Al wrote:
Orchid name registration with the RHS is voluntary. There is really nothing
but pressure from orchid collectors to stop a proliferation of unregistered
names. There are a lot of them out there, mericlones of very nice plants
from exotic locations whose parentage can not be traced.

When my few plants have been awarded by the AOS, I got a receipt in the mail
from the judging location with all the specs and a bill for $40.00. If I
chose not to pay the bill, I still have the carbon of the award spec to
prove my orchid was deemed awardable, using my provisional name. Even if I
never pay to register the hybrid or pay the award registration fee I can
still call my plant what I want and say it was deemed awardable by AOS
judges and I chose not to pay for the privilege of making it "official". I
have my carbon as proof even if the AOS and RHS react negatively. Yes,
Civilization as we know it is ending because of this problem. If the world
only knew the true reason why. Of course I do pay whatever they ask because
I like the feel of parchment and the nifty little kodachrome slide I
get....and because I want to be liked and recognized by important members of
the orchid growing community. I really really do, but then I am weird that
way.



Of course if you don't pay for your awards, you get 'black-listed' and
cannot receive any more awards. Eventually the judging center figures
out who you are... *grin* So there is some incentive to play by the rules.

It is my experience that a lot of the plants from exotic locales are
lucky to have any cross information at all. The growers make zillions
of crosses. They don't register them all (that costs money). I'd wager
that most of these growers would be happy for you to pay the
registration fee.




--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit