Wow, some of you must be doing some things right. As a "small niche
vendor" and producer of Everything Orchid Management System since just
prior to 1998, we sell our program and flasks just to buy a few more
orchids. And, to all of you out there, I guess I want to wish you a
Happy Holiday Season.

.. . . Pam
Everything Orchid Management System
http://home.earthlink.net/~profpam/page3.html
Some flasks too. http://home.earthlink.net/~profpam/page3.html And,
yes, we moved due to the loss of our ISP.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


K Barrett wrote:

There was a time when I would have said 'Abandon all hope oh ye who enter
into the notion that you can make money selling orchids as a small vendor.'
Then the business changed and now I see the only hope for orchids as the
small, niche vendor. Maybe Pat, Al, Ray and Kenni can jump in here - since
I'm not a vendor - and correct me if I'm wrong.

In the 90s large commercial vendors found a way to sell orchids dirt cheap
to large stores and orchids became expendable plants. The use of name
labels - other than just 'phalaenopsis' or 'dendrobium' - is a liability to
them. Too much time/$ is consumed and too many workers needed to create and
keep the labels correct. Then there are those commercial businesses that
just use part of a name and call that identification 'good enough', giving
rise to Cambria orchids, Kaleidoscope phals and Emma White dendrobiums. I
don't think I'm alone in tsking over the boring plants for sale at most
stores. The same old phals: white, pink, spots. The same old dendobiums
(deep purple, stripes, blushed colors), the same old oncidiums: smells like
chocolate, tons of yellow flowers, small pink sprays etc. You can't compete
with these guys.

Small & Mid sized vendors do the same thing. They go to the large
wholesaler, find out what they can buy in bloom for a buck then turn it
around at the show and sell them for 15-20 dollars. Again, they are all
selling the same plants except these have proper tags on them. They have to
sell this common stock in order to make a living so they can buy/make the
orchids that They like.

This leaves me wondering what is going to happen.

I think it will become like Victorian times. Orchids are a side job. A
hobby. You make your money elsewhere. People who 'know' orchids will trade
or sell their divisions to other like minded hobbyists, probably at a
premium. People who 'know' orchids will continue to make crosses that
interested them and grow up select few of the crosses because bench space is
limited and expensive. Hobbyists will flask their orchids and make them
available to other hobbyists in their area. (or via folks like Troy Meyers)
.

Where does this leave you? I think it leaves you to buy the same old boring
plants at a wholesaler, take them to a show and hope like hell that you
chose to sell a bunch of plants different from whatever the other vendors
brought. Anything left over you dump because it costs too much money to
house the remainders. You keep your benchspace to grow up the few crosses
that interest you. You intersperse these amongst your commercial wares and
see if anyone buys them. You give a few talks at local societies explaining
why real orchids are different from orchids bought at DIY box stores and
hope to develope a clientell. You also have a good internet presence. This
means you become a slave to your email because the internet marketplace has
ADD. Customers expect immediate attention or else you're no good.

Ok I've spent enough time on this missive,

Good luck.

K Barrett

"keith ;-)" wrote in message
news:1103410296.fc8cc05de3d84625f8e72d3acc6a3f16@ teranews...
[snip]Collecting them alone isn't enough for me I would love to one


day sell them as a business everyday,any of you guys out there that do got
any advise or do you make enough money for it to be the only income?

--
Thanks Keith,England,UK.
"Dave S" wrote in message
roups.com...


For me, new plants will get a little more attention than those that
have been around for years. For example, I recently picked up several
Sarcochilus species that were bare-root and a little stressed. They get
a once over several times per week as I look for new roots and leaves.

Some of my older plants may only get looked at every couple weeks. This
time of year I look closely at my Phals at least weekly, checking for
new spikes. I think once the collection grew to over 100 plants, the
daily fussing over each plant stopped.

Dave

PS- In 'who we are' I said I have about 300 plants....I didn't count
each plant in a compot as an individual. If I did, I guess I would have
over 400 plants total.