At it again, this is very frustrating!

[Hien]

....

Take heart though Cyp growers! Due to the efforts of a number of people, more are coming available each year. One wholesaler in Belgium, Phytesia, in particular has been propagating and distributing a large number of species worldwide. As far as I know these are documented. Other companies have been busy as well, notably Judith Prins in Belgium, Paul Christian, Orchids by Post in the UK, and Werner Frosch in Germany (most of his stuff is hybrids, but not all). Others exist as well. Regarding Chinese companies, the only one that is micropropagating that I know of is Hengduan Mountains Biotechnology, LTD. in Sichuan. They aren't exporting yet, but keep your eyes open for plants in the coming years.

Yes , I remember read about Biotechnology effort that you mentioned in the AOS magazine. Did it involve some German scientist?
I will bet you that the exporting of orchids all over the world can & will happen very soon, for one thing the chineses are very practical (specially, regarding business & commerce). They are one of the best peoples when it comes to business.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Yes , I remember read about Biotechnology effort that you mentioned in the AOS magazine. Did it involve some German scientist?
I will bet you that the exporting of orchids all over the world can & will happen very soon, for one thing the chineses are very practical (specially, regarding business & commerce). They are one of the best peoples when it comes to business.

You remember correctly Hien. The German doctor is Holger Perner. At some point plants will be sold abroad, but when is an interesting question. Last year he was fishing around for interest abroad, but outside of Japan he didn't catch any "big fish"...so exporting to the States and Europe may be more spotty. The bottom line is that small orders means small money, and most folks aren't interested. That is particularly true for the CITES covered stuff since it is so expensive to line everything up legally. Add to that this current recession and...who knows! The same situation exists here in Japan - most growers aren't interested in exporting because the hassle isn't worth the dough.

 

[Hakone]

Cypripedium, which produce in Europe, are more favorable than import of China. CITES and dispatch costs are void

 

[NYEric]

Don't european nurseries still charge for CITES paperwork needed to export plants to USA?

 

[Hakone]

Don't european nurseries still charge for CITES paperwork needed to export plants to USA?

Hello NYEric,

In Europe does not need import from China, cyp gives enough in Europe. The USA white I not

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Hello NYEric,

In Europe does not need import from China, cyp gives enough in Europe. The USA white I not

Europe definitely has more material going around compared to the states. Of course nearly all of these plants are either wild sourced or are first generation plants from wild ones. Thankfully some folks have been micropropagating them and so seedling, sub-adult, and young-adult plants are just beginning to come available.

Phytesia, for instance, has offered such rarities as C. lichiangense and C. yunnanense in the past few years - deflasked seedlings only though. These seedlings were produced from wild collected plants and a number have entered the States presumably legally. To sum up, the relatively Cyp-saturated European market is due to diligent efforts by growers for sure, but this is backed up by a continuous flow of plants out of the wild as well. In America few or no sources of ANY Chinese species exist - that is, in-country sources. That doesn't mean nobody's got any, they just aren't selling them yet (not even fairly common stuff like C. macranthos).

 

[shakkai]

Ratcliffe (through their Hardy Orchids part of the business) propagate and sell Cyps. They have 25 species listed in the list on their website:

http://www.hardyorchids.co.uk/

including Cyp. lichiangense and Cyp. yennanense, as mentioned above. All of their plants are propagated from nursery stock, so these species must have been available here in the EU for some time.

Eric, I checked the Paul Christian Rare Plants site, and they charge £17.50 (so just over $20) for the CITES paperwork per Genus. Which sounds pretty reasonable to me.

http://www.rareplants.co.uk/product.asp?s=dmXs9i260096&strParents=&CAT_ID=94&P_ID=1128

 

[NYEric]

That depends on how much the plants themselves cost!

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

While we're discussing cyps on Ebay, this one caught my interest-http://cgi.ebay.com/Cypripedium-parviflorum-Yellow-Ladyslipper_W0QQitemZ230297554809QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
Has anyone dealt with this company? It seems like it could be a good place......Take care, Eric

 

[Hien]

Ratcliffe (through their Hardy Orchids part of the business) propagate and sell Cyps. They have 25 species listed in the list on their website:

http://www.hardyorchids.co.uk/

including Cyp. lichiangense and Cyp. yennanense, as mentioned above. All of their plants are propagated from nursery stock, so these species must have been available here in the EU for some time.

Eric, I checked the Paul Christian Rare Plants site, and they charge £17.50 (so just over $20) for the CITES paperwork per Genus. Which sounds pretty reasonable to me.

http://www.rareplants.co.uk/product.asp?s=dmXs9i260096&strParents=&CAT_ID=94&P_ID=1128

The orchid community in the US was very upset when the Immigration gave Ratcliffe so much problem that they decided to close their nursery in Florida.

 

[cnycharles]

While we're discussing cyps on Ebay, this one caught my interest-http://cgi.ebay.com/Cypripedium-parviflorum-Yellow-Ladyslipper_W0QQitemZ230297554809QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
Has anyone dealt with this company? It seems like it could be a good place......Take care, Eric

I was surprised to see that the vendor was located in delhi, ny which isn't far from here. I did a google search under delhi ny orchids and couldn't find anything. I got distracted, but am going to continue searching to see if I can find out who this is. Not to say that I could miss someone offering native orchids for sale in my front yard but could just be a reseller of seedlings from flask. So, maybe someone contacting them and inquiring in a friendly fashion where they get their supplies from and what their business name is in delhi. If they have been in business for a while then I guess I need to open my eyes a bit more!

apparently they do business as woodside gardens, and they have been doing business with a lot of nature products for around 20 years. I thought in the back of my mind that there was a predatory insect company that was in delhi, and this business sells predatory insects so it's probably them. they aren't per se an orchid vendor so aren't listed anywhere as such, but if you check out their sites they sell very many outdoors-related things! (and looks like they grow all of their own orchids)

 

[NYEric]

I hae an order in with that firm in Delhi, NY Eric. Someone here has had a problem with them however. I'll try to look up the thread.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

I hae an order in with that firm in Delhi, NY Eric. Someone here has had a problem with them however. I'll try to look up the thread.

I believe Ron Burch will have some for sale this March. I don't remember where these plants originated though - he has plants that fall within the range of v. maksin, the rarer southern form of v. parviflorum, and also v. parviflorum from the woodlands of Connecticut. Here is the link to his webstore. You can be assured that he will send very healthy plants at a reasonable cost.

 

[NYEric]

Ya Ron is one of the 5-6 vendors I bought cyps from last year. However, I'm worried that we're getting so little snow this year that the ones I planted outside already wont have enough moisture.

 

[biothanasis]

Judging from all the above, how can someone be at a very good percent sure that what one buys is not wild collected???? I know that if flasks and manmade hybrids are offered, then these themselves are ok, but what happens with the native ones?? (Of caurse the rare are suspicious)!!! TY

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Judging from all the above, how can someone be at a very good percent sure that what one buys is not wild collected???? I know that if flasks and manmade hybrids are offered, then these themselves are ok, but what happens with the native ones?? (Of caurse the rare are suspicious)!!! TY

It can be very difficult to know with established plants. Recently collected plants typically have cut roots, darkened roots (brown and or black parts), and rotten places on the rhizome and roots. Realize that most lab produced plants that are adult size are still pretty young since most species haven't been in production very long. If you see a long rhizome or complex rhizome with multiple shoots, it is likely it was wild collected (especially with the rarer species or Chinese ones). Even "common" species such as C. tibeticum have been only recently raised to maturity from micropropagated material. Face the facts, the bulk of adult size Chinese species were wild sourced. Oh, one more thing, if you are paying less than say $40 per plant, then it is likely sub-adult or wild collected.

 

[kentuckiense]

Face the facts, the bulk of adult size Chinese species were wild sourced. Oh, one more thing, if you are paying less than say $40 per plant, then it is likely sub-adult or wild collected.

AND ChineseGreen has a long and storied history of selling obviously wild-collected Paphs. Nobody on Earth would be offering adult lab-propagated lichiangense, for example, at those prices.

 

[NYEric]

The US cyps and the ones from the established European firms are generally not wild collected. I have dealt w/ Cyp Haven, Gardens at Post Hill, Hillside Gardens, Spangler Creek, Vermont Ladyslipper, adn a couple of eBay vendors.

 

[em_tee_w]

Robert's Flower Supply seems like a good reputable source, as well. http://www.orchidmix.com/

 

[NYEric]

Seems to have a decent supply plus has other native USA orchids. Thanx.