orchid world evolution

[dbarron]

I'm outside your ring being in my 50s, but I always buy online, because I have no local outlets other than big box stores.
I've never had a bad experience buying online, but I'm very particular with whom I do business and I always read the company's reviews on Garden Watchdog and other sites.

[SouthPark]

The bulk of the orchids I currently have were ordered online. The local orchid nurseries are nice.... but they don't have cattleyas and catasetum I'm looking for. Not their fault at all though. They do sell good selling crosses -- as they tend to sell better - eg. strong colours....showy etc.

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by Paul

There is also the need for future would-be orchid nursery owners who reside in the "Great White North" to consider turning away from the old greenhouse paradigm.

There is a gentleman I know who used to have a standard greenhouse in which he grew some orchids as well as other plants -- both for his own personal enjoyment and for sale. When he moved to a different city, he knew it wouldn't be worthwhile to take the old greenhouse with him. The new property, in addition to the house, had another building on it -- a pole barn if I am recalling correctly. He decided to use this as his new growing area. It has turned out to be an incredibly good choice for him being far, far cheaper for him to maintain. Because he had the foresight to "insulate the daylights" out of the thing, his heating/cooling costs are extremely low. He doesn't have to worry about the hassle or expense of shade cloth. Humidity is easily maintained. He doesn't have to worry about sheets of glass or plastic cracking/breaking or cleaning algae off said panes. His only real expense is lighting ... and LED lighting goes a long way to keeping that part of the energy bill from getting out of control. (And considering how little sun we get in a typical Michigan winter, lighting is a common expense even for standard greenhouses.)

I know who this is. He came and gave a talk at our OS.

---------- Post added at 05:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:58 PM ----------

I mostly buy online but I do attend the 'local' places when they have open houses (about two hours away). I also try to buy orchids at our Orchid Society's show but, some years, I am so busy, I never really get to look over the orchids.

I feel pretty good about buying from Ecuagenera, Andy's Orchids, Hausermann's, and Al's Orchid Greenhouse, Gold Country Orchids. Exotic Orchids of Maui, Kawamoto Orchids, and Carmela Orchids in Hawaii have treated me very well. These are all good places. My favorite vendor went out of business...Oak Hill Gardens Orchids (in Illinois). I still miss that place!