Anyone for a cigar?

goldenrose · Oct 24, 2007

Go to his website, you'll have a better understanding & it's all explained.You have part of it right. He would flask & you recieve some back. The portion he keeps is for sale on his website. Individuals interested can be put on a wait list & notified of the progress & when they're ready purchase thru him.

TheLorax · Oct 24, 2007

Got it-
http://www.troymeyers.com/

Rick · Oct 25, 2007

TheLorax said:
Please help me sort something out, this man does free flasking of straight species orchids for a cut of what germinates and survives? Would this mean that if I wanted to harvest some seeds from a few natural stands of orchids (from my own properties) to send to him that he would flask them and forward them to conservationists and field biologists of my choice who need the plant material for restoration projects and in exchange for this invaluable service, he keeps a percentage of the seedlings?

If my understanding is correct, I know a handful of people who may be very interested in this arrangement, myself included.

I have looked up some of the native orchid flaskings on his site and noticed that some of the seed is being sent from wild plants from "consortium's" of some sort. So your plan sounds viable.

TheLorax · Oct 25, 2007

To be quite blunt, I'd prefer to see native orchids with location data available for sale from a legitimate source. Keeps all the collectors from trampling the fragile ecosystems where these plants occur and I gotta tell you it gets real old real fast seeing spade marks dotting a site when you know darn well that the chances of the poached plants being able to survive in someone's garden is like next to 0.

For just that reason alone, I will try my best to collect from two stands of Cyps on my personal property next spring and will forward the seed to your guy as well as photos of the parents in the stands. Theoretically, I'll get back enough plants to better ensure the survival of my stands while allowing him to sell off the rest to people who lust for these species. I'm pretty sure I've got C. acaule and my gut tells me I've also got a stand of C. parviflorum and I know for sure I've got other orchids on the property but they aren't slippers. This coming spring I plan on driving up there when they are in bloom to get a better idea of exactly which species I do have.

On an aside, I have 4 personal friends who came to mind when I read your comments. They are also volunteering in natural areas. They remove invasive species that encroach the habitat in which native orchids exist. The existence of the invasives impaired... no crippled... reproduction of the orchids. In one particular situation, they all but choked out orchids on state land and there are only 5 plants scattered about that are left at a site hanging on by a wing and a prayer right about now because so many companion plants were lost to the Phragmites australis and Phalaris arundinacea as well as several other choking exotics that invaded that ecosystem. That's the site I was thinking about specifically. Even though the invasives have been removed and the site is being monitored, it's still in trouble because of the loss of diversity. There is only one person attempting to flask seed from that site and he's learning as he goes. He stated he was losing plants when deflasking them. I will be discussing this opportunity with him because preservation of that particular genotype is a major concern to him and if there are two people out there trying to flask with one of them having considerable experience in the process (the Meyers guy) ... all the better for the site. I'm going to be propagating some of the companion species for reintroduction to the site. If all goes well, balance may be able to be restored. The site was pretty degraded by the time it was found though.

Thanks ever so much for your comments Rick. The one man I am thinking about pours his heart out at that one site and he was sick over losing orchids when he deflasked them.