new members ≠ learning and growing

[Hera]

that is a nice idea

a bunch of years ago I brought some of my flowering plants (mostly some rarer phal species at the time) to where I work, and many of the people there don't speak english as their primary language, and many don't speak much of it as any language...), showing them to get them interested and show the flowers. later in the day I went into the utility room where I had the box with my orchids, right next to the break room, and over half of the plants were gone! I was quite irritated and started wandering around finding the people I had showed my plants to, and found that they thought I was giving them away and each took some :fight: I got them all back, and didn't do too much show and tell after that

You know the saying 'no good deed goes unpunished'.

That's actually kind of a horrifying story. I almost lost a favorite phal at a meeting to an overzealous newbie who wanted to "make me a deal". We were having a member plant sale and a show table on the same night and luckily another member saw him walking around with it.

 

[Rick]

Second, we acknowledged that we can be a bit uninviting and not everyone has the courage or social skills to break into a new group easily.

I always thought you guys were very inviting Forrest:wink:

I think our society is pretty good about meeting with new people, and I think once somebody comes by once or twice they often stay for a while. However as you mentioned you are the youngest member in your society and that seems to be a demographic issue in our society too.

Maybe there are better ways to make orchids more accessible to the younger, more mobile and less affluent group than us old fogies. Maybe it has nothing to do with accessibility, but still requires to much patience and space? When I was younger I wouldn't have much to do with plants outside of reading about them. I was into fish, frogs, and lizards. I know a lot of our ST members have similar backgrounds.

Maybe recruiting can cross over into the aquarium stores and herp societies?

 

[rangiku]

Dear Charles, while we're on the subject, I just bought a Samsung Galaxy Slll and it seems to have a decent camera. Now, sir, how do I get photos from my camera
to ST?

Angela, you can use Tapatalk to access ST and other forums from your smartphone, iPod Touch or tablet: http://www.tapatalk.com/. It works very well. You can even moderate with it. Thanks to Peter Lin over on Big Leaf Orchids for telling his forum about this great free app.

I'm on the boards of two OSs and I think it is really important to spend time with new members or yet to be members before the meeting and let them know you are a resource for them. Try and greet people you don't recognize - "I'm sorry I don't remember your name, I'm..." You're doing PR for your OS with your conversation. Being friendly and helpful goes a long way.

 

[Tom499]

While the supermarket Phalaenopsis are often treated like a bouquet of flowers, many of the 1st plants I grew were phal rejects from friends and family, and quite a few reduced buys from garden centres. I couldn't afford to start with anything else.

 

[tomkalina]

This is an interesting thread. It's no secret that many shows and societies are getting smaller and orchids seem to have lost their mystique because of easy availability and cheap prices. Back in the day (remember, I'm not all that young anymore) orchids were comparatively expensive because mass propagation techniques weren't available, and when you spent a lot of money for an orchid especially a rare species or awarded clone, it was something you wanted to grow on and enjoy for years to come. You got hooked, and all you could think about was the exotic plants you were beginning to accumulate. Also, about the only way you could get any information about growing orchids was to join a local society and the AOS for it's wonderful AOS Bulletin.

Then along came the internet with it's instant access to all sorts of (mostly) good information about anything, including orchids. Over a relatively short period of time, you could research virtually any orchid subject and gather cultural information that was in many cases more accurate than anything you could get at the local society level, which in most cases only met once a month anyway. The internet is here to stay, and I'm glad it is, although I think it's an important reason why orchid societies are getting smaller.

I agree with Lance; this is the new order of things. Not everyone has a lasting love affair with orchids. Truth to tell, they can be an economical, disposable and renewable resource. I'd rather see someone buy a Phal. at the local Home Depot for $ 12.95 and replace it every few months than drop $ 75 for a dozen roses that get dumped after a week or ten days.

There will always be hobbyist collectors, especially of orchids that cannot be mass produced (i.e. Paphs/Phrags) and they are what keeps boutique growers like us in the game. For the rest - the ones who don't become hobbyist collectors - there's still a lot of enjoyment out there to be had.

Thanks,

 

[nikv]

a bunch of years ago I brought some of my flowering plants (mostly some rarer phal species at the time) to where I work, and many of the people there don't speak english as their primary language, and many don't speak much of it as any language...), showing them to get them interested and show the flowers. later in the day I went into the utility room where I had the box with my orchids, right next to the break room, and over half of the plants were gone! I was quite irritated and started wandering around finding the people I had showed my plants to, and found that they thought I was giving them away and each took some :fight: I got them all back, and didn't do too much show and tell after that

So far, that hasn't happened to me. I keep them on display at the receptionist's desk and she keeps a pretty good eye on them. I did once have a colleague ask me if she could have one of my plants. I opted to buy her one of the same species and kept my plant. It's the one in this thread:

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20161&highlight=digbyana

Best Regards,
Nik

 

[SlipperFan]

...
There will always be hobbyist collectors, especially of orchids that cannot be mass produced (i.e. Paphs/Phrags) and they are what keeps boutique growers like us in the game. For the rest - the ones who don't become hobbyist collectors - there's still a lot of enjoyment out there to be had.

Thanks,

The question is, will there be enough of us to sustain vendors like you? That's what worries me. Because the fewer vendors there are, the fewer choices us serious hobbyists will have.

 

[gonewild]

The question is, will there be enough of us to sustain vendors like you? That's what worries me. Because the fewer vendors there are, the fewer choices us serious hobbyists will have.

In case you did not notice there is already not enough hobbyists to sustain vendors like Tom. That is why there aren't many "Toms" left now.

 

[SlipperFan]

In case you did not notice there is already not enough hobbyists to sustain vendors like Tom. That is why there aren't many "Toms" left now.

There are still many good vendors around, now that we have the internet. But I know it is harder and harder for them to stay in business, especially the ones who have rarer offerings because the market is shrinking for those.

 

[cattmad]

the smarter vendors are using the internet to their advantage today, saves money on printing lists and postage costs and is a very good way to attract new customers

 

[fbrem]

I always thought you guys were very inviting Forrest:wink: ....... Maybe recruiting can cross over into the aquarium stores and herp societies?

Thanks Rick, I appreciate the comment. However were often quite a bit nicer to our speakers than our visitors. I can't ever remember cooking a nice meal for a visitors. Hey, maybe that's the ticket. Instead of inviting the select few over to eat and mingle with the speakers we should invite the visitors too!!! What could be more welcoming than that.

As for the demographic issue, I think younger folks are too caught up in the fast paced action of the modern world, and as Tom said would rather get their info from the internet than from taking 2-3 hours out of their day and visit their local society. I definitely heavily use the internet to research but IMO there's no substitute for getting together with people that share your passion to exchange information and good times.

Another issue is that, on average, younger people tend to have larger social groups, and that comes with its own set of demands. I've realized that as I went from high school, to college, to grad school, and now into the working world that the size of my social group and my responsibilities has taken on an unfortunate inverse relationship. Oh well! there's only so much we can do with our time. I think that as people age it becomes more common to seek out others that you can relate to and I'll remain optimistic that the societies will ultimately benefit from that.

Good idea about linking to other groups though, we all share the same desire to bring unusual aspects into our lives and be the masters of our small domains!

 

[Rick]

I wouldn't say I'm from that age demographic that has replaced human/nature contact with the virtual contact of the internet. But I would say that the computer has accelerated my ability to increase awareness and knowledge of the natural world (rather than replaced it). It's almost like a feedback loop for me. I see pics and get info on the web, I want to interact directly with the plants, more plants (in my GH) needs more interaction with other sources to get more ideas and feedback from other interested individuals (either directly with a society and its members, or on this forum). So I'm not really convinced its the internet's fault for the decline in Orchid Societies.

But I feel there does seem to be a real decline in human empathy for direct human/human contact or direct human/natural world contact. The computer and video games just seem to have facilitated this direction.

 

[tomkalina]

Some time ago, John Salventi did a talk (I think for the AOS?) concerning the future of commercial orchid growing in the U.S. His take was that the very large, high volume firms who mass produced for the big box stores, and the boutique growers who specialized in the rare and harder to find plants would survive. But he thought the medium sized growers would have ahard time making a profit. You might still be able to download this talk from the Parkside Orchids website, but I'm not sure since they're now under new ownership (Parkside would have been considereded a medium sized commercial grower at the time John gave his talk).

Personally, if this were not a much smaller retirement business and I wasn't collecting a pension and social security, I could never survive on this volume of business, let alone raise a family. No question, a lot of the problem is due to the economy, but there is a changing dynamic that isn't economic and that's the internet. There are plants offered on eBay similar to our product but with different breeding stock that have prices that are hard to match. Sure, that Paph. Magic Lantern seedling might have questionable parent quality, but let's face it; when it blooms - no one is going to have a hard time mistaking it for anything but a Magic Lantern, and the $9 price is very attractive. Our challenge as boutique growers is to offer things that aren't available readily on eBay. The volume may be low, but the quality should be very high to continue attracting the hobbyist collectors. As long as ST and forums like it are around, I think the hobbyist collectors that are members will sustain those of us who are trying to do the high quality breeding they expect.

Thanks!

 

[SlipperFan]

:clap: Tom!

 

[Rick]

As long as ST and forums like it are around, I think the hobbyist collectors that are members will sustain those of us who are trying to do the high quality breeding they expect.

Thanks!

BTW

Those last two d'allesandroi are growing at an astronomical rate.

Thanks again!

 

[keithrs]

At least the box store are getting people out to OS meeting!

 

[keithrs]

Most people want a cheap easy fix!

 

[keithrs]

Thanks Rick, I appreciate the comment. However were often quite a bit nicer to our speakers than our visitors. I can't ever remember cooking a nice meal for a visitors. Hey, maybe that's the ticket. Instead of inviting the select few over to eat and mingle with the speakers we should invite the visitors too!!! What could be more welcoming than that.

As for the demographic issue, I think younger folks are too caught up in the fast paced action of the modern world, and as Tom said would rather get their info from the internet than from taking 2-3 hours out of their day and visit their local society. I definitely heavily use the internet to research but IMO there's no substitute for getting together with people that share your passion to exchange information and good times.

Another issue is that, on average, younger people tend to have larger social groups, and that comes with its own set of demands. I've realized that as I went from high school, to college, to grad school, and now into the working world that the size of my social group and my responsibilities has taken on an unfortunate inverse relationship. Oh well! there's only so much we can do with our time. I think that as people age it becomes more common to seek out others that you can relate to and I'll remain optimistic that the societies will ultimately benefit from that.

Good idea about linking to other groups though, we all share the same desire to bring unusual aspects into our lives and be the masters of our small domains!

I completely agree.... The mid 40s to retirement age group have mostly accomplished what they want out of life and will have the means to support a demanding hobby.

Younger folk have to many other distractions in life to worry about plants.

 

[newbud]

I came here because the 2 big box phals I bought 5 years ago would not bloom for us. I went online and was looking up how to bloom Phalaenopsis and was reading about other orchids and became intrigued. It was all downhill from there. That was 9 months and 200 plants and several shows and meetings, etc. ago. And I still have not bloomed those 2 Phals.
I guess it's like alcohol. The addict was just lying in wait.
I've loved every minute of it since. Thank you.

 

[SlipperFan]

I came here because the 2 big box phals I bought 5 years ago would not bloom for us. I went online and was looking up how to bloom Phalaenopsis and was reading about other orchids and became intrigued. It was all downhill from there. That was 9 months and 200 plants and several shows and meetings, etc. ago. And I still have not bloomed those 2 Phals.
I guess it's like alcohol. The addict was just lying in wait.
I've loved every minute of it since. Thank you.

You are welcome. Nice to have you here among fellow addicts! :clap: