Some US ebay sellers: Anyone have any experience?

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by Jmoney

Tim Culbertson (twculbertson on ebay) sells a variety of nice things, ranging from paphs, catts, catasetinae, cymbidiums, etc. Many plants are divisions he is selling for friends, although I think the paphs are mostly his own. Lately he has put up a number of select catasetinae from SVO, mostly select first/second bloomers, and a few of Fred's mature plants that need new homes.

I can second this. I've bought a number of plants from twculbertson (4331steven and fmorchids also fall into this category of eBay sellers) and have never been let down. He also works with you to find plants that you want that aren't listed if you message him on eBay.

With regards to the select SVO plants though, it seems Tim lives in the vicinity of SVO and it's easy for him to do this, but I was recently turned on the idea that anyone can do this by scheduling a tour of Fred's greenhouse at blooming time before the the sale season. You could buy next year's plants ahead of time when they're blooming and pick the phenotypes you want. I suppose this is only feasible for those of us that live in Socal or are planning a vacation.

I'm starting to wonder even whether the best plants are picked before a sale. For example, I went there a couple weeks ago and bought a bunch of treated C. Portia and B. perrinii, I picked in my opinion the most substantive and vigorous ones there, besides the ones that Fred and Ruben already marked. I have no doubt I'm not the only one that would have done this.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by katsucats

I'm starting to wonder even whether the best plants are picked before a sale. For example, I went there a couple weeks ago and bought a bunch of treated C. Portia and B. perrinii, I picked in my opinion the most substantive and vigorous ones there, besides the ones that Fred and Ruben already marked. I have no doubt I'm not the only one that would have done this.

Of course those going for "pick of the litter" need to get in early for shows, open houses, sales, etc. in person. I have been running shows for some 25 years... it doesn't matter whether the first day of the show is a Thursday, a Friday, or a Saturday... in open, accessible venues there are always people "shopping" on set-up day the day before (There is no way to stop vendors from selling early if they're so inclined, and at any rate, it's their choice, if they don't want to sell early they can say "No, I'm busy, please come back tomorrow"... some do and some don't.) And the first day of the show at opening time, no matter what day of the week, in any venue, tends to be crazy-busy. Early bird gets the worm - or maybe the choicest orchid for those not interested in worms. Shopping as competitive sport...

[Jmoney]

Tim I believe grows at SVO and also sells some plants for Fred (and for others too). The select bloomers that Fred doesn't want to keep (I am told he typically keeps a couple from each cross, occasionally more), and some divisions also.

I am running out of room thanks in large part to Tim.