The short answer is "No." The "big orchid business" end of the field has,
as many previous posters have noted, already been taken over by foreign
interests supported by ridiculously cheap labor costs as well as government
subsidies. If that hasn't yet gotten to your neck of the woods, don't
worry, it will be there soon. I wish I could get someone to pot for me for
80 baht/day ... Heck, I can't get good help for $80/day.

The "small orchid business" gets no benefit from economies of scale -- you
get no volume discounts on the plants and supplies that you buy, shipping
costs a lot more when broken down to a per-plant basis, etc., etc. And
then, as Bill mentioned, you end up competing (if you do shows and outside
sales events) with folks who aren't really trying to make a living at it,
but rather just to support their hobby, or make a little "pin money" to
supplement their other incomes. Or, you have a walk-in retail location,
with expensive rent, insurance, marketing, etc.

Orchid society talks can be good or bad, but unless you want to be on the
road all the time -- in which case you can't be home growing your plants --
they are unlikely to be a major factor towards earning a living. You aren't
likely to speak at the same OS more than once every 2-3 years; how many of
them are in your immediate neighborhood???

At the last orchid show I did, there were 11 orchid vendors. I know for
sure that 9 of the 11 have another source of income and couldn't survive
without it. For 8 of the 9, it's retirement income; for me, it's an
unrelated job that I've downsized but been unable to totally quit. Of the
other 2, one is a second generation business in which several family members
work (and some of them are old enough to be collecting retirement income).
They do 40 shows a year to try to make ends meet, and have a wholesale
operation. They also grow and sell plants other than orchids, and tell me
they are expanding those other product lines, but not their orchid
operations, because the orchids become less and less profitable every year.

The talk about interest in species orchids has proven, for us, to be mostly
just that -- talk, not $$. Fifty to 100 of any given species will pretty
much saturate our local market, even if I manage to get one that none of my
local competitors has.

Internet sales aren't what they used to be, either. When I was first listed
on the Orchid Mall, I think I was the 12th listing, and did a fair amount of
business that way. Now it appears there are 1200 just in Florida! Lots of
those new listings are those same "backyard growers" mentioned above, just
supporting their hobby and therefore not including any overhead expenses in
their prices. Shipping costs have gone up, plus the news media continues to
scare people to death about Internet scams, which makes customers more
reluctant to buy.

In this area, it's actually more profitable to provide orchid-related
services than to grow and sell orchids. I do know some people making a
modest living boarding orchids, repotting, and providing home care for other
people's orchids. Kenni


"Keith Kent" wrote in message
...
I know there are some growers/sellers here ,those of you that have turned
your hobby into a bussinnes i have a personel Q! Do you make enough
money(profit after running costs) from selling orchids for it to be the
only income? I know this is a broad Q as it depends what income the
individual requires to live to the standard they are happy with. I am
asking this Q as i am hopefully embarking into the selling side,initially
hopefully to cover the heating costs.But my dream would be to be able to
pack my job in and have a fully up and running orchid nursury that is my
nursury/full time job.
I would need £20,000 min wages after tax etc a year to be able to fully
live from it.
But i have no idea what orchid nursuries turn over as obviously this sort
of info isnt normally disclosed.I suspect things are quite tight
financially,but if this is true how are bussineses able to keep running?I
am basing this on the UK ,were i live i feel there is a market here as
there isnt a lot of growers in the UK so choice is very limited .I know
that in other countries like USA choice isnt a problem?
Thanks for any input
Cheers Keith