thinking of the future...
 

hey hive mind,

so, just throwing this out there...would it be feasible to do a catasetum next year, and maybe put together a group order from svo?

i would volunteer myself to handle the european import and distribution.

obviously, i have a bias and i want some fred stuff. maybe we could talk with him/them and get something special for an orchid board thing??

just a thought....(but please...pretty please!!!????)

I would suggest looking into the process of importing them legally. Get a firm idea of how much that will cost above the cost of plants and shipping. I'm going to guess, as in the USA, it would be least expensive to have them flown to an airport where the inspectors are, and where you can pick them up at that airport yourself.

The person you are looking for is Sam Tsui: International Ordering

Sam comes to Europe a couple times a year, imports his and SVO plants, then dispatches them.

Due to the cancellation of the Dresden orchids show and the terrorism activities of Russia, his visits were postponed.
Better ask him directly!

oh mr. f, an enabler if ive ever seen one.

before id throw down on it, it would be good to have some semi-firm commitment on some plants from other Europe folks. but yeah, id go to an airport or meet this sam to get a large order

For something extra special from Fred, we should see if he can part with any of the Australian terrestrial species he started working with.

:waving I'd be in for a catasetum project for 2023!

anybody else from this side of the pond??!!

also, i would contact svo/fred myself, but i am pretty sure that some of you know him and have a direct contact.

are australian terrestrialss in the catasetinae family? or are they like the aussie dendrobiums? if its cats we would be in, if dendro type, then count us out!! hahaha

The Australian terrestrials are completely different. They grow from tubers. Same growth pattern as the European terrestrials. They are a lot easier to get in Europe - source is myorchids.de . (They're grown in the northern hemisphere, so they don't have to have seasons adjusted). In the US, it's necessary to have an import permit and do all the paperwork for import. (Tarzane Group imported a few this year, but they were gone within an hour or so of being released... maybe next year they'll import more)
Fred Clarke has been growing them for only about 2-3 years and probably doesn't yet have enough to sell. (I know, because I ordered through the same friend, who handled all the import paperwork, that he did, at the same time). For a project if you want to do terrestrials, I'd recommend European Mediterranean terrestrials instead, easier to get on this side of the pond though still not easy. There's an eBay seller in Greece who sells these, but doesn't "bother" with the paperwork, would not want to have a project that asks people to purchase tubers of questionable legality... Tarzane Group sells a fair number of those, more than the Aussie ones at least this year.

I think it's better to have a project where sourcing the plants is not such an issue on one side of the pond or the other.

I already grow quite few Catasetinae so wouldn't be getting plant for the project, but it's a great group of orchids and I think that anybody should be able to meet their cultural needs without a big investment or special conditions. And they seem to be available in most places.

And I just want an excuse to buy another one! :blushing::rofl:

same with us...an excuse to import some more cats to europe. its pretty slim pickins. and i totally get what you are saying roberta, but that bit of difficulty is what could make a really fun project!