# Paph prices in Australia. Will the bubble burst?



## quietaustralian (Apr 11, 2012)

I've been watching slipper orchid auctions on eBay Australia and some of the prices seem insane. This plant http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/220989554845 seems pricey but I'll have to admit I would have bid a little higher If I hadn't been in transit.

It's the price of some seedlings and plants with no history or information about the genetics that amazes me.

Why are the prices so high? Was it that the Australian $ was so low a few years ago? Is there now a huge interest in Slippers? Will the bubble burst?

I was talking to Howard (Howzat) via Skype last week about the Paph market in Australia and I mentioned that over the last 2 years, a few people I know have imported around 1000 Paph flasks and Howard said a friend of his recently imported 400 flasks. It's my guess that at least 3000 + flasks have come in over the last few years. Does this mean that in 2-3 years, Australians will be paying similar prices to the US?

Mick


----------



## Roy (Apr 11, 2012)

The biggest problem is that most of the big Paph breeders here are gone, closed up. The amount of crosses and quantities available from the newer Parvi Paphs plus others being produced in Taiwan, for one, and the length of time they have been produced have made doing them locally with the lab' costs make it an unviable effort to do them here. Private growers will make their own crosses but in very limited amounts. The demand is so great for these plants, importing them is the way to go. They are an extended flavour of the month orchid. Promotion has another big bearing on them also, as per usual, nurseries only show the good ones and if the truth be known, these nurseries also flower 1000's of crap plants. Some / most of the mixed parvi or brachy x multiflorals are a big con, there is a very large portion of plants from these crosses rarely if ever flower. Growers have large multi growth plants they can't flower. The pics of the ones they see look fabulous but the nursery has 1000's & fortunately do get a few to flower to show the pics. Growers get sucked in.


----------



## cattmad (Apr 11, 2012)

I tend to think the prices for seedlings and unknown clones will come down as there are alot of flasks coming, literally thousand on the east coast alone, but I also think a fair few of them are rubbish that will take years to flower if ever as Roy said.

I do think that premium / awarded plants will continue to hold their value as they are so hard to come by.


----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 12, 2012)

Roy said:


> The biggest problem is that most of the big Paph breeders here are gone, closed up. The amount of crosses and quantities available from the newer Parvi Paphs plus others being produced in Taiwan, for one, and the length of time they have been produced have made doing them locally with the lab' costs make it an unviable effort to do them here. Private growers will make their own crosses but in very limited amounts. The demand is so great for these plants, importing them is the way to go. They are an extended flavour of the month orchid. Promotion has another big bearing on them also, as per usual, nurseries only show the good ones and if the truth be known, these nurseries also flower 1000's of crap plants. Some / most of the mixed parvi or brachy x multiflorals are a big con, there is a very large portion of plants from these crosses rarely if ever flower. Growers have large multi growth plants they can't flower. The pics of the ones they see look fabulous but the nursery has 1000's & fortunately do get a few to flower to show the pics. Growers get sucked in.



I wonder if there is a future for the traditional orchid retailer?The power of the internet has affected many traditional businesses. These days a hobbyist can easily contact growers overseas and order their flasks/plants direct and then sell any extras. In the past the nursery owners would travel to shows and conferences and strike up long term relationships with their suppliers. 

It's a similar situation in the antiquarian book trade. These days anyone can sell off their books via eBay etc but something has been lost, the expertise and service of a good book seller. At least 12 fine/antiquarian book shops have closed in South Australia in the last few years. These shops closed not because they couldn't sell books but because they couldn't buy enough stock.

It's seems to me that the internet is causing many people to become "a Jack of all trades but masters of none".



cattmad said:


> I tend to think the prices for seedlings and unknown clones will come down as there are alot of flasks coming, literally thousand on the east coast alone, but I also think a fair few of them are rubbish that will take years to flower if ever as Roy said.
> 
> I do think that premium / awarded plants will continue to hold their value as they are so hard to come by.



I agree. But what's also obvious is that some people are paying high prices for old awards, some of the older awarded plants would compete with the plants of today but some definitely wouldn't.

As an aside: I've been the second highest bidder on few plants that the seller has said "only one division of this plant forsale" and bid high, then received a second chance offer. I guess a seller may decide to sell a second division due to the high price but some sellers list their plants as one only and then offer the 2nd, 3rd and 4th bidder a piece. This is a way to artificially raise the price.


----------



## emydura (Apr 12, 2012)

I can't see the bubble bursting anytime soon. Plants are getting more expensive if anything. The few nurseries left seem to be exclusively selling through eBay as they know they can get much higher prices. It is insane how much small seedlings are going for. Large flowering size plants are impossible to obtain and sell for a fortune. I don't think that will ever change no matter how many flasks come in. It is pretty depressing actually. Ten years ago there was so much more available. I regret not buying a lot more but didn't have the resources to do so then. 

That PEOY went pretty cheap in the end. It is worth more than that I think. If he had included a better photo of the flower that would have helped. The seller is in our society and is a friend. Actually it was this Paph that got me hooked into Paphs, especially the multi-florals. I was totally blown away. I had seen nothing like it before. Below is a couple of photos of it when it won Champion Orchid of the Canberra show 10 years back. He has subsequently flowered it better although I never saw it when it was awarded or when it won Champion Orchid of the show at Cronulla with 3 spikes. I tried to organise with him to let me photograph it when it had 3 spikes but he pollinated the flowers before i could get a chance. I think that cost him money in the end. 

I would have bid for it myself but a combination of big expenses has meant my priorities are elsewhere. The winner of that plant is getting a very strong division unlike many eBay purchases.


----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 12, 2012)

emydura said:


> I can't see the bubble bursting anytime soon. Plants are getting more expensive if anything. The few nurseries left seem to be exclusively selling through eBay as they know they can get much higher prices. It is insane how much small seedlings are going for. Large flowering size plants are impossible to obtain and sell for a fortune. I don't think that will ever change no matter how many flasks come in. It is pretty depressing actually. Ten years ago there was so much more available. I regret not buying a lot more but didn't have the resources to do so then.
> 
> That PEOY went pretty cheap in the end. It is worth more than that I think. If he had included a better photo of the flower that would have helped. The seller is in our society and is a friend. Actually it was this Paph that got me hooked into Paphs, especially the multi-florals. I was totally blown away. I had seen nothing like it before. Below is a couple of photos of it when it won Champion Orchid of the Canberra show 10 years back. He has subsequently flowered it better although I never saw it when it was awarded or when it won Champion Orchid of the show at Cronulla with 3 spikes. I tried to organise with him to let me photograph it when it had 3 spikes but he pollinated the flowers before i could get a chance. I think that cost him money in the end.
> 
> I would have bid for it myself but a combination of big expenses has meant my priorities are elsewhere. The winner of that plant is getting a very strong division unlike many eBay purchases.



PEOY is certainly in my top ten Paphs and this one looked nice. I had intended to bid a little higher than the closing bid but was in transit, who knows what the highest bidders was willing to go to?

I had intended to call you to see if you were interested in going halves in the plant but got side tracked. If you see something exceptional and want to do a deal, let me know. I'd be happy to leave the plant with you until it's the right time to divide it.


----------



## Roth (Apr 12, 2012)

emydura said:


> I can't see the bubble bursting anytime soon. Plants are getting more expensive if anything. The few nurseries left seem to be exclusively selling through eBay as they know they can get much higher prices. It is insane how much small seedlings are going for.
> 
> That PEOY went pretty cheap in the end. It is worth more than that I think. If he had included a better photo of the flower that would have helped. The seller is in our society and is a friend.



The prices go down at present time for many plants all around the world, for two reasons that will not last :
- There are heaps of wild collected plants entering the trade, micranthum, helenae, praestans, whatever...
- There are many flasks that are sold with nice tags but not the proper parents. I have yet to see a single seedling from a HS flask blooming true to its supposed parentage, though I do not deny that such miracle might exist. Last week my friends in Germany flowered seedlings from a HS intaniae flask, to get a kind of parishii x philippinense ugly duck.


The flasks in Taiwan can be subject to discounts over 70%, so the price is lower than any other people can produce, especially with awarded parents. If you are honest, you cannot make some thousands flasks of a dozen or two dozen different crosses using the same pollen or capsule parents... When I got an offer for 350 flasks of Paphiopedilum mastersianum SM/TPS x self, awarded two years before I know it is bogus, no doubt for that. But most resellers and growers did and do buy such flasks. At best they will be wild seed capsules of mastersianum, or siblings of medium quality plant. At the worst, they will be a Pinnochio or worse a William Mathews x mastersianum. There are many bogus urbanianum in Taiwan right now, they look nice, but they are hybrids. Same for spicerianum, godefroyae, leucochilum ( the black ones are indeed and completely complex hybrids), some rothschildianum I have seen lately are William Ambler x roth.

I saw one nursery offering the yellow bellatulum in Taiwan few weeks ago. They would cull any concolor looking plant, and put it aside. When I asked what's the deal ' it is a potting mistake'. No way, it was just the artificial hybrid of concolor x bellatulum, period...

So now the market suffers from an overload of bogus, crap, low quality flasks ( I do not say the seedlings are not healthy, just that with their real parents, they have NO potential). In a few years, people will realize that they got many poor quality things, and they will pay way more for divisions, or plants in bloom. That's why too blooming size plants or divisions are way more expensive, simply because they are true to name and correct, or they must be. Seedlings, no problem, most will be dead before they bloom...

Roy is right too, in flasks, especially if they are not done using the Japanese method ( or former French method ), cull 25% at each replate, then for the last replate, cull 50%, there are a lot of runts that will never bloom. So 1000 flasks can well translate to only 3000 usable plants ( I do not speak about Maudiae hybrids though) and a bunch of crap that was costly to try to grow and save. As a result, the cost of those 3000 plants is the total amount paid for the 1000 flasks + growing costs, indeed quite a lot, especially in Australia or the USA...

There are still some rothschildianum and stonei in Taiwan that are 18 years OLD, same, there are still on offer sanderianum 'In Charm' x 'Shin Yi', the plants are 20-30 cm leafspan, look nice. However, they have been deflasked in 1995. The same story happened to the Charles E x Borneo, where Val Tonkin had NBS plants that were 30 years old...

AS a result, I do not think the prices will crash, they may go down due to some fancies or 'irregular market movements' such as wild collected batches or flasks of bogus parentage, but afterwards, they will go up even more. It always has been like that with Paphs, and I went through this kind of momentum already 2 times...

The honest sellers have to grow and bloom what they sell, or do it themselves, so they have to charge more. The others, they buy crap with the tags and invoices, and follow those stuff up to their customers, not caring whether they are real or not, or if the plants are healthy or not. Then they can sell pretty damn cheap.

That PEOY is indeed really nice, it is not from Eric Young breeding, but Terry Root/Orchid Zone. roth 'Rex' x sanderianum 'Jacob's Ladder' was one of his best sellers.


----------



## emydura (Apr 12, 2012)

quietaustralian said:


> PEOY is certainly in my top ten Paphs and this one looked nice. I had intended to bid a little higher than the closing bid but was in transit, who knows what the highest bidders was willing to go to?
> 
> I had intended to call you to see if you were interested in going halves in the plant but got side tracked. If you see something exceptional and want to do a deal, let me know. I'd be happy to leave the plant with you until it's the right time to divide it.



OK Mick. I'll keep you in mind. You are a bit trusting. It would probably take years for a plant like that to get big enough to divide. The pressure to keep it alive. 

I'm sort of regretting not going for it now. These things don't come round very often. It is just that the Nikon D800 camera has just been released and I'm keen to get that plus a couple of good lens to go with it. I need to purchase two glasshouses as well, plus my wife is totally landscaping the backyard as well as going overseas next week with my daughter. Then the PEOY goes on eBay right in the middle of all this. It just got a bit out of control. I'm sure I will be able to get another piece off him one day. I hope.


----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 12, 2012)

emydura said:


> OK Mick. I'll keep you in mind. You are a bit trusting. It would probably take years for a plant like that to get big enough to divide. The pressure to keep it alive.



I knew it would be a few years before dividing it but in your hands, I think it would have done well. As far as keeping it alive, the reality is that plants die. Going halves in something like that makes it less painful if it does kick the bucket.




emydura said:


> I'm sort of regretting not going for it now. These things don't come round very often. It is just that the Nikon D800 camera has just been released and I'm keen to get that plus a couple of good lens to go with it. I need to purchase two glasshouses as well, plus my wife is totally landscaping the backyard as well as going overseas next week with my daughter. Then the PEOY goes on eBay right in the middle of all this. It just got a bit out of control. I'm sure I will be able to get another piece off him one day. I hope.



The winning bidder may have bid $1000 or more, we may never know. I was willing to go to $600 or $800 if it was a split deal. I did'nt bid because I had some questions and did'nt get time to ask them.

One of the questions was about the award. The clone name was "Jules" but there was no PEOY with that name on the AOC site.


----------



## emydura (Apr 12, 2012)

quietaustralian said:


> The winning bidder may have bid $1000 or more, we may never know.



Very true



quietaustralian said:


> One of the questions was about the award. The clone name was "Jules" but there was no PEOY with that name on the AOC site.



Yes, I couldn't find it either but it definately was awarded. I have the Australian Orchids Bulletin which has the award in it. It got smack on 80 points. Again it had another terrible photo associated with it.


----------



## cattmad (Apr 12, 2012)

I did bid on the PEOY, but currently being overseas I was not able to see the end of the auction hence got beaten, oh well, cant have them all.

It will be interesting to see what does happen in the next few years, most of the stuff coming on is from taiwan and a bit from sam, I have been quite reluctant to but the taiwanese stuff because of the issues of incorrect naming etc


----------



## emydura (Apr 13, 2012)




----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 13, 2012)

Thanks David...
I see the AOC has that award number for a clone called 'Queensclift'. Must be a typo.

Regards, Mick


----------



## Roy (Apr 13, 2012)

I think the var' name given in the AOC pics is definitely a typo, "Queenscliffe" is award number is 3643.


----------



## Justin (Apr 13, 2012)

Seedling market prices aside, whoever got that division got a very nice plant for a good price. Nice sized division too.


----------



## emydura (Apr 22, 2012)

No sign of the bubble bursting. Check out the price this division of St Swithin 'Summer Storm' went for on eBay today. It is an exceptional clone, but way beyond what I was prepared to pay.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ORCHID-P...?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item4d0051e40d

I actually have a piece of this clone. I flowered it once in 2006, but it went downhill after I flowered it. It is just a really small single growth going nowhere. After what it sold for today, I am going to have to make a big effort to save it. Here is my plant when it flowered.


----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 22, 2012)

emydura said:


> No sign of the bubble bursting. Check out the price this division of St Swithin 'Summer Storm' went for on eBay today. It is an exceptional clone, but way beyond what I was prepared to pay.
> 
> http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ORCHID-P...?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item4d0051e40d
> 
> I actually have a piece of this clone. I flowered it once in 2006, but it went downhill after I flowered it. It is just a really small single growth going nowhere. After what it sold for today, I am going to have to make a big effort to save it. Here is my plant when it flowered.



Yep, I agree with catmad's comment that awarded plants will still bring good money but I think the price of unproven plants and seedlings will drop. As far as form goes, this is a lovely flower but from memory it did'nt compare in size with more recent awards, it was awarded 22 years ago. Nonetheless, I'd be more than happy to own it.

Mick


----------



## emydura (Apr 22, 2012)

quietaustralian said:


> Yep, I agree with catmad's comment that awarded plants will still bring good money but I think the price of unproven plants and seedlings will drop. As far as form goes, this is a lovely flower but from memory it did'nt compare in size with more recent awards, it was awarded 22 years ago. Nonetheless, I'd be more than happy to own it.
> 
> Mick



Even at the time the flower wasn't big. It was recognised for its shape and colour. To be honest I put shape and colour way ahead of size. The only better St Swithin I have seen in Australia is St Swithin 'Sunnybank' FCC/AOC. I much prefer these roth petal stance St Swithin's. I find most of the St Swithin's (even awarded ones) have terrible petal stances.

Having said all that the price on this division is insane. Despite what the seller says, that plant is a fair way off flowering size - 38cm LS is pretty small. Given things go well, it will be 5 years or so before this plant looks any good. These small single growth divisions are a bit rediculous and pretty risky. At the very least the division should include at least an old flowered growth. This seller rarely offers bigger divisions than one growth. This person has twice before (2 or 3 years ago) offered single growth divisions of St Swithin 'Summer Storm' - both times they went for $190. So that is a huge jump in price. Things are getting out of control.


----------



## cattmad (Apr 22, 2012)

prices are high right now, but I thought it was a good looking division and fully expected it to go for between $200 and $250. A little higher than I expected, but good luck to the seller.

I dont see anything wrong with single growth divisions provided they are established with a decent root system and this one did look to be exactly that.

Prices on this quality of paph have been the same for a long time, try buying a piece of St Swithin 'Sunnybank' and see what it costs


----------



## Stone (Apr 22, 2012)

Maybe I'm the exeption? I've never bought anything on ebay (but I plan to try selling:evil A while back I desperately wanted a venustum alba and I saw one on ebay. It was a seedling maybe 1 year from flask and went for over $90!, so I bowed out. 6 months later I have 2 alba clones. one was $20 and the other was $15. I hope the nuseries don't all end up on ebay If they do, maybe we hobby growers should band together and start an inter-grower supply of seed, flasks , seedlings and divisions?


----------



## cattmad (Apr 22, 2012)

dont get me wrong prices for small seedlings have been very high, but you cant expect to be able to buy an awarded (and in my opinion still very good) st swithin for $100.


----------



## emydura (Apr 22, 2012)

cattmad said:


> prices are high right now, but I thought it was a good looking division and fully expected it to go for between $200 and $250. A little higher than I expected, but good luck to the seller.
> 
> I dont see anything wrong with single growth divisions provided they are established with a decent root system and this one did look to be exactly that.
> 
> Prices on this quality of paph have been the same for a long time, try buying a piece of St Swithin 'Sunnybank' and see what it costs



Yes, good luck to the seller. If you can sell single growth divisions for $330 why would you sell any bigger. Personally I wouldn't. I'd hate to think I sold a plant for that amount of money and it ended up dying. The division did look healthy although small. On a mature growth, the individual leaves would be the length of that whole plant. I couldn't flower that within two years myself, especially as it is a single growth. And then you have a long wait until the next flowering. That is what happend to my St Swithin 'Summer Storm' clone. It was a small division. It flowered and never recovered.

I have bought two Paph divisions off this seller previously. Both wonderful clones. The Bel Royal had 2 growths and it has grown like a weed. Really vigorous. It has put on another 2 growths. Having a bigger plant makes such a difference. I also bought a Delrosi off her. It was supposedly a flowering size single growth. Well that growth kept growing for two years and is now finally in bud. It is just putting out two new leads. So probably another 3 years to next flowering. It was an expensive plant and it is going to take 5 years for it to start to reach its potential. You do get quality from that seller though. 

Cape Oasis is another who just sells small single growth divisions and rarely with roots. They look like they have just been pulled off the plant and mailed to you. It is just so slow to grow such small divisions. Well, for me it is. 

I remember John Robertson offering a division of St Swithin 'Sunnybank' for $750 many years ago. I was just starting out so I didn't even consider it. Knowing John, it would have been a lot more than one growth.


----------



## emydura (Apr 22, 2012)

cattmad said:


> dont get me wrong prices for small seedlings have been very high, but you cant expect to be able to buy an awarded (and in my opinion still very good) st swithin for $100.



I'm happy to pay the money for awarded plants. But I want a strong healthy plant if I'm going to be paying $250 plus. Not a small single growth that will take many years to become established. I've never had a problem growing on large divisions (3 growths+). In fact they have all flourished. It is only when I've had small weak divisions that I have run into troubles. 

If that plant is worth $330 then that PEOY should have went for $1000+. Because there is no comparison between the two.


----------



## emydura (Apr 22, 2012)

quietaustralian said:


> Yep, I agree with catmad's comment that awarded plants will still bring good money but I think the price of unproven plants and seedlings will drop.
> Mick



Small seedlings are certainly not dropping at the moment. There was an Angel Hair the other day that looked like it was not long out of a flask. It was $50 and rising the last I saw it. You can get a flowering size plant in the US for that amount.


----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 22, 2012)

I thought enough of that plant to bid more than $250 but wasn't willing to go higher. I think it sold for about the right price as things stand in the Aust market today. I do wonder how big the market is.

If we look at that auction. There were 490 views of the auction at auction end but only 7 bidders and of them only 4 went above $125 including me. I wonder what the price would be if the vendor listed 3 or 4 divisions of this plant over a few months?

I have seen a vendor listing a species seedling 6 times, the first couple of times it sold for $80-$90 but the same seedling has been going for about $28 recently. Some sellers are getting around this by second chance offers, on one occasion I was the 4 highest bidder and received a second chance offer. 

12 months ago every paph was getting bids but more recently some have gone unsold,two in the last week that I have noticed and I only look at what interests me.

Mick


----------



## cattmad (Apr 22, 2012)

david, I agree the PEOY went fairly cheaply really given it's quality and the size of the plant.

In all honesty large divisions of any paphs are rarely seen available for sale here


----------



## emydura (Apr 23, 2012)

It makes you appreciate how much your plants are worth. I'm starting to get a collection of multiple growth multi-florals - some of them nice clones. Going by these prices many of them would be worth $2000 - $3000 each. It also makes it difficult when people ask you for divisions. If you can get $300+ on eBay it is a pretty generous gift. Especially when it costs you that much to buy a division yourself.


----------



## emydura (Apr 23, 2012)

quietaustralian said:


> If we look at that auction. There were 490 views of the auction at auction end but only 7 bidders and of them only 4 went above $125 including me. I wonder what the price would be if the vendor listed 3 or 4 divisions of this plant over a few months?
> Mick



Yes, it is probably just us trying to outbid each other. oke:


----------



## Roth (Apr 23, 2012)

emydura said:


> Even at the time the flower wasn't big. It was recognised for its shape and colour. To be honest I put shape and colour way ahead of size. The only better St Swithin I have seen in Australia is St Swithin 'Sunnybank' FCC/AOC. I much prefer these roth petal stance St Swithin's. I find most of the St Swithin's (even awarded ones) have terrible petal stances.
> 
> Having said all that the price on this division is insane. Despite what the seller says, that plant is a fair way off flowering size - 38cm LS is pretty small. So that is a huge jump in price. Things are getting out of control.



Well, it is for sure from UK breeding lines, according to the flower shape, color, and my experience with some St Swithin from Racliffe, I am absolutely sure it is a progeny of the real Commander... I wonder how many of the Commander selfings are still around Australia, but I would think there must be some definitely. Gorgeous roths ( like Wendy one). The price can be justified because the shape and color are really good, and it is for sure a good parent...


----------



## emydura (Apr 23, 2012)

Roth said:


> Well, it is for sure from UK breeding lines, according to the flower shape, color, and my experience with some St Swithin from Racliffe, I am absolutely sure it is a progeny of the real Commander... I wonder how many of the Commander selfings are still around Australia, but I would think there must be some definitely. Gorgeous roths ( like Wendy one). The price can be justified because the shape and color are really good, and it is for sure a good parent...



I think you are right. I was told that all those great Australian St Swithin clones such as 'Sunnybank' originated from English breeding.


----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 23, 2012)

emydura said:


> Yes, it is probably just us trying to outbid each other. oke:



Doh!!! Did you beat me again and with the same vendor? I did'nt get a second chance offer on this one..yet:evil:

Mick


----------



## emydura (Apr 23, 2012)

quietaustralian said:


> Doh!!! Did you beat me again and with the same vendor? I did'nt get a second chance offer on this one..yet:evil:
> 
> Mick



No, just the once (I think). Stay tuned to see what you missed out on.


----------



## quietaustralian (Apr 23, 2012)

emydura said:


> No, just the once (I think). Stay tuned to see what you missed out on.



Lol!!


----------



## emydura (Nov 11, 2012)

I think we have been warned about this eBay seller previously. I'm pretty sure I know where this roth came from and as such it would be impossible for 'Rex' to be one of the parents. In fact, I have not heard of anyone making this cross although I can't say for sure it hasn't been done. 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Orchid-P...?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item2ec33a7462


----------



## jimspaphs (Dec 31, 2012)

*Saint Swithin`Sunnybank`*



emydura said:


> I think you are right. I was told that all those great Australian St Swithin clones such as 'Sunnybank' originated from English breeding.




`Sunnybank`FCC was grown from flask by Mackinneys Nursery(no longer operating) --The flasks came from Ratcliffe and many of them are top quality. Aries---Taurus--Gemeni--Leo---Libra---Scorpio--Sagittarius--Summer Storm---Marie---Q'lander--Sunnybank---Highland Prince--Jay-Dee ---


----------



## Ozpaph (Jan 4, 2013)

Unfortunately, the 2 seedlings I brought as a young fella from my time at Mackinney's were duds (still have them some 30+yrs on). I seem to remember some German flasks coming in at one stage - ???roths seddlings.


----------



## emydura (Jan 5, 2013)

Ozpaph said:


> Unfortunately, the 2 seedlings I brought as a young fella from my time at Mackinney's were duds (still have them some 30+yrs on)..



St Swithin's? They must be huge now?


----------



## Ozpaph (Jan 5, 2013)

Divided many times over.
Unfortunately a few years ago I divided a huge one and almost every division got some awful leaf rot which still plagues some of the pieces. It was never a problem before an just when I think I've cured it, back it comes


----------



## Ozpaph (Jan 5, 2013)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## emydura (Jan 5, 2013)

Ozpaph said:


> Divided many times over.
> Unfortunately a few years ago I divided a huge one and almost every division got some awful leaf rot which still plagues some of the pieces. It was never a problem before an just when I think I've cured it, back it comes



That is why I'm reluctant to divide. If they are growing well, let them be. But I guess there comes a time when they become unmanageable.

So is that an earlier photo before you divided or a current one? Beautiful healthy plant. 

So this came from the same flasks as Sunnybank etc.?


----------



## Ozpaph (Jan 5, 2013)

Before division.
I'm not sure but at around the same time. Obviously no show stopper.


----------



## emydura (Jan 5, 2013)

Ozpaph said:


> Obviously no show stopper.



Might look a bit better if you train the spikes while they are developing. The flowers are a bit all over the shop. I find the multi's need to be carefully trained to present well.


----------



## Ozpaph (Jan 5, 2013)

I just remembered that I have an old file with notes of plants I purchased.

The St Swithin was purchased in March 1984. Code was RD92. Perhaps Jim knows where 'RD' flasks came from.


----------



## emydura (Apr 28, 2013)

$250 for basically a single growth seedling of parishii. The prices show no sign of waning. This is not the easiest species to grow either so good luck to the buyer.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ORCHID-P...?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item3cd0e32b3e


----------



## Ozpaph (Apr 29, 2013)

That was super crazy! I didn't even bid.
I just buy imports when they're offered.


----------



## emydura (Apr 29, 2013)

Ozpaph said:


> That was super crazy! I didn't even bid.
> I just buy imports when they're offered.



Either did I. There wasn't even a photo of the plant, so you were buying sight unseen. Too much money for such a flaky species.


----------



## cattmad (Apr 29, 2013)

if you read the description it was actually one old growth and a new start

crazy, good luck flowering that anytime soon


----------



## emydura (Jun 9, 2013)

Looks like it is not just Paphs that are selling for a lot of money in Australia -

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dendrobi...x8hh3sEtW9ZxevoyYPRX4%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc


----------



## Roy (Jun 9, 2013)

That bidding is just crazy. It has to be from someone/people who just don't check nursery lists. It just doesn't compute as to why anyone would pay this amount for any orchid these days.


----------



## cattmad (Jun 9, 2013)

over 5 bidders bid over 1K, WOW


----------



## emydura (Jun 9, 2013)

For those outside of Australia, Avril's Gold this would be the choice Australian native that is highly sort after. This would have to be close to the nicest clone I have seen. The colour and shape is amazing. I've seen Avril's Gold go for $500-600 but nothing like this.

I wonder if this was won by someone like Wayne Turville who was willing to pay whatever it took. I guess we will find out if we start seeing mericlones for sale.


----------



## emydura (Oct 6, 2013)

$108!!!! for that. I wouldn't pay $10 for it. The only reason he got that price was because of my photos. He stole them and used them without my permission. It would have added $100 to the price. Heck, I would be happy to sell my plant for that price and it is 6 or more growths as well as being the actual plant of those flowers!!!!!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SPECIES-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557


----------



## Dido (Oct 8, 2013)

interesting and crazy eBay. 

Sometimes you have luck the other way round


----------

