

[jeremyinsf]

Yes, I've seen those kind of plants at the Orchid Zone. Fortunately for me, I'm not all that into complex paphs. I have a few, but don't really seek them out.

[Connie Star]

Personally $60 for a beautiful phragmipedium with 6 flowering spikes that did not do very well for me and I eventually sold it to someone else for $25, so I guess my net was $35. I did keep it alive, but it did not flower well for me. I finally sold or gave away all of my phrags and concentrated more on paphs. You have to have the right conditions for phrags, or any orchid for that matter.

[MustangSavvy]

60 on a Paph. Henrietta Fujiwara.