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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@t eranews... [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 ups.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. |
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