Terry Root and the Orchid Zone

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H

heliomum

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The prince of paphs, the king of orchids, Terry Root. I first heard of him in the book Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen (I highly recommend this book) Anyway, Terry Root has a mystique surrounding him. I have tried for hours to find the address of the Orchid Zone. I only could find a P.O Box and a phone number. I called the number, he picked up, and after recovering from mild shock from it actually being him, I asked him where the Orchid Zone was. He said it was wholesale only, *bla**bla**bla* he appreciated me calling, *bla**bla**bla* and that's it. Although it was pretty cool talking to him, I didn't get anywhere. So the big question is,WHERE THE HECK IS THE ORCHID ZONE? :poke::clap::evil::mad:
 
I have visited him only twice. He is indeed a character. He can be a very nice person in a moment and same day next minutes he could be very nasty.

But nobody can deny he has contribuited a lot to slipper history, Paph, Phrag... and now he is playing with Masdevallias.

It is true he only deals with wholesale, but all of us are waiting his last hybrids or improved species to buy...

" al cesar lo que es del cesar..."
 
Does anyone have any idea what constitutes wholesale? Is it a minimum dollar amount, or minimum quantity per cross, or proof of intention to resale (i.e. sales tax i.d.)? Because if wholesale means a minimum purchase amount of, say, $500, an individual or a small group of individuals could handle that...just thinkin'......
 
We (society) have done that in the past with OZ. A group of us pull monies together and order, he had a min dollar amount
 
Sign me up!
Is anyone else interested in getting a group together to buy some from him? Since we function as an online society in a way, perhaps we could get a big order together and then have someone split it up and forward it on.
I am not sure how to go about seeing if he would take an order, if he has a listing of plants, or if someone out in California would be able to go and pick up an order.
When societies have ordered in the past, what was his minimum order?
 
The OZ is about 2 hours away from me. I plan on going and dropping some $ when my 2nd g.h. is up and running. You need to plan on spending a couple thousand dollars or it's simply not worth his time. There's no "listing" that I'm aware of as he only sells in bloom plants now and what is in bloom changes on a daily basis. I have a couple friends that are customers of his and I will tag along with them one day. I look forward to meeting a premier breeder. His plants are top of the line.
 
Yep, definately [did I spell that right?] top of the line. Min. order is in thousands. Let me know when somebody is getting together an order and i'll add in for a few plants. Can you guess what kind? :D
 
Eric, let me repeat...there's no list so how do you plan on doing a group order:confused: Ain't going to happen. Buy them through ebay, that's where many are showing up now from resellers. And like I mentioned before, there were tons of OZ plants being resold at the POE last weekend.
 
Eric, let me repeat...there's no list so how do you plan on doing a group order:confused: Ain't going to happen. Buy them through ebay, that's where many are showing up now from resellers. And like I mentioned before, there were tons of OZ plants being resold at the POE last weekend.

Like you said Terry sells mostly in bloom. So the plants that are showing up on ebay are almost all pot plants which is fine but people should know that.

Being that Terry rarely sells paphs not in bloom except crosses which he has an abundance you will most of the time have to either get pot grade plants which from the OZ can be pretty good. Or pay based on flower quality. That is probably why there is no list because the amount of paphs sold out of bloom is not that large. However, there have been lists in the past. The last one I received was about 3 yrs ago.

Can you blame Terry for wholesale only. An operation that well run and of that size takes alot of work. Hagling over a 50 dollar plant for 20 minutes would be super annoying especially considering the work that has to be done and the over head of the operation he is running. If he wanted to do that he would have to hire more employees and anyone who has owned or has family who has owned their own business knows the headache invlolved with employees
 
Eric, let me repeat...there's no list so how do you plan on doing a group order:confused: Ain't going to happen.
Well, if someone here PM'd and said " Hey I'm going by OZ and getting some besseae hybrids, maybe album ones. Are you interested?" What do you think my response would be?
 
I agree, he sells almost entirely plants that are in bloom. That way he can grade them and price accordingly. I believe the minimum is at least $1000. and preferably more.

You could probably easily figure out what is in bloom now- complex hybrids, phrags, paph fairreanum and other species, and pretty soon the parvis will bloom.
 
I'm not sure where you guys get your information about Terry, but it doesn't appear as firsthand. He's a really likeable guy and has a variety of interests in life beyond orchids. Both he and his wife are great people and I count them as friends. He is wholesale only, but you don't necessarily need to spend thousands. Harold Koopowitz and Norito Hasegawa will go up there and pay a few hundred dollars (or more) for a single breeding plant.

He simply chooses not to deal with the multitudes of individual growers who are looking for only one or two plants.

If you're looking for something specific, I recommend you send a note to Paphiness Orchids and ask Dean to look for something specific as he visits the OZ about once a month.

You can also join the Paph Guild and attend the yearly meeting in California and meet Terry in person, as well as the top paph hybridizers from around the USA and the world. This year, Fumi (can't remember his full name) from Japan and his son attended, Olaf Gruss was there, Terry Root spoke, Norito Hasegawa and Harold Koopowitz attended, Jerry Fischer was there with his wife, and a number of other hybridizers from Taiwan and Hawaii as well.

On the southeast coast, there's the Paph Symposium with Frank Smith and on the east coast there's one other paph group and I understand several growers/hybridizers from the area attend that one as well.
 
I'm not sure where you guys get your information about Terry, but it doesn't appear as firsthand. He's a really likeable guy and has a variety of interests in life beyond orchids. Both he and his wife are great people ..
I take exception to the suggestion that anyone here stated otherwise.
He is wholesale only, but you don't necessarily need to spend thousands. Harold Koopowitz and Norito Hasegawa will go up there and pay a few hundred dollars (or more) for a single breeding plant.
Well gee, most of us aren't Harold or Norito.:wink: Therefore I guess we have to spend at least $1K!
 
Well gee, most of us aren't Harold or Norito. Therefore I guess we have to spend at least $1K!
I agree, and duh, isn't it fair to say they've spent thousands and will continue to spend thousands there. Of course, as respected breeders in their own right they can buy as much or little as they choose. They've already proved they aren't going to waste time by dinking over a $50 plant, like Ken/paphioland stated.

DavidH, all your suggestions about joining those forums are nice ones but have nothing to do with your point about "us" not having the correct info. Yes, I've never been as I've stated, but I trust what Ken/pahioland and my 2 friends who are resellers that shop there weekly tell me. And I don't believe any of us have said one thing negative about his business or practices. In fact, all I see is positive statements about his breeding and plants. It is, what it is, and it works great for him. Rock on!
 
Oh, Eric, you made the same mistake I did last week....album besseae...ha! And I'll quote what you said to me last week..."Wishful thinking.":rollhappy:

Seriously, though, it's tough shopping with someone else's money. You'd have to be VERY specific with what you wanted. Which is hard, if you don't know what's available. For example, I had to tell my friend exactly the cross I wanted, how much I wanted to spend, what pot size and what to look for in the flower...
 
Does anyone have any idea what constitutes wholesale? Is it a minimum dollar amount, or minimum quantity per cross, or proof of intention to resale (i.e. sales tax i.d.)? Because if wholesale means a minimum purchase amount of, say, $500, an individual or a small group of individuals could handle that...just thinkin'......

It all depends on how each wholesale place conduct its business. If you are a buyer from the same state (e.g. you're in CA and the place is in CA), you are required to have a business license to buy from a wholesale place. Most wholesale places also have a min item # and/or $ amount. With that said, there's always exceptions (Costco is one). The biggest thing is how sales tax gets collected and given to the gov't. So it boils down to what each business decides its "sales" policy is.
 
David,

I don't think anyone is disrespecting Terry in this thread. Isaias simply said Terry could be nice one moment, and nasty the next. I have heard this very same opinion from at least two other people who have dealt with Terry face to face. I have never met the man, and at this point I have no desire to meet him.

As for Terry's plants and business practices, I think he has made some very interesting choices. I respect the fact that Terry is wholesale only. That is a purely practical business model. I can appreciate the fact that Terry is a very talented breeder. I love the fact that he doesn't have a website with photos of his plants. What would be the point if you aren't selling to the public, right? I know several breeders who do sell to the public and their websites are so crappy and outdated it makes me want to punch them in the face, but I digress.

Could I walk into Terry's greenhouse and drop $5000 on plants? You bet I could. But I won't, and here is my reason.

Terry is like a baseball card seller who opens all the packs, takes out the rookie cards, special chase cards and gum, and leaves you the common player cards. Then he charges you a premium for them. For the same amount of money, you could buy plants from equally talented breeders that have not been bloomed, culled and sold as leftovers. I am not saying that his pot plants aren't beautiful, or worth what you pay for them. But the whole practice smells funny. With that said, I own a couple of Orchid Zone plants, and I even have some of Terry's seedlings. But when I want to spend crazy money, I shop somewhere else.
 
To get the quality of plant that you buy from the OZ as highly select you would likely have to bloom out so many of other nurseries crosses and get lucky. Growing space is expensive, what do you do with the pot plants you bloom out? I don't want them and selling them is a big pain. Time is valuable too. So buying 100 of a species is just not practical. Potting watering and caring for that many orchids is highly work intensive.

Anyways my opinion is that Terry is the man and has always been an honest gentleman as a sales person, treats people respectfully who are repectful themselves, patient teacher and is a very interesting character-I mean this in a good way. It is amazing how noncondescending he is given his knowledge and experience. I have never had a single negative experience with Terry or the OZ but I have with many many others in the orchid world. I prob do 90% of my buying at the OZ and I am a very satisfied customer. The OZ has been so good it is hard for me to buy stuff in other places because I know I get great "customer service" and great plants with the OZ so why risk it on a product I am not sure about? Also his wife Sam who helps with the business is very knowledgable, honest and a great asset to the business. The thing with the OZ is that there is no crap. You get what you ask for or is told to you. There is no fluff.
 

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