Why a NoID is a NoID.

[lund0682]

This is an extremely interesting thread.

One thing I can't understand is why all the orchids available at big box stores are unnamed. I mean they all have little plastic labels in their pots. I wonder that the growers can't put a legitimate name on the label. I suppose the reason has something to do with money - in that it's somehow cheaper to produce plants without keeping track of what's what. Or maybe that growers have been careless over the years and not kept the best records; so now they're set up to grow huge quantities of anonymous plants and they couldn't easily change (even if they wanted to).

Do you think we'll ever see named plants available for the masses? I feel like the plants I see at the supermarket are more named than they used to be - so that instead of the label saying "orchid", now it says "Phalaenopsis Orchid". maybe things are changing?

[Paul Mc]

Actually, they do have names as growers need to keep track of what sells well. One big grower in Chicago that supplies them to Home Depot and Lowes was more than happy to give us the names. I think it may just be that most people who are buying don't care, thus it's cheaper to just not spend the money on the tags.

[SamiSmith]

Hi all! I'm a newbie to orchids. I presently have 2 noid phals that I just adore, but after ordering a ton of supplies, I really want to get a named phal. I'm more than a bit confused as to how to go about that however as I'm not 100% sure what makes an orchid named. I have looked at several online nurseries, and it seems that all of their orchids are named, but I've read that just because a grower lables the parent plants, and names the resulting plant does not mean that the plant is registered. Does this mean that if the plant is unregistered, it is technically a noid, even though the grower has named it? What are some things I should look for to ensure the plant I'm getting is truly named, and are there any growers you all can suggest?

[Gage]

You can always look up the name on the RHS website to see if it is registered.

[RosieC]

If you know the parents then it's not a NoID even if the offspring is not registered. The parent names are enough to identify the plant, even sometimes the grandparent names if the parents are also not registered.

NoIDs are only when there is no record of what the parantage of the orchid was. If you have a registered name then you can trace on the RHS website what it's parents were, and from those what it's grandparents were and all the way back to the species at the top of the family tree if you want. However if you have parent names that are registered instead you can still do that, or if you have grandparent names you can still do it.

If you buy one that is not registered but you know it's ancestry then if it ever is registered you can apply that name.

There can be various complications to this, in simple forms it's only a NoID if something in it's ancestry is unknown and cannot be traced.

[RosieC]

Oh and to search the RHS register take a look here. You can enter parents and find if their offspring is registered, or enter grex names and find the parents.

The International Orchid Register / RHS Gardening

[SamiSmith]

Thanks for explaining! I really appreciate your help!

[Tetouan]

Originally Posted by RosieC

Oh and to search the RHS register take a look here. You can enter parents and find if their offspring is registered, or enter grex names and find the parents.

The International Orchid Register / RHS Gardening

Thank you so much for posting the link..

[jordankelemen]

I just wanted to mention that NOID is not an impossible thing to fix. The majority of plants that end up at big box stores are from mass producers from Thailand as well as a large percent coming from SOGO.
You have to have a detail oriented eye and enough knowledge to notice small differences in the flower, you can ID NOIDs.

Now I will also say that I still won't ID a NOID

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by jordankelemen

I just wanted to mention that NOID is not an impossible thing to fix. The majority of plants that end up at big box stores are from mass producers from Thailand as well as a large percent coming from SOGO.
You have to have a detail oriented eye and enough knowledge to notice small differences in the flower, you can ID NOIDs.

Now I will also say that I still won't ID a NOID

I would have to say that it would be quite difficult to nearly impossible to tell some of the hybrids true identity. Not only does the flower slightly change depending on growing conditions, but when they are mass cloned, many slight mutations may arise, which can cause even more variations. I will say that it is possible in some occasions to be able to find out a source you can contact where you will be able to get a definite ID from the grower or distributor. While you might be able to find a picture of what looks very similar to a NoID you have, if you DO put that name as an ID for it, it is SOO important to mark or make notice that it is not definite. The reason is that if that undefinite tag gets left in the pot, and the plant switches homes and eventually finds its way into a breeder's hand, they might then unknowingly introduce a giant mess into their breeding plans, as it is possible that the plant they think they have and what it really is have different chromosome counts, which can really screw things up. Afterwards, any cross made with that plant then will most likely turn out to be a dead end and a waste of approximately seven years of their time if the result is an anueploid cross, which usually don't breed that well. Just because I can, I will use Sogo Gotris as an example, as the cross is definitely 3n. I'm sure there are dozens of crosses, both 2n and 4n, that look similar, but unless you know for sure what it is, you might be breeding dead end crosses.