Hoosier Orchid Co

[NYEric]

Maybe he should go to Taiwan.

 

[Rick]

Maybe he should go to Taiwan.

There is a big article in this months Orchid magazine on the Taiwan industry.

I have heard of at least one other large breeder in the US that has moved part of his opperations to SE Asia.

 

[NYEric]

A fact is, that if I lived in Taiwan I'd have jackii's, helenae's, etc. in my collection!

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Hmmmmm.........not long ago, when orchids were beginning to become really commonplace in Home Depot, and even supermarkets all over, people were saying that this would revitalize interest in orchid growing. Well, they have been in these stores for a few years now....anybody and everybody can grow orchids, and frequently do, but I think their commonality has had the opposite effect: orchids are seen as common, nice looking plants that can even be considered (and are) throwaways. The exact opposite has happened, more people can grow orchids, but less people are interested. Take care, Eric

 

[Ross]

It's this kind of uncertainty in the market, combined with high heating prices and job concerns that have further delayed my building a greenhouse. That decision appears to be a wise one at the moment.

 

[Rick]

Hmmmmm.........not long ago, when orchids were beginning to become really commonplace in Home Depot, and even supermarkets all over, people were saying that this would revitalize interest in orchid growing. Well, they have been in these stores for a few years now....anybody and everybody can grow orchids, and frequently do, but I think their commonality has had the opposite effect: orchids are seen as common, nice looking plants that can even be considered (and are) throwaways. The exact opposite has happened, more people can grow orchids, but less people are interested. Take care, Eric

This is true in the US, but you gotta check out the O article on Taiwan. The whole country has orchid fever, and the government is subsidizing the infection!!!

 

[Renegayde]

I see that they have posted the auctions list on the website....actually I got a e-mail saying they were posted.....geez looks pretty confusing to me......all grouped together and priced pretty high.....then at the end groups grouped together selling at the same time as the individual groups....wonder how they are going to keep that straight.....sort of looks like they intend to sell only to resellers the way they list them....I think they had said after this auction then they will offer anything leftover that did not sell as individual sales

http://www.hoosierorchid.com/pdf.htm

Todd

 

[goldenrose]

OMG - what a job to just inventory all those plants & then put a price on them! (especially with the economy as it is). I feel for them BUT.......
I agree with Todd - prices too high & confusing from the standpoint of the different lots & collections having overlapping times.
It's a bit misleading when they say "that comes out to $5 per plant." It's not such a deal when 47 of those plants are small seedlings!
Something else came as a surprise to me, I appreciate their honesty but why would you sell plants that are rated under 'condition' as insect infested, fungus , virused ??? If it's minor, then treat it, if it's not - dump it!
Hope we can find out how the sales went.

 

[NYEric]

I registered as a bidder but except for a few categories the minimum bids are too high for me. Hopefully no one will buy up the groups I'm really interested in and I can buy smaller groups of plants later.

 

[goldenrose]

:rollhappy:Can't you just picture Eric's apartment - 100+ more plants than he already has!
I'll cross my fingers for you on the smaller purchases!
I love my gongora galeata, when I was searching for sources I was disappointed to find out Hoosier was a front runner in breeding them, since they're closing down. I'll have to be happy with the few that I have, 'cus I don't need 100+ of them, that's for sure!
I think it's going to be hard for resellers to make out on some of these. Any of us that have sold on ebay - that can be ALOT of work! Who's got an empty GH? How long will it take for you to move them? Winter's coming - what's it gonna cost for heating that GH? I wish them luck!

 

[NYEric]

I'm going to try to talk someone w/ a cool gh to go in w/ me on one of the cool growing collections. They can sell the bulk and I get some nice plants! BTW I have amusing photos of said apartment but trouble posting them!

 

[Renegayde]

perhaps some one will buy up some of their stock and continue the breeding?.... I agree too about the diseased part and the insect infected part....that would worry me

Todd

 

[goldenrose]

More than likely Todd & they're the ones that could possibly afford it. The lots that have the stud plants are probably priced right but the others.......?

 

[Leo Schordje]

The auction seems well constructed to encourage commercial growers to buy entire sets. It is the commercial guys who will most likely continue the breeding. For example, 2 of the rarest plants offered are the Aerangis curnowiana and the Aerangis decaryana. Both are certainly the only specimens in cultivation in the USA, they both may be the only ones left in the world. Period. Especially the A. decaryana - it is extinct in the wild. There are no more. This plant needs to end up in the hands of an experienced breeder who has some chance at producing more from seed. In my basement or NY Erics apartment these plants would be doomed. I would hate to be the cause of the extinction of a species. I would hate to see these plants go to someone who did not understand thier importance. They need to go to one of the bigger orchid firms who have their own labs. They need to go as a set. The high price eliminates those that don't understand the importance of these plants as an assembled set. For example if you bought the Aerangis collection you would automatically become the nation's most authoritative collection of Aerangis. You would be Mr or Ms. Aerangis - because there is no finer collection in the USA. THAT is why the starting bids seem high if one were merely planning to resell the plants on EBAY. These collections are worth much less broken up and sold off in peices. The value is in the complete set of breeding plants.

About the virused plants. The only virused plants they are offering are extreemly rare genetic material - very valuable genetics. If you use the virused plant as the Pod Parent only, and take the seed pod to dry seed, then the seedlings will be virus free. When the genetics is unique, it is worth the extra handling precautions to minimize the risks of using a virused plant as the pod parent. Again - virused plants do not belong in the hands of the 'Hobby' grower. They are for the specialist who understands the value of the genetics and knows how to use them without infecting their entire collection. I for one appreciate Hoosiers honesty.

Just my thoughts - and I might just bid on a collection or two also.

 

[Renegayde]

I guess the reason it seems a bit confusing to me is you are offering say set 1 up for auction.....ppl will bid on it.....also at the same time you are offering set 1 included with set 2, 3, 4, and set 5.....so in the end who wins set 1......the person who bid on set 1 or the person who bought the "collection".....I am sure they have some sort of set of rules but it seems to me that it could perhaps keep some ppl from bidding as the only way to make sure you win set 1 I assume is to bid for the whole collection.....just my opinion LOL for what its worth.....I do understand that the greatest value of this collection is to breeders/specialists and I can understand grouping and trying to sell them as such.....much less hassle involved in selling and dispersing a set of say 400 plants than to sell 400 plants individually.....but let me ask you this....if the A. decaryana is the only one left in the world don't you think it would bring more by itself than in a group? but I guess if the object is to move it to a person that will breed and produce more of the species and not to make more lots of money...then I can understand.....like I said just my thoughts so forgive my rambling

Todd

 

[swamprad]

BTW I have amusing photos of said apartment but trouble posting them!

Eric, I am very curious about your growing space in your NY apartment and would love to see more pictures. An idea for easier posting of photos is to open up a free www.flickr.com account, upload photos there, then post the html here.

 

[Kyle]

Erics problem does not lie in the posting of pictures, its in the taking of pictures!

 

[goldenrose]

I guess the reason it seems a bit confusing to me is you are offering say set 1 up for auction.....ppl will bid on it.....also at the same time you are offering set 1 included with set 2, 3, 4, and set 5.....so in the end who wins set 1......the person who bid on set 1 or the person who bought the "collection".....
Todd

There's were you have to check the bidding end time. The bigger colllections that include several lots, I believe, close earlier, so I'm assuming if someone bids on the collection, it wipes out any bids that might be on the smaller lots?

 

[Leo Schordje]

Rose is right. The bidding closes first on the larger group collections. If somebody bids over the minimum for the larger multi-lot collections, that's its. The individual lot bids don't get looked at.

 

[streetmorrisart]

I about fell over when I saw the collections yesterday, Lot 2 especially. My response was similar to Leo's--it seems pretty likely the way things are being done that they will go to people who will keep things moving.

Leo, I bet there are some decaryanas out there. They were on Bert Pressman's list when he was alive and Malala's agent for Redlands--it isn't a species I ever selected (I'm a fool for angraecums), but I certainly should have. Based on that, I'm going to guess Malala has others squirreled away, and that there are others floating around--in France especially...we can only hope, right?!