Re: Breeders' Rights
- Subject: Re: Breeders' Rights
- From: h*@open.org
- Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 19:41:00 -0700 (PDT)
Chick:
>I have a number of seedlings that I will probably introduce in the
>future, but I think it is very difficult to come up with a plant that
>is worthy of introduction.
I agree that finding a plant that is worth introducing to the
collector crowd is difficult, but coming up with nice hostas for the
general gardening public isn't all that difficult. My problem with
the Francee sport I have is that I doubt that many of the hosta
collectors will rush out and buy it because I am not in the collectors
universe. My interests with hostas is hosta genetics and the sporting
process. Along the way I pick up some interesting seedlings and
sports. Many of the sports have little commerical value, but every
once in awhile a nice one comes along. The question is, how do I
market them. I may end up getting myself a UPC number and market them
directly to the mass marketers. The way I figure it, if I can
wholesale them for maybe $3 each to star out with then there is little
incentive for the TC labs to rush out and TC it. Personally, I don't
see why people buy some of the hostas from the TC labs that they have
available. First, it is apparent that many labs have problems with
quality control, but from a practical point of view, it becomes
cheaper to do conventional propagation after a certain level is built
up.
>My guess is that when you say you're going to sell 1000 a year,
>you're not talking about selling in the same price range that I would
>introduce a new plant, and you are not selling to the same people.
Correct. If I have something that I think is really good then I think
I can make more money by propagating it to larger numbers and
wholesaling it. I see a number of different markets available for
selling hostas. The collectors market is relatively small and you
realy have to be part of that scene to have much success. However,
there is also the wholesale market to the people who put out the
catalogs that are geared to the collectors, but there is also the
national mail order catalogs such as Wayside and White Flower Farm,
and there is also the local market.
>But from your statement that it's not hard to come up with a
>nice plant, I would surmise that it is not revolutionary.
That is probably more or less correct. It is nice, but I doubt that
serious collectors are going to be wetting their pants in anticipation
of getting a plant of it. That's why I am trying to figure out where
the best market is for it.
Joe Halinar
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