Re: Plant Sales

[krombhol@teclink.net (Paul Krombholz)]

>>From: krombhol@teclink.net (Paul Krombholz)
>>Subject: Re: Current problems and plant sales
>>I seem to have missed out on the plan for how AGA was going to get in the
>>business of selling hard-to-get plants.
>
>The idea was first proposed March of 1998. It occurred around the same time
>that the MC was formed ... so it may not have made it into our internet
>discussions....It was also around the time that our good intentions of
>having a recording secretary did not materialize. I believe it is a good
>idea...I got someone to volunteer but it fell thru, due to lack of
>followup. The original full proposal will follow in the next message.
>>
>>If we were to be in the buisness of making available for members
>>hard-to-get plants, we would have to have a reliable source, ourselves.
>>That means a number of members willing to cultivate them and yank them out
>>of their tanks at any time.  We can rule out our depending on a commercial
>>supplier, because, if the commercial supplier has these plants reliably,
>>who needs us to be the middle man?
>
>Although AGAers could be the suppliers (and perhaps only suppliers) of some
>unusual plants, there are so many available commercially that are virtually
>unknown to the typical hobbyist.
>
>The largest grower in the US -Florida Aquatic Nurseries (FAN)- produces
>over 200 aquarium plants and has access to many more... including rare
>crypts. On the contrary, most wholesalers and retail shops only order a few
>species. Therefore most unusual and rare plants we see in books appear to
>be unavailable. IMHO, the problem is poor communication among the hobbyist,
>retail shops, wholesales and growers. AGA can help by getting these plants
>in the hands of the specialized hobbyists (AGAers) who in turn will spread
>the word. [we also must recognize that this program may benefit the US
>members the most, since CANADA and other countries have access to more
>plants. However, there WILL be plants that this program can provide
>internationally -- together with proper certificates which will NOT be easy
>- but I would like to keep this as a followup activity]
>
> >Some plants, such as stem plants can be easily cut and mailed without
>>disturbing the rest.  Others, expeciallly crypts should not be disturbed
>>for long periods of time, and when you do disturb them, you have to replant
>>them all, and usually have a period of melt down before they get going
>>again.
>>
>>
>
>Shipment and translocation and certainly uprooting of certain plants is
>definitely a problem...  This is one reason that hobbyists do not like to
>part with some of their crypts. This is also a problem with importation.
>When the plants arrive, they look like crap and people don't buy them.  FAN
>said that they would be willing to import certain stuff for AGA
>"resale"/distribution (even in small quanitities) and recognizing that
>imports arrive in mushy condition or only as rhizomes, they would be
>willing to grow them out so they have leaves or are in better condition for
>us to distribute. We are not talking about competing with retail shops. I
>would like the numbers to be kept small and species limited to those that
>are "unavailable."
>
>If getting us incorporated is the only way to do this (and I don't know if
>it is), then I say let's make it happen. Distributing rare and unusual
>plants by AGA can make a significant contribution to the aquatic plant
>hobby. It can hopefully put these plants in a large number of tanks; some
>people will share information about cultivation methods. This will
>encourage FAN to increase cultivation of certain plants and eventually the
>retail shops will demand more interesting and a larger variety of species.
>
>We have a volunteer (David Lass) to make this happen and I would hate to
>loose the opportunity again.


Pets Warehouse has a tremendous list of species on the web, but I have not
been able to get an idea from trolling APD for comments about them, whether
or not they can actually deliver all of them or even many of them.

If we are going to get started on this project, one of the early things we
should do is work up the list of plants we could supply.  Some of the old
favorites should be on the list, such as some varieties of vallisneria,
sagitteria and Najas.  These are actually quite scarce in pet stores.  Some
of the suppliers that advertise on the web seem to have a pretty good
selection of Vallisneria, but they all seem to be pretty weak in Sagitteria
and Najas.  That long, narrow-leaved variety of Sagitteria I sent you,
Neil, is a very uncommon variety, to my knowledge.  Do you still have it?

It seems to me that most of the swords are readily available except for the
small ones like E. tenellus, quadricostatus, and bolivianus.  (I am not
checking the spelling of any of these names and am probably making
mistakes).  The really rare one, that is supposedly easy to grow is E.
agustifolius.

The crypts are so hard to identify, and so many of the species have so many
varieties that appear to merge with varieties of other species, that it is
hard to know what is going on, or what varieties we should put on our hard
to get list.  Possibly C. affinis, C. albida (costata), and the varieties
of C. crispatula except var. balansae.  Just about any of the more well
known species have varieties that may be hard-to-get and lusted after by
Crypt enthusiasts.  Perhaps  a question posted on the crypts mailing list
would be the way to find out what varieties are most sought-after in the
USA.  The problem is, that if most crypt growers are like me, they are not
sure what they have and whether or not it is rare, and every time they
visit Jan Bastmeijer's pages, they get less sure.

Unless all we want to do is ship stuff to members that Florida Aquatic
Nurseries sends to us, we will have at least some members being in the
business of mantaining species on the rare and unusual list.  Ideally,
plant sales would be handled by one individual who has a large number of
tanks and can grow all the plants on the rare & unusual list. I don't think
that is going to happen, and so a number of people will have to volunteer
to keep the various species on the list,   Perhaps the questionnaire that
Olga developed could be used to identify and keep track of people willing
to do this and what species they are keeping.


Paul Krombholz, in central Mississippi, where the July temperature average
was only slightly above normal. Normal, however, is pretty miserable.