How to Dispose of a Large Number of Orchids
 

My grandmother has a lot of 'chids, approximately 150. She is very ill, and so, the family has begun to consider what to do with the plants upon her death. Obviously, some of them will go to family members, including myself. However, since most of the family lives far from CA, where the orchids are located, only a few will probably be handed out to the family. For example, I'll only consider those with tags, and probably only a few of those.

Many of these plants are NOIDS. The ones I have seen are heathy and are boarded with a professional when not in bloom.

My idea was to dontate them to the San Diego orchid society. Does anyone have other ideas? We don't much care about getting money for them, just getting them good homes, and no one has a lot of time to dedicate to this process.

Notably, my grandmother is ill, but still very much alive, so no offers to take them off my hands! This is just planning for the future. If we tried to take them from her now, she'd probably leap out of bed and tear us apart with her bare hands.

When my Dad went into an assited living situation, my sister who lives nearby, took control of his orchids (many of which had not been repotted, like ever.) So I would look locally for help, if possible. Maybe there is a family member with at least a bit of plant knowledge and concern?

My aunt knows a little about how to care for them, but she has no interest in taking more than a few. My mother lives in KY, and has only a small interest. I live in VA, and I am very interested in orchids, but not in a horde of NOIDS I have to ship from CA, many of which are exactly the colors and types that don't interest me. I have a cousin there, but I'm pretty sure he is not interested. For family, that's about it. So, they are going to have to go outside the family . . . the issue is where.

local orchid societies perhaps?

That was my thought, but would they be likely to take them?

Give them to a local High School with a FFA or Hort class they can learn with them a lasting gift

Or just be patient. You don't have to get this figured out right now. If the day comes when it's necessary to find new homes for them, you can almost certainly get results in less than a week by (A) calling the local orchid society and/or (B) posting to Craigslist.org. You'll get tons of emails from interested people that way.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. I guess figuring out what to do with the orchids is easier to do now, than to wait, and then you will have too many other things on your mind. I'm sure the local orchid societies would take at least a few. You could also try offering them on the OB classifieds, if you don't mind packing plants for shipping. I'm sure people would be interested.

I second this notion. As mentioned in this months Orchid Magazine and Blondies post, there is a lack of younger people in the hobby. What a great way to get them interested. I think the fact so many are NOID is a plus because students will learn more from trying to identify them.

:scratchhead:

Recently a member of our local Orchid Society passed away and he donated his collection to the club. We in turned auctioned them off with a larger portion of that money going to AOS in his memory. A lesser amount went to our library for the education of all interested in orchids. This was two fold. Members of the local club had the opportunity to obtain orchids they might not have or wanted and a gift toward education of orchids which your grandmother obviously loved. My condolences to you and your family.