Big box stores, Y U NO put scientific names on your plants??

[rosemadder]

This is really starting to infuriate me, largely because I simply cannot fathom WHY they do this.

"Excuse me, I can't seem to find a scientific name on the label of this plant. Do you have any information on what kind of palm it is?"

"Oh, that's just a regular palm tree."

"...A regular palm tree...?"

She hunkers down and peers at the label (which says simply, '10" palm' on it), then nods firmly. "Yep! Regular palm tree."

"...Ah. Okay then."

Just... WHY? Would it really be so hard to just put the scientific name in there somewhere in small type? The damn things have tags on them-- but tags that say utterly obtuse stuff on them like.... "Fern", or "Intergeneric Orchid". How do they expect anybody to keep these things alive if we can't look up care info?What would be so terrible about including the cultivar or hybrid name? Or even just the freaking genus?? I don't get it. I really don't. It hurts my brain.

[Vanda lover]

I agree with you. It is pretty stupid. The suppliers should be told to supply the names. It is important to know how to care for the plant.

[gnathaniel]

Originally Posted by rosemadder

How do they expect anybody to keep these things alive if we can't look up care info?

This. They don't actually care if it lives forever, in fact they'd prefer it didn't so you go back to buy another! If it dies quickly and you return/exchange it, then they've gotten you back in the store to hopefully make some impulse buys. While we get sentimental about these plants, to most big retailers they're just another way to make money.

Are there no local nurseries in your area?

[rosemadder]

I live in San Francisco, near downtown. Real estate being what it is around here, most local shops are very tiny. (and then there was that one shop where the owner was just an absolute dick...) Actual nurseries are much farther away, and I'm stuck taking the bus at the moment so they're hard to reach. Many of the plants I'm looking for are apparently rather obscure, so I keep searching everywhere for a place that carries them.

It seems there's one orchid nursery in town, but you need an appointment to get in. Haven't been down there yet.

in fact they'd prefer it didn't so you go back to buy another! If it dies quickly and you return/exchange it, then they've gotten you back in the store to hopefully make some impulse buys.

Jerks. Reminds me of a lot of big box places that sell aquarium stuff. They don't know a damn thing about the fish, which usually only live maybe 2-3 weeks when people take them home.

[rosemadder]

Dude! I'm at Lowe's, and look what I found!!

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367985027.952751.jpg

Look look! It has a tag! A tag that says "Dpts. I-Hsing Golden Peacock" on it, even! Some of the others actually had their parents listed on the tag as well. And look at those roots! This thing has 9 happy leaves on it. I almost took it home, and I'm kinda sorry I didn't. The company it's from is Gubler orchids, I'm going to check them out when I get home.


But then... 5' away on the very next shelf, there was some other hanging pot with a vine type thing in it which had a tag like THIS:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367987086.363268.jpg

Seriously. Can it GET any more vague than that?? Maybe they should just put a tag on all their products saying "Thingie", or "Stuff".

[Stray59]

I know this sounds hard to believe, but it costs too much money to identify each plant with the specific scientific names. This has been the topic of many posts about No ID orchids. When large chain stores purchase from suppliers they take bids on the contracts. And believe it or not, it may take just a fraction of a cent to ID each plant, but when you are selling thousands and thousands of plants, you print a generic label and stick it on all palms, another for all vines, another for all hanging baskets, etc. and you save money.
It is more cost effective to just stick a generic tag on a lot of plants than take the time to ID and correctly tag each different plant. Look at the "Identification" section to see how often people report getting a Phalaenopsis or Oncidium that is just generically ID'ed. And they usually purchased them from a large box or chain store.
This is the price you pay for purchasing inexpensive plants from a chain store and not a greenhouse or supplier that has professionally trained people working for them. There has been a lot of discussion and anger over this, but there is nothing you can do except accept that the bottom line is about profit for these stores.
Sorry for the "hard line", but it is what it is.
Steve

---------- Post added 05-08-2013 at 12:05 AM ---------- Previous post was 05-07-2013 at 11:59 PM ----------

Oh Yeah - and as far as the employees go, they are hired to work in the store - they do not have to have experience with plants, they are just doing what they are told. And for most of them, the tags are about as much as they know about the plant itself. Again, it about money, because these stores are not going to spend money to train the personnel to work with plants - they are told to water - they water. They are told to move the plants into the sun, they move the plants into the sun. Again, if you want good quality plants with correct ID's and knowledgeable staff, you have to find a store that focuses on plants, not on plants, electrical, plumbing, fencing - get the point?
And when a plant dies, the store does not pay for it - the supplier has to refund the store for the plant or it is sold on a commision basis and if it dies, the store is out nothing. So no, they could not care less.
Sorry -
Steve

[lepetitmartien]

Well, they can put a sticker with a QR code and detail in plain words it's 2 spikes, the pot size, and the prod reference… But not the name when there's one…

[rosemadder]

Originally Posted by Stray59

When large chain stores purchase from suppliers they take bids on the contracts. And believe it or not, it may take just a fraction of a cent to ID each plant, but when you are selling thousands and thousands of plants, you print a generic label and stick it on all palms, another for all vines, another for all hanging baskets, etc. and you save money.

Whoa. Really? Huh. I mean... the supplier had BETTER know what it is that they are growing and selling, so at some point the ID of the plants is definitely known and tracked, I would think? I'm curious when those tags come off (and why) and when the generic ones go on. Hm.

Originally Posted by Stray59

And when a plant dies, the store does not pay for it - the supplier has to refund the store for the plant or it is sold on a commision basis and if it dies, the store is out nothing. So no, they could not care less.

Okay, THAT is a little weird. I mean I guess it makes sense that there'd be something in place to protect the store in case the supplier screws up and sends diseased plants, but to have blanket immunity for killing them off any which way is... odd. I guess the suppliers just assume that the stores have enough interest in selling them that they'll at least try not to screw up ALL of them, but... still.

It's aggravating to visit places that sell fish, as well. Those are animals-- maybe stupid ones, but animals-- just thrown around to suffer and die, while uneducated employees push off totally unnecessary snake oils and placebo powders on clueless customers. Yeesh.


Oh oh oh-- guys, guys, you wanna know what ELSE happened to me at Lowe's today??

Okay, so I visited Flora Grubb nursery finally. They have lots of cool stuff. I got some plants.

Then I trucked on over to Lowe's to get some other stuff. I figured they wouldn't want me scampering around the store with alien merchandise, and it was a good-sized box, so I went to customer service to ask if they could set the box aside for me while I was in the store. They seemed happy to. So I go shopping. I get a couple more plants and a timer for my lights, blah blah, I buy them, I go back to customer service... and my plants are GONE.

...Oookay... So apparently somebody saw some plants and decided they must be returns. And went to put them back on the shelves-- at no point realizing that none of these were plants that Lowe's even SELLS in the first place. So they had to go scampering everywhere trying to find them again. I was sitting there for almost an HOUR.

They got most of them-- except for my velvet leaf philodendron. They kept looking and insisting it was gone. I finally just asked them where it might have gone, went to have a look-- two seconds, bam. There it is. Sheesh. I mean, they were apologetic and all, but... I really would have liked to get home before 10pm today.

[Discus]

I've often thought that non-specialist stores intentionally dumb down species names as they think that such information is off-putting to the majority of their clients. Even in fish shops, you'll see cardinal tetras rather than Paracheirodon axelrodi.

Most people want to buy "an orchid" and the label therefore most frequently says "orchid"... To the majority of big box shoppers, Phalaenopsis seems unpronounceable, let alone the more "obscure" genera, intergeneric hybrids and hybrid and variety names!

If you find labels with good detail on them, they're usually something the grower has left there rather than the store requesting.

If you've reached the level at which names matter, you'll be better off going to a specialist dealer. So if you have to, make an appointment.

A member in my local orchid society (in south africa) has spent thousands of dollars at the big orchid nursery in San Francisco. That man now has the most incredible masdevallias and miltonia/miltoniopsis. Make an appointment

[RosieC]

I think most customers of the big box stores don't care about the names (I didn't for most of my life) and so there is no point recording them when they are selling plants to the 'cut flower market' to those who will probably throw them away after flowering.

I must admit that the 'Houseplant' tag made me laugh... that really is the worst generic tag I've seen. They even bother to put text on it describing a generic house plant... why bother with that!

Rose, if you have no local stores that can supply what you are looking for can you order online? I don't have anywhere near me that sells named orchids, even the garden centres which specialise in plants don't have more than generic orchids, possibly with a genus but mostly not. I've visited a specialist orchid nursery twice in 6 years. I've also gone to Orchid Shows only about 5 times. The rest of the named orchids have been bought online. There are a lot of people here who can suggest good nurseries that sell online in the USA.