Treasures found at Lowes

[cbuchman]

Inexpensive orchids are a great way to learn and experiment with growing conditions without guilt when one goes to orchid heaven.

[terryros]

It is the way the world business model works. It is nice to have people introduced to orchids at a low cost that come predominantly from non-US sources. However, every year we continue to lose more US breeder/growers and the same trend is happening in Europe. There are some negative consequences to this. Slipper orchids (Paphs, Phrags) and a number of other less frequently grown orchids have so far escaped this trend. I think that those of us who can do it financially should really try and support the commercial growers that are near to us.


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[The Orchid Boy]

I always try to support my local orchid vendor (Plant House) before looking somewhere else. I also hate to see the orchid vendors close down. Sometimes I just can't resist saving an orchid from Lowes.

[ALToronto]

All the orchids I've seen in Toronto-area stores are grown locally. Shoppers tend to avoid imported plants, and then there is the shipping hassle. So due to high heating costs for 5 months of the year, and high minimum wages for employees, I'm amazed that the prices are as reasonable as they are. A NOID phal in bloom retails for $10 at Wal-Mart and discount grocery stores, about $13-18 at HD and Lowes, depending on the decorative pot it's placed in. At Whole Foods, it's $20 and up, but the plants are clearly of better quality.

What I don't see is variety. It is impossible to find a den or a cattleya in a big box or grocery store.

Rescue plants are also difficult to find. HD and Walmart actually send back the plants that don't sell by the time the blooms drop. They're big enough to dictate to their vendors that shelf space in the stores comes with a money back guarantee. Whole Foods would rather throw away a plant out of bloom than create a market for rescue orchids.

So that leaves grocery stores, where I have picked up rescue plants once, but I had to find a store clerk and offer to take the dessicated mini phals off his hands. Otherwise, they would have thrown them out.

On the other hand, this shortage of quality orchids forces us to support local growers who are serious about producing quality plants that do well in our challenging climate. I will not welcome a flood of cheap Asian orchids.

[orchidbuds]

I found lot of clearance orchids at Lowes. During summer, they put the plants in clearance racks out in the full sun but still they are priced like $10. Thats too much to pay for an orchid that is almost dead. I tired asking the manager to price them down but they kept telling me its already marked down. So I ve seen lot of orchids die on the racks just because they can't mark them down more. Its rally sad. But this winter (around February), I went to Lowes to buy some stuff and happen to stop by the garden store and found a rack full of orchids all priced at $5 or less! These are the ones that they typically sell of like $30. They were all tagged and in good condition except for the flowers which looked out of shape. The birds in the green house apparently eat the flower petals and when that happens, they put them on clearance!! Thats the first time Ive seen they put orchids on clearance for that low prices (at leat in my area). The person who were handling them that time was a nice old guy who explained to me how to take care of them etc. He even marked down a regular priced orchid I was admiring. Ofcourse its flowers were bitten off by birds so it would have probably end up in the clearance rack some time later anyways.

But when I went last week they had some out again on the clearance racks but this time they were marked at $10. I told the manager that I brought clearance orchids for $4 on February and her reply was she's never seen things mark down for that low prices! I didnt argue with her (I am not good at that sort of stuff).

So I don't know if the clearance prices depends on the season or the person who are marking them down. Anyways, I'll keep looking for clearance orchids at Lowes since I am student and I dont have a lot to spend on orchids though they help me a lot to de-stress.

I only brought my first orchid from a nursery. Payed $20 for it and I almost killed it a month or two later when I repotted it! As a beginner, that sorts of puts you off. But then I found clearance orchids at Walmart and Lowes. A year later, they are all healthy and blooming right now. I am so happy knowing I managed to at least save those plants and I am glad I didnt give up on growing orchids. I managed to get my first orchid back to health and it is doing well. No spikes yet but I am just happy its not dead : )

[Stray59]

Orchidbuds;
Our Lowes (Indianapolis, Indiana) often marks their "past-their-prime" orchids down to $5.00 and I have seen them marked at $3.50. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to it, and I think it does depend on which manager is on duty at the time of mark-down. What gets me is, since it was just Easter, they had gotten tons of phalaenopsis in; one display of mini-phalaes was RIGHT in front of the front doors, getting blown around every time the door opens. With temps around 30-40 degree (F), this is the WORST place to put flowering orchids!
There is something that you mentioned that concerns me somewhat - that about the birds eating the petals. I have never seen or heard of birds having anything to do with orchid flowers, but you may have bird species we don't have. I would really check the plants over to make sure you are not looking at slug or snail damage, instead of birds. Of course, here you usually see the plants just need a good watering or that other customers have broken the flower spike - OR, they put them in direct drafts of cold air. Anyway, I have snagged several of these neglected NOids as they are good to experiment with. Regardless of name status, they also give you invaluable experience at a very reasonable price; if you can revive one and get it to bloom, you have learned something that not all orchid collectors can do!
Enjoy your inexpensive orchids and value them like they cost a fortune - the joy they give is not based on their price or their name, but in what you get out of them.
Best of luck-
Steve

[The Orchid Boy]

For me $5 is way to much to pay for an orchid from Lowes or someplace, especially a noid. My rule is $4 or less for tagged orchids and even less $$ for noids, that's so I don't buy too many. $50 at the Plant House, not a problem. Maybe it's because I know that orchids from my local vendor are very good quality and who knows how the Lowes orchids have been treated.

[vjo]

Here in SW Missouri there is not even one orchid grower within 200 miles. If I want to buy an orchid on the spur of the moment I go to Lowes or the local grocery store. I have NO orchid grower that I am 'putting out of business'! ...Jean

[orchidbuds]

Atleast the Lowes in my area keeps their orchids in a heated green house during the winter. Its only in the summer they put the clearance once outside in scorching heat. : (.
I was skeptical about birds eating the flower petals too. So when I took them home, I checked to make sure there were no slugs or bugs on the plants before re-potting them. But then my friend told me she has seen these tiny birds who lives in the Lowes greenhouse pecking at the flowers too. Since the plants I brought looks healthy and have new perfect blooms right now, I think the birds must have eaten the petals!
I can't tell you how happy I feel when I see these once neglected plants rebloom. I might try to branch out more later, but for now, I am happy with my < 5$, unbranded, commercially grown, rescued phals. : )

I don't know any local orchid growers in my area. The one I brought from the local nursery had a brand name tag. Trader Joes is another place where I ve seen orchids for sale in my area. They have more variety than Lowes and at lower prices (< $15). I really have a hard time keeping myself from not buying those beautiful oncidiums and dendrobiums. I keep telling myself, its too expensive and you might kill it! Maybe later..when I have more space and experience : )

[The Orchid Boy]

Here's the Dend. lindleyi that I rescued and then mounted. It is doing really well and putting out lots of roots now.