Selling previously bloomed plants - What should you disclose?

[silence882]

Hello all,

I have an orchid sales ethics question I do not know how to answer and was hoping for some input.

I am currently growing out a flask of Phrag. Rosy Charm that I got from Chuck Acker. I plan to keep the best two and sell the rest.

My question is: What should I do with the plants that have really poor form and/or color?

I plan to take pics of all the blooms and sell the previously bloomed plants with pictures of the actual flowers they produce. But what if there are a couple plants that have flowers with extremely poor form and color? Should I throw them away to make sure such examples stay off the market? Is selling them with the photos of the blooms enough since the buyer knows what he/she is getting?

On a slightly related note, does anyone know how often pro/amateur sellers sell previously bloomed plants knowing the flower is sub-par? I am always hesitant to buy previously bloomed plants for this reason, unless a picture of the actual bloom for sale is available.

Thanks!

--Stephen

 

[NYEric]

Sell them w/ photo for appropriate price and let potential buyers know of issues.

 

[goldenrose]

It's certainly nice & exciting when a first boom seedling is fantastic on it's first blooming but we all have been saying .... give it a second blooming, they usually get better, in your case before discarding or judging it to be sub-par. There's also a chance that under someone else's growing conditions it could/will be better.
I have to chuckle at this & I'm sure many of us have done the same thing -
if all the plants don't bloom at the same time, how do you know which 2 are the best (and that's in your eyes)? I've taken pictures & measurements but nothing compares to having real live specimens side by side! So how many will you hold on to & for how long?

 

[ehanes7612]

yeah, you should always show a photo of the plant...it reduces your liability when the customer becomes unsatisfied. but it's not necessary to show a photo of the bloom....in fact I would discourage a photo of the bloom, I have found that many people want to be surprsed by the bloom .Much more effective to state your intentions for selling. Any plant will sell if it's cheap enough. I have always been able to sell subpar first time bloomers because there's always the chance it will be much better. You will always find people who want cheaper plants and can appreciate the flower even if it's not subjectively high quality

 

[TyroneGenade]

You could always donate to dogs to the local orchid club for plants for beginners or sell them really cheap to the beginners yourself. For people wanting to start growing Paphs and Phrags the first few plants are going to die in any case... At least they can serve a valuable purpose.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

As a buyer, when I'm buying previously bloomed plants, I prefer to see photos from the plant when it was in bloom. It helps a lot in terms of evaluating the relative value to me.

Whenever I see previously bloomed plants for sale, I just assume the seller is probably blooming out a bunch of plants, keeping the best and offloading the rest. Most of us aren't breeding the plants, and we're not necessarily as selective about bloom quality. Not to mention that tastes differ -- you might consider the bloom to be inferior, but those same qualities that you considered bad might be the same qualities that I find pleasing.

Anyway, if there's a photo of the flowers from the actual plant for sale, it lets the buyer evaluate its value to them. I definitely have purchased my share of the "rejects", and I've always been happy with them because I know exactly what I'm getting.

 

[Ross]

If a bloom is not what I want, I usually try to sell it while it's still in bloom, at a price that I feel reflects the quality of the flower. As "mrhappyrotter" states: "... tastes differ -- you might consider the bloom to be inferior, but those same qualities that you considered bad might be the same qualities that I find pleasing." This requires snap judgements, sometimes, but anytime I mistakenly sell a flower I should have kept, the upside is usually a very happy buyer.

 

[gonewild]

What you should show or disclose is completely dependent on what you want your reputation to be.

If you have pictures show them. If you know the flower is defective disclose it. Then you will make friends.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Be up front and honest about your opinions, as to flower quality, and price the plants reasonably. Most customers will be happy just to get a plant to bloom, and will be happy with what they get. Unless the price is very high, most people will be happy with what they get. I was just looking at Thanh Nguyen's offers on Ebay. He is one of the finest sellers out there. His descriptions are completely honest...mentioning damaged leaves or less than spectacular flowers.

 

[SlipperFan]

Everyone has covered this pretty well. I probably wouldn't buy a plant if I knew the first flowering was defective. However, I've had plants that weren't very good on the first blooming, but improved greatly with subsequent ones. I like that you'd show photos of the first bloom and explain that the next one might be better -- historically speaking.

 

[abax]

Be honest and price fairly. Thanh Nguyen is an excellent example to follow.
I always want a photo of the plant, but whether it's in bloom or not isn't
that important to me.

 

[Cheyenne]

I had some phrags that when I bloomed them the first time they were absolutely awful. The color was bad, the form was worse and they were supposed to be from a good cross with good parents. A few were good that I kept. I sold all of them besides the good ones and the worst one, because I couldn't sell it to someone and feel alright about it. The bad one I kept bloomed again and it was an absolute stunner. The flower was huge, the form was great and the color was better than any of the others. Now that plant is one of my favorite hybrids I have. I wonder what the rest of the bad ones look like.

 

[ehanes7612]

I had some phrags that when I bloomed them the first time they were absolutely awful. The color was bad, the form was worse and they were supposed to be from a good cross with good parents. A few were good that I kept. I sold all of them besides the good ones and the worst one, because I couldn't sell it to someone and feel alright about it. The bad one I kept bloomed again and it was an absolute stunner. The flower was huge, the form was great and the color was better than any of the others. Now that plant is one of my favorite hybrids I have. I wonder what the rest of the bad ones look like.

this is exactly why a photo of the previous bloom is pointless.you have to consider how it will look at reblooming, which can be completely different than before.... not to mention the quality of the photo..which often times can offer a misleading flower (esp with color)

 

[orcoholic]

If you sell the orchid with a picture of that particular orchid and priced it accordingly, I think you've done all you can, or need to.

As far as selling a "sub-par" orchid, sub-par is very subjective. Someone who just loves to grow orchids and is not concerned with building a collection of awarded, high priced plants will be just as happy with a decent example as long as they pay a fair price.

 

[silence882]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the input! I guess I will continue with my plan of showing bloom photos with the plant photos.

I'd love to be able to save them all for a second blooming, but I just don't have the space in my current indoor growing situation. My flask addiction doesn't help either. Hopefully I'll be able to expand in the near future.

--Stephen

 

[Leo Schordje]

couple thoughts.

I never donate inferior flowers or plants to the orchid society. That is just passing on a problem. Think about how you would feel if the first orchid you bloomed yourself was a total dog, not adding up to at least average.

I compost the well below average ones. No point in passing them on. I often will bloom things more than once before composting, but there are dogs I do throw out.

Average plants I sell at average prices and don't claim they are anything but typical.

I try to sell medium grade plants in bloom at meetings or at shows. That way the buyer knows what they are getting. I also have a friendly retail store that lets me put a few plants in bloom in there. I use them when I don't have talks or shows scheduled. Medium grade plants in bloom usually sell well.

 

[Leo Schordje]

It is just a reality, when you are stuck with a plant that at its best just doesn't measure up, you need to just give it up and compost it. This makes shopping divisions of awarded plants seem like a more reasonable investment. At least that awarded division will be capable of decent blooms.

If you have more than 6 seedlings of a cross, odds are good that at least one will be better than the rest and one will be significantly below average. Double the price for the good one and compost the bad one. Win-Win.

 

[Trithor]

It's certainly nice & exciting when a first boom seedling is fantastic on it's first blooming but we all have been saying .... give it a second blooming, they usually get better, in your case before discarding or judging it to be sub-par. There's also a chance that under someone else's growing conditions it could/will be better.
I have to chuckle at this & I'm sure many of us have done the same thing -
if all the plants don't bloom at the same time, how do you know which 2 are the best (and that's in your eyes)? I've taken pictures & measurements but nothing compares to having real live specimens side by side! So how many will you hold on to & for how long?

I had some phrags that when I bloomed them the first time they were absolutely awful. The color was bad, the form was worse and they were supposed to be from a good cross with good parents. A few were good that I kept. I sold all of them besides the good ones and the worst one, because I couldn't sell it to someone and feel alright about it. The bad one I kept bloomed again and it was an absolute stunner. The flower was huge, the form was great and the color was better than any of the others. Now that plant is one of my favorite hybrids I have. I wonder what the rest of the bad ones look like.

I am sure most of us have been down this road. Most of us have purchased flasks with the intention of keeping the best one or two. The problem is that it is seldom that they flower at the same time, and in reality, pictures are not much help as a comparison. This presents the problem that you need to decide how long you are going to keep them to compare them. I have tried the line of marking ones for sale and ones to keep. The problem comes in that the second year those that you selected to sell somehow look better than the ones you decided to keep! Unless you assess over a number of flowering seasons, it remains a hit and miss situation.
To solve this problem, I now keep the fastest growers (logic being that these grow best under my conditions), and sell the rest unselected for any reason other than they are slightly slower than the one or two that I decide to keep.

 

[gonewild]

To solve this problem, I now keep the fastest growers (logic being that these grow best under my conditions), and sell the rest unselected for any reason other than they are slightly slower than the one or two that I decide to keep.

The best way to find the best flower quality is to remember the best one is exactly in the middle of the flask. If you have 30 plants in the flask then the 15th plant to flower is the best. If you have 20 plants the the best one is the 10th one. The good thing about this method is when you have an odd number of plants in the flask... then there are 2 best plants in the middle! :crazy:

 

[ehanes7612]

The best way to find the best flower quality is to remember the best one is exactly in the middle of the flask. If you have 30 plants in the flask then the 15th plant to flower is the best. If you have 20 plants the the best one is the 10th one. The good thing about this method is when you have an odd number of plants in the flask... then there are 2 best plants in the middle! :crazy:

you are thinking of prints...not plants