Phalaenopsis Disposable Orchids

[catttan]

Last month I was in Hong Kong on holidays, visiting my eldest son who works there. As usual I visited the Flower Market in Mongkok to see the phalaenopsis on sale there. Phalaenopsis are in great demand there for the Chinese New Year (Feb 14 - 15 -( see last year's post on feng shui orchids ).A whole block of florist shops and roadside-vendors were selling tons of phalaenopsis.This year the quality of the phals was outstanding.

I was shocked to discover that people who bought the phals only only used them to decorate their homes and would discard them after the New Year when the flowers have faded and dropped!!!!. And the phals were really inexpensive about US $ 6-7 for the quality the blooms.

I am posting photos of the phals. Would you throw away these phals????:

[delphiguy]

Oh no.... please dont throw them away... for all those people who thinks that phals are
disposable... please dispose of them my way....

[muis01]

I was there last October November for work.
And each time I go there, I visit the Flower Market too just to see the orchids.
And indeed, they are spectacular... Too bad I cannot buy them and take with me due to customs and CITES!

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Please throw them my way if they are just being thrown out because of lost blooms!! I will find them new homes.

I was shopping yesterday and saw some phals being sold for valentines day. They were being sold for 15 US dollars and were in pink pots without any drainage. There were no names other than phalaenopsis on the plants, but they were the type others have posted about here before, you know the ones, "Just add Ice". This is the real kicker though, the tag also gave a number where you could text to get more care information for the new orchid you were killing by loading it down with ice cubes in a non-draining pot. lol. I just shook my head and walked away as people were putting the plants into their shopping carts along with their food and other purchases.

Cheers,
BD

[stefpix]

What about Poinsettias over here? happens all the time...
otherwhise with all the Poinsettias sold around xmas our cities would be now jungles of Poinsettias!
wonder how long it takes for those Phals to reach blooming size.
Anyway I am sure some people will take care and make them rebloom.

[rwf]

I'm one of those that just bought an ice cube phal., I couldn't resist the blooms...the plant seems to be in good condition...I pulled the plactic pot off and the roots are big, fat and green...I'm going to wait till the blooms are gone to repot...as for the ones that get thrown away,,,time to go dumpster diving???lol

[navyderek]

I'd certainly take a few of those phals. But yeah.... a lot of orchids are sold like this-- in plastic pots, no drainage, just add ice.

I'm of two minds on this quandary. It seems like a horrible waste to most of us on this site, but it exposes a huge segment of the population to orchids and orchid care. Yes, a lot of those people will lose the orchids and be done, maybe buy more on a future holiday- but some of them will enjoy them enough to look into the hobby of growing orchids.

I'm one of those people who bought several of these throw away orchids for my ex....a couple of them were nice enough to rebloom for me in spite of the neglect and I was hooked. I eventually looked up care instructions, found out about how most of these are "throwaway orchids" and repotted them. I then bought William Cullina's book about orchids, and now have 70ish spread about my house, filling up plant stands and shelves. I would never have gotten into orchids without those throw away Phals. Plants seem hard if you don't know anything about them. :-)

[catttan]

Hope there are more like you around, Derek.

@Stefanie: While you were there did you notice a small stall in one of the sidelanes where a woman-vendor was selling a lot of species originating from China and Vietnam? I couldn't buy them for the same reasons - CITES and customs.

@Stefpix : In HK add these to poinsettias: dwarf azaleas, cyclamens and the kumquats.

[jowben1]

Regarding the "Just add ice" orchids: It's time for a new organization, the ASPCP. (American Society for Prevention of Cruelety to Plants).

[smartie2000]

This is sickening because of the way these plants are mass produced. They are not always cloned with care. I have had brought in sick plants (virus) that were likely imported from asia.