I see a lot of people asking for "free" advice here, and not getting the
hostile response I have received over this one. What did I say or do to get
this reaction?

It was a simple innocent little question, not spam, a flame, or a rant.
I had done a lot of internet research and book research before asking and
had not seen or read anything like it . I had a theory of what it may be,
based on when it showed up and what I had been doing. Confirmation that it
was what I thought it was , and not some other MAJOR disease would have been
nice. I don't care how many times I read about diseases, until I actually
see a picture (or a live plant) with a disease, it is difficult to relate
the words to practice. At least for me it is as I am more visual.

The question had nothing to do with what store it was bought at. That
particular plant is a healthy flowering DGMRA Winter Wonderland "White
Fairy" ( http://katkom01.home.comcast.net/wfairy.jpg ). It was bought at
the Dallas Home and Garden show from the Greater North Texas Orchid Society
(GNTOS), along with 4 others. The person who placed it at the booth for the
benefit of the GNTOS was a local Commercial orchid seller. Does that make me
more or less entitled to "free advice"? Would any of the group feel
differently if my previous posts of what I though were unusually patterned
or colored flowers had not mentioned where they were bought? I thought it
mind blowing that Wal Mart, Lowes, or home depot even carried Orchids , much
less one of the patterns I bought.

By the way, just to balance things out, I now have 27 orchids. Of those, 12
were bought at local garden shows from one of the two orchid clubs in our
area. Several of those had no name on them, and were not in any better (or
worse ) shape than the ones I bought at the box stores. At the one orchid
show I went to, I was not impressed with the ones I saw for sale. They were
ALL, plane jane vanilla orchids, nothing special to them. All of the unusual
ones I saw that I liked were the ones submitted for judging , which were not
for sale, even if I took a day off from work to drive the 30+ miles to that
particular orchid vendors shop.

Naive ? No. I know what to expect when I buy from the box stores. So far
all I have bought from box stores have been pretty healthy and are doing
good. That comes from doing research and carefully inspecting the plants
before making a decision. Box stores are also open at convenient hours. My
local orchid growers are not. Box stores are nearby. My local orchid
growers are not. Box stores allow me to visually see and inspect the item
before buying. Most of my local orchid growers are mail order and you cannot
touch and inspect the plant before buying it . As you said, caveat emptor,
and I am. I am not trying to imply the local / mail order growers are fly by
night, but I do not know them, and plants are one thing I really need to
know the supplier or be able to visually inspect before buying.

This group is not for vendors only. As with all USENET groups it is for
anyone who is interested in the group and wishes to exchange information
(chat or socialize if you will) about their interest. Some of the people
here may be vendors. Some of them are "professional" hobbyists. Some of
them are newbie's looking for more information. I doubt any of them come
here to be verbally attacked, especially me. I get enough of that from my
teenage daughter!

The little smiley at the end of the post, meant it was not a rant, flame or
put down. It was TONGUE IN CHEEK! Maybe I should have used :-J


"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..
You're naive if you think coming into a group of vendors bragging about a
bunch of [warty] orchids you bought for cheap at Walmart then wanting to
know why they aren't growing and wanting free advice isn't going to raise
some hackles. Get your head out.

So, caveat emptor, Bruce.

And you get what you pay for.

K Barrett

"Bruce Musgrove" wrote in message
...
I don't know... maybe a usenet newsgroup dedicated to that particular item
/ hobby, and full of professionals / amateurs / hobbyists willing to help
others (AKA newbies) learn ? :=)

Wasn't that intent of USENET? a virtual gathering place where users of
similar intersts could electronically share information.


"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...

snip Where else, besides the
seller, should you first take questions or problems about any product
you've purchased??? Kenni