J
John Boy
Guest
Dear Brazilian orchid breeders!!!
I have been wanting to raise an issue with you, that’s been hovering around my mind for a while now. My intention is to raise your awareness of how orchid collectors around the world see, and judge what you do.
As a serious collector of Cattleyas and Laelia species I’ve been around the orchid-world for around about 25 years. Times are changing, and having some sort of a marketing, as well as sales history, I have a feeling that you (Breeders in Brazil as a Total) have completely lost touch, as well as all sense of realty as to what your peers or customers really want/need/ require, and ultimately would spend their money on.
For many years you have been producing seedling, seed propagated things as well as line-bred Taxa, of plants within your collections. I have to say it, since it’s only fair to point out the things you’re not doing, as we’d need them done as customers.
For one: I have been collecting selected cultivars of Laelia purpurata and Cattleya walkeriana ever since I’ve started. Selected cultivars back in the day were highly sought after plants, which were available, mostly affordable, and mericloned.
These days however you’ve stopped making mericlones alltogether, reasoning with the rest of the world, that a mericlone automatically becomes worthless. Would it surprise you, that this point of view is originating in Japan, and that by adhearing to it as a producer of plants, you’re loosing the rest of the entire worlds business over Japans requirement to stop mericloneing plants? If you want, I could name about 50 Equilab propagated Taxa throughout all Cattleyas, as well as Laelia, that people would buy for good money. Unfortunately they have gone out of production and are mostly unavailable. In a nutshell: The best plants available shouldn’t be the plants you just use for seed-propagation. You might have numbers or even cultivar names for these plants and think they should be a million dollars each. Well, as most of us have never heard of your cultivars, as long as you don’t have international awards to go with these plants: How on earth are we supposed to know what you’re talking about when you offer a Cattleya walkeriana ‘Donde el Gusto’ X walkeriana ‘More Crap’? Since your names don’t mean anything to me, and since most of the time you don’t even provide any photographic backup… You’ll simply not sell anything!!!! As long as you will continue not supplying what I, and other serious collectors demand, you will very simply not regain my custom, nor will you get any of my money, which would be available for spending on orchids. I’ll just take this money else-where, like Borneo or Thailand, and spend it on Paphiopedilums. I will go on focussing on trying to find old AND AWARDED merliclone plants, that I know have the qualities I want.
Second:
What happened to your pricing structures??? Reading your listings quite frequently, wondering how you manage to sell any plants at all…. I have to ask you:
How do you justify asking anything from 40-70$ for un-bloomed seedlings that will take about 3-5 years (sold as 2,5” plants) to reach flowering size, once they have reached Europe or the U.S.? It’s quite simply beyond me grasping, how you invent these prices. You don’t provide what we’d require, and the plant you’re willing to offer arrive with us rootless, tiny, un-flowered and have a substantial chance of dying during the first few weeks after they’ve left you facility. Besides: you don’t have to have heated glass houses, you have all the heat and light for free one could ever want, and all you really need to provide is water, fertiliser and a shad-cloth.
Reading you listings I mostly feel that you must believe that every one of your customers is a millionaire. I have news for you: People in Europe or the U.S. mostly work hard to make ends meet, and have to watch very carefully how much money they can spend on their hobbies like orchids. You on the other side have placed mark-ups on your seedlings over the last 10-15 years, which are so unbelievably ridiculous, that I’m having trouble finding words for it…
Just as a very random example:
Z 1176 C. amethystoglossa 'Lorena' C. amethystoglossa 'Jubarte'
2 1/2" Both plants have superior quality flowers. Similar to Z-1174.
28,00
Be honest! Who are Lorena & Jubarte? What does Z-1174 look like?
All This is bullshit!, it’s 28$ for god knows what, and it makes no sense to anyone!!!
Next:
Z 1165 C. eldorado magenta orlata pincelada 'Tapajó SELF
Excellent flower shape, big flowers with dark purple petals and sepals (also splashed) and very dark
magenta lip.
2 1/2" $45,00
Okay, I’ll do you a deal:
Take a decent picture of that flower, make it a mericlone, and if I like the picture I’ll give you 45$ for a 2 1/2" plant. Infact: I’d take 3 plants!
Not for a X self of a name, that doesn’t mean anything to me though….
Sorry guys, but you’re living as well as providing services besides the real world. I’ll not support you for as long as it takes you to produce and offer what I want, for money that does make sense not just for you….
Regards,
Martin
I have been wanting to raise an issue with you, that’s been hovering around my mind for a while now. My intention is to raise your awareness of how orchid collectors around the world see, and judge what you do.
As a serious collector of Cattleyas and Laelia species I’ve been around the orchid-world for around about 25 years. Times are changing, and having some sort of a marketing, as well as sales history, I have a feeling that you (Breeders in Brazil as a Total) have completely lost touch, as well as all sense of realty as to what your peers or customers really want/need/ require, and ultimately would spend their money on.
For many years you have been producing seedling, seed propagated things as well as line-bred Taxa, of plants within your collections. I have to say it, since it’s only fair to point out the things you’re not doing, as we’d need them done as customers.
For one: I have been collecting selected cultivars of Laelia purpurata and Cattleya walkeriana ever since I’ve started. Selected cultivars back in the day were highly sought after plants, which were available, mostly affordable, and mericloned.
These days however you’ve stopped making mericlones alltogether, reasoning with the rest of the world, that a mericlone automatically becomes worthless. Would it surprise you, that this point of view is originating in Japan, and that by adhearing to it as a producer of plants, you’re loosing the rest of the entire worlds business over Japans requirement to stop mericloneing plants? If you want, I could name about 50 Equilab propagated Taxa throughout all Cattleyas, as well as Laelia, that people would buy for good money. Unfortunately they have gone out of production and are mostly unavailable. In a nutshell: The best plants available shouldn’t be the plants you just use for seed-propagation. You might have numbers or even cultivar names for these plants and think they should be a million dollars each. Well, as most of us have never heard of your cultivars, as long as you don’t have international awards to go with these plants: How on earth are we supposed to know what you’re talking about when you offer a Cattleya walkeriana ‘Donde el Gusto’ X walkeriana ‘More Crap’? Since your names don’t mean anything to me, and since most of the time you don’t even provide any photographic backup… You’ll simply not sell anything!!!! As long as you will continue not supplying what I, and other serious collectors demand, you will very simply not regain my custom, nor will you get any of my money, which would be available for spending on orchids. I’ll just take this money else-where, like Borneo or Thailand, and spend it on Paphiopedilums. I will go on focussing on trying to find old AND AWARDED merliclone plants, that I know have the qualities I want.
Second:
What happened to your pricing structures??? Reading your listings quite frequently, wondering how you manage to sell any plants at all…. I have to ask you:
How do you justify asking anything from 40-70$ for un-bloomed seedlings that will take about 3-5 years (sold as 2,5” plants) to reach flowering size, once they have reached Europe or the U.S.? It’s quite simply beyond me grasping, how you invent these prices. You don’t provide what we’d require, and the plant you’re willing to offer arrive with us rootless, tiny, un-flowered and have a substantial chance of dying during the first few weeks after they’ve left you facility. Besides: you don’t have to have heated glass houses, you have all the heat and light for free one could ever want, and all you really need to provide is water, fertiliser and a shad-cloth.
Reading you listings I mostly feel that you must believe that every one of your customers is a millionaire. I have news for you: People in Europe or the U.S. mostly work hard to make ends meet, and have to watch very carefully how much money they can spend on their hobbies like orchids. You on the other side have placed mark-ups on your seedlings over the last 10-15 years, which are so unbelievably ridiculous, that I’m having trouble finding words for it…
Just as a very random example:
Z 1176 C. amethystoglossa 'Lorena' C. amethystoglossa 'Jubarte'
2 1/2" Both plants have superior quality flowers. Similar to Z-1174.
28,00
Be honest! Who are Lorena & Jubarte? What does Z-1174 look like?
All This is bullshit!, it’s 28$ for god knows what, and it makes no sense to anyone!!!
Next:
Z 1165 C. eldorado magenta orlata pincelada 'Tapajó SELF
Excellent flower shape, big flowers with dark purple petals and sepals (also splashed) and very dark
magenta lip.
2 1/2" $45,00
Okay, I’ll do you a deal:
Take a decent picture of that flower, make it a mericlone, and if I like the picture I’ll give you 45$ for a 2 1/2" plant. Infact: I’d take 3 plants!
Not for a X self of a name, that doesn’t mean anything to me though….
Sorry guys, but you’re living as well as providing services besides the real world. I’ll not support you for as long as it takes you to produce and offer what I want, for money that does make sense not just for you….
Regards,
Martin