Vappodes lithocola

[Merlyn]

Please tell me, Bud, that you're not insinuating that Orchid-Wiz is the leading edge and/or future replacement of the RHS !!! I've used it until my PC crashed and I admit that it IS a great, although far from perfect, source for orchid info. It is like a quick and handy conglomeration of internet orchid data that the owner does NOT verify. RHS is like the Library of Congress of orchid history and data, and O-Wiz is like a fascinating, very colorful, attention getting, junior high school. Very much the adolescent in this orchid world.

[Bud]

Sorry Chryss...I do not have an Orchid wiz...it costs $350
my membership to RHS was I think 68 pounds and 46 pence taken out specifically from my debit card(they asked for a debit card not credit) and I think they took another renewal this year for the same amount or maybe a bit more...
Whereas AOS took $97 from me in my credit card...
I just wanted to search for my plants there and learn about culture.
But I didnt find some of my plants but some had a very informative explanations and pictures,
If I wanted information about my plants and paid money for it...Id expect to get my moneys worth...sometimes I didnt get anything at all..
So what kind of scam are they pulling??!!
Its not about you guys...its just about me being had and making feel like a "chump"...they have my money and I dont get squat...
So...I am not getting an Orchid Wiz...by the way you explained it to me...it will definitely be a big dissappointment.

[Merlyn]

I hear there is a free month trial version, it doesn't have all the access that the full version does but you get a taset. I NEVER paid that much, there is usually a deal for a major reduction in price = $200 total. Strange, Bud, AOS membership is only $65 and they usually have a half price offer every other year which is how I was doing it ! On one year off the next !!! Then I started getting awards and it PAYS to be a member as the awards drop to $35, I think. I never joined RHS, I just use their search function. What more do you get as a member ?

[gnathaniel]

Lest I come off as overly harsh in my previous post, Bud, I assure you I don't intend it as a personal attack or any knock on your growing ability. From the pictures you've posted here you seem to have a real green thumb and I think you have something to offer this forum.

I do hope you'll try to give others more credit for their good intentions, though. Questioning a plant's label doesn't imply a personal attack on you, on a grower who may have labeled it that way, or (as in this thread) on a botanist who gave a plant a name not presently accepted by most other botanists; it just means the questioner sees some basis for friendly disagreement. Like you and me and everyone, all these people are sometimes wrong according to a broader consensus.

I also hope that you continue exploring botanical nomenclature, behind which there is a lot of fascinating science and sometimes controversy. If you're interested in the genus Dendrobium I'd suggest the book by Lavarack, Harris, and Stocker as a good starting point. It's very approachable and has many nice photographs.

And like Chryss asked, what do you get for joining RHS?

--Nat

[Merlyn]

That's a GREAT book, Bud, it was given to me by my mentor when I was a rank novice and I must have read it cover to cover 20 times or more !!!!

[Bud]

I joined the RHS and paid dues because I thought by doing the search engine in their site, I will get informations about my plants...culture ...and the latest names that have baptized the old and new plants according to their archives...because I find out that the names of orchids constantly changes like the tides...
I thought by paying dues and joining this RHS, I will be given information that I needed...I was soooo wrong!
I wasted my money. And I cant get it back(in fact I am changing my debit card so I wont be charged again next year)
As for AOS; I do not regret giving money because I read that AOS send people to school and pay their tuition to study orchids...I support that.
I do not support making the queen of england richer with my money ... maybe someday I will go to KEWs gardens and look at the marvel they have...and thats how my membership comes handy on a free entrance to the gates...

---------- Post added at 03:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:35 PM ----------

Thank You, Nat ! I have the book ordered from Amazon and I got a good deal at less than $20 including shipping...the book originally costs $50 and shipment...
I never took anyones comments on my plants and my thread as a personal afront...I do not know anybody here...so how can it be personal?
But I tend to prove you all wrong by looking at google and search engines and since they have different kinds of pictures(one picture of a classic Stuartiana looked like a sogo king...so thats how inacurate the net can sometimes be) but I admit it if you have a correct information and this is why I love this forum: we have the freedom to exchange ideas and argue on point of views and opinions...

[NatalieS]

Originally Posted by gnathaniel

book by Lavarack, Harris, and Stocker

That is a brilliant book. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and I have learned so much from it.

@ Bud. When you get this book check out chapter 8 about hybrids and Sander's List and how this wonderful hybrid list was taken over by the RHS in 1961. I'm sure you will find it very informative.

[Bud]

This gave me more flowers this time on two spikes....bigger and rounder flowers than the blooms from end of February 2012....
also notice the growing pod from the time I selfed it last time this bloomed....when the flowers are all gone I will send the pod to a lab to flask for me.

[glengary54]

Bud - If you are serious about your seed pod, be careful, Dendrobium hybrids only take 4 -6 months to ripen and you probably would want to send a green pod to the lab. If that is the case the pod is just about ready. Good luck.

[Bud]

Thank You, Glen !
I will mail the pod to the lab ASAP....
this is my first attempt at selfing and I hope to be successful.
* the next ambitious attempt is cross pollination