One evening when I had some free time, I came up with the idea of a cooperative breeding program among small growers. The idea is to use our combined resources to further the various breeding goals of the participating members. Anyway, here's what I came up with. I would welcome comments both positive and negative as well as comments on potential problems and possible solutions to those problems.

Thanks,
Ross

Slipper Breeders Consortium Rules

Goal: To further Slipper orchid breeding through the combined resources and efforts of this group of small growers.
The Means: By combining resources members will have a better selection of flowers to choose from for further hybridizing
Rules:
1. Any cross made by two members of the group shall be made available for purchase to the other members of the group at the cost of flasking plus a nominal fee.

2. Any member receiving flasks has the following rights and obligations:

a. Any plants received and paid for become the sole property of the recipient to grow, sell, trade, etc.

b. Flask recipients do have the obligation of sharing pictures of bloomed plants still owned with the group, and if requested by another member, sharing pollinia for further hybridizing.

c. In the case of unregistered hybrids, naming rights are retained by the originator of the cross, i.e. the pod holder

3. In the case of limited seed viability, first consideration goes to pod and pollen owners, then to other members based on time of request.

4.Arranging and paying for the flasking is the responsibility of the pod owner, however once orders for replates are placed, recipients are obligated to accept and pay for flasks which they have ordered.

5. This group has no claim on any hybridizing done by members by themselves, although flasks may be offered at the decision of the hybridizer.

I'd love to participate - right now though I'm still trying to pin down Australia's tame bureaucrats to an understandable answer to what I think is a very simple question.

I can't until I find out I can legally do it. :(

Cheers
Stephan

BTW, because of work, I won't be available to respond to comments or questions until after 6:00 PM CDT, tomorrow.

Sounds like a cool idea.

I would at least be willing to collect pollinia. Sounds like a cool idea to me as well. I'm all for breeding! Slippers at least!

Sounds like a good idea.

thanks

sounds good count me in!

It seems like there is a fair amount of this going on imformaly so I don't think it would take to much to make things more formal.

My priorities are not with hybridizing, but I could donate pollen.

Probably the biggest holdup is space for seedling grow out. I'm not sure how many people realize the space commitment of a flat of seedlings that will tie up a squre foot or two of space for 3 to 5 years.

Sounds like a great idea!

It seems like there is a fair amount of this going on imformaly so I don't think it would take to much to make things more formal.

My priorities are not with hybridizing, but I could donate pollen.

Probably the biggest holdup is space for seedling grow out. I'm not sure how many people realize the space commitment of a flat of seedlings that will tie up a squre foot or two of space for 3 to 5 years.

That is precisely why I proposed the idea! One small grower could probably not bloom out enough plants to necessarily judge the quality of the cross. However, if 5 or 6 people were interested in a cross and each grew out a flask and even shared or sold some seedlings to others, enough plants might be bloomed to assess the cross and select the best for further breeding.

Thanks,
Ross

As Ross knows, I think an organized pollen exchange resource is a good idea. He directed me to this thread when I mentioned elsewhere that I would like something along these lines.

My perception is that breeding goals are completely different from most other growers. In short, I'm undertaking "preservation by propagation." I see my plants as living gene banks and have no interest in hybridizing or in selectively breeding for appearance. Consequently my only criterium for plants I'll take pollen from is only that it bloomed.

Here are some random thoughts on the matter:

Promotion: For the exchange to be most useful it should be widely publicized. Mentions in the Slipper Orchid Alliance newsletter, Orchid Digest, Orchids magazine, all the many discussion groups on the web, etc. would be needed. A quick sniffing around in regions of the www I'm familiar with actually did turn up a general orchid pollen exchange resource. It had fewer than 100 members and has seen dismally little use in the last year. A successful resource would have to have a lot of participating members.

Location: Assuming it's a web-based resource it may work best as a stand-alone site or list-serve. Payed membership may hinder participation and be self-defeating. If it's born from one of the existing orchid web sites, it should have its own top-level URL.

Function: There seems to be a continuing proliferation of message boards and discussion groups where orchids and related topics are the main content. Posting a pollen request or offer to a half dozen or more sites is only a little work, but the wide ranging discussions--which are legitimate per the owner's policy!--result in what I think of as "topic dilution." The request or offer is quickly run off the page by other content. The ideal resource, in my eyes, would be extremely simple. It would simply consist of dated posts with the request or offer and contact information. (Essentially like the unclassified ads at Orchidmall) Participants would work out the details (Including the rules Ross outlines above) between themselves. Enforcement of rules by the site owner would be a headache if even possible at all. At most I would see the owner/moderater/whatever just removing posts that don't fit.

Participation: I thought about things like whether commercial growers would be interested. Would having it open to all orchid genera make it more or less attractive and useful to potential participants? Would there be requirements along the lines of the Orchid Seedbank Project where one would need to provide x number donations before they could request pollen?

The more I think about it, the more tempted I am to just do it myself. Must mull this over some more.

Mark

Sounds like a nice way to make more paphs!!!!!! I am in :)

Some time ago we had a similar 'consortium' with my local group of paph-rats. It worked ok. The rules were pretty simple. I was doing the flasking (I don't anymore). There were up to three parties involved in any cross. Mom (pod), Dad (pollen), and flasker. Sometimes I got to be mom, too... *grin*

This was a friendly arrangment. I can't remember exactly how the division worked out, but Mom and Dad could both request as many flasks of seedlings as they liked (usually it was two). I would take one flask for every four that I replated as compensation. Sometimes more if I thought the cross was going to be good. Like I said, it was a friendly venture, so this wasn't a problem. If seedlings were going to be limited, the pod parent got half.

There are some nice features to this kind of arrangment. First, several people could grow out a few flasks each, thus limiting the bench space devoted to the project. It was an unwritten understanding that if something really nice came out, the participants would get first dibs on divisions. I don't know that there were formal rules for naming, etc. It was understood that the person who came up with the idea would have first dibs on that.

Anyway, this worked great for a few years. Then I moved and didn't have time to flask, and I never got around to teaching somebody else, or finding a remote lab. It kind of fell apart, although I'm sure it could be resurrected. I think the main reason that this worked is that everybody in the group was friendly and we saw eachother in person all the time. Or perhaps it was just a good group of people.

The main problems I see with a formal arrangment is that somebody is going to try and game the system. In any sufficiently large group of people, there is going to be at least one idiot that ruins it for everybody. I think a good thing might be a centralized resource for people to get together and talk about their plants, and individuals working out arrangments between themselves. Hmmm. Sounds kind of like what we have already... *grin*

I am a pretty nice guy ...sometimes...."evil:

I heartily agree with Rob that a group would only be as good as the people in it. My proposal was not so much a list of ironclad rules as a set of guidlines to follow, so that any one who wants to participate has an idea of what to expect.

Mark, you also have some good ideas which I would like to discuss further.

One point that I would like to make is that I envision a large enough group where many people can pursue individual goals with the help of the group. For instance, I may have a mutifloral Paph that's of little interest for me in breeding miniatures, but perhaps member 'A' could use the pollen for his crosses. At the same time, member 'B', who is not interested in hybridizing at all at this time, but is interested in this cross can make a request for a flask to grow. The idea is to give benefits to members who have different levels of interest.

I hope this makes some sense; it's late and I'm tired.

Makes sense, and being the member "b" type - I like the idea...:)

I know of several instances where there has been heavy problems. I think Olaf can back me up on the following that happened in Germany

A German Hobbyist group started to exchange/sell/whatever seed capsules and pollen, to a firm ( name it "K") in Germany, who happily traded and bought seedlings pollen and plants from this group. After a few years, many plants turned out to be mislabeled, some people in the scheme being there only to get interesting plants in exchange for crap, or to make money.

A consortium aimed at breeding paphs would only fail, because there will always be some bad apples here and there. Suppose that a roth needs pollen. Someone sends philippinense pollen as a roth, because he eagerly wants the roth pollen in exchange. What happen ? A bunch of St Swithin exchanged or traded as rothschildianum, only to be discovered in 4-10 years...

Now, to be more practical, I would not consider pollen trading with anyone I do not know the plants first hand. Why ? Because Paphiopedilum do have viruses, some have been tested, and in Taiwan they have had their hard time with some viruses, ToRSV and BYMV on paphs, not to mention Orchid Fleck Virus on paphs. It is not only on paphs, but all kind of orchid species as well... Trading pollen can be highly dangerous to the health of the plants if the group does not know each other by sight.

Hi Ross,

I think you have a worthwhile idea on your hands, and the set of rules you laid out is, I think, well designed for the most part.

But while I hate to be a naysayer, as many have pointed out the rules are only as good as those who choose to follow them.

We orchid folks are an eccentric bunch, but when it comes to breeding it is still yet another world. There are a few prominent hybridizers and commercial growers out there who have been known to steal pollen at shows and engage in all sorts of other unethical behavior. When people that high up the rung in our world can repeatedly engage in this kind of conduct, imagine what it is like in ours the hobby ranks where people are even less accountable to fellow orchidists to be ethical (by less accountable I mean orchids are not a primary source of income or prestige.)

Paphs seem especially prone to these difficulties for numerous obvious reasons.

Looking at your set of rules, I think issue #1 is what about the member who joins and makes zero crosses but still exercises the right to purchase flasks at cost?

Concerns about mislabelled pollen are also a big worry- my biggest.

Also, given how frequently seed production is very low, there might not always be that many flasks to share- especially in the Parvi and complex white/pink lines where a lot of the current excitement is centered (and where I suspect there would be great value to a group like this since the flasks are so incredibly expensive.)

Who decides who gets flasks first when they are oversubscribed (which would be a HUGE ordeal if you had a lot of members and few people actually hybridizing on a regular basis)?

Finally, let me give you the ultimate scenario. Let's say I make a cross for the group using pollen from another member and share flasks with everyone. Let's say either I or the person who provided the pollen blooms out an incredible FCC flower that is out of this world.

Well, everyone is going to want to exercise their right to take some of that pollen. Who gets it first? What if I or the pollinator as originators of the cross decide we want to not share the pollen at all since this plant is going to give enormous future income streams to whoever is using it for breeding.

I like to think of myself as a very fair person, but I will be the first to admit that if I were the lucky holder of a jackpot plant I would be very tempted to decide that the first flowering or two I and the other person who helped made the cross would have first dibs on using that pollen to make other hybrids- within or without of the group.

This is the dilemma that will face the first few people who bloom out a real winner (and future people if previous owners of show stopping plants are not sharing the pollen around as much as the group would like.) And if any of those people are making an income from orchid breeding, it is a really sore choice to decide whether to share or leave the group.

I think this is a great idea and that the rules are fairly well considered, but frankly I would treat entrance into this group like a private NYC Co-op on Park Avenue looking to sell a vacant apartment- by invitation only on the agreement of all other group members based on a person's reputation, and ability and willingness to be a productive contributor to the group.

I would also suggest groups be limited to 8-10 people at most- perhaps have several groups that specialize in certain areas and people can join whichever group (or groups) are most pertinent.

The key is to ensure all members are going to feel they will get benefit from their efforts, and to ensure that all members are realistic about the exercise of their rights to request pollen and flasks.

Again, this is a good notion worth exploring. I can already think of 5-6 people, 3 of them whom I currently share flasks with when the Paphanatics and Orchid Inn lists come out, who I would be happy to do this kind of thing with. But outside of that circle, I would be reluctant to get too deeply involved with people I do not know (or better still- people I know and do not trust lol.)

This is great! Many excellent comments from everyone! Please do not be offended if I do not respond to every point. I'm a lousy, slow typist. I would like to invite all who are interested to respond to any of the excellent points made by the previous posters. Shady, I like your idea of a dedicated section for postings only. You also express concern about the need for a 'critical mass' of collaborators in order to get this to work, while papuanum and elpaninaro point out some major drawbacks to large numbers of participants. They would prefer to restrict participation to a smaller, perhaps more trustworthy group. Rob prefers a less formal approach such as already exists on our forum.

I agree that mislabeled pollen, intentional or in the odd case unintentional, can be a major concern. Any ideas on overcoming this?

Papuanum points out the danger of spreading virus through infected plants. Does anyone have a handle on how likely this is?

Elpaninaro brings up the problem where demand exceeds supply. How does this work out? In the case of flask distribution, the pod and pollen supplier should take precedent. After that, any excess material could be made available to others. How this would be done is still open.

On the question of who should have access to pollen from an awarded plant, if we are that fortunate, I think that the plant owner should always have ultimate control. They could entertain proposals from interested members and choose what interests them. There are bound to be disappointed people at this stage. Life goes on. As a matter of courtesy (and this is where knowing your fellow collaborators comes into the discussion again), the originator of the cross (if different from the plant owner) should be given some deference if proposals are entertained. My main reason for putting a pollen sharing provision in was to address the people who might wish to grow a cross, but not hybridize. I wanted to make sure that good pollen would not go to waste. The nonhybridizer's advantage to cooperating would be their priority in receiving flasks from crosses using their pollen.

I think that when it comes to distribute flasks or seedlings, you should give priority to someone who has previously contributed pollen to the program over someone who has not contributed anything. Maybe open up reservations to prior contributors for a period (say, one week) before opening to all takers. This is to prevent someone from joining and calling dibs on a new flask just by posting their request ahead of someone who may have previously been a major contributor.

I hope that made sense... :D

I think that when it comes to distribute flasks or seedlings, you should give priority to someone who has previously contributed pollen to the program over someone who has not contributed anything. Maybe open up reservations to prior contributors for a period (say, one week) before opening to all takers. This is to prevent someone from joining and calling dibs on a new flask just by posting their request ahead of someone who may have previously been a major contributor.

I hope that made sense... :D

A very valid consideration

From my high school biology I remember a virus being a DNA hijacker as it has none of it's own.

Pollen has half of the dna complement of the future plant. I believe that means that pollen in and of itself shouldn't necessarily transmit virus (Am I wrong though???)

The other burning question for me is;

Can I or other members of the forum not in the USA send pollen to you?

I can receive it but how well would it travel?

Given the "trust" element here; exclusion from the interchange of pollen is probably more likely than not - would there be a possibility of dry seed (he says wistfully knowing that green pod is better for the plant)?

Cheers
Stephan

From my high school biology I remember a virus being a DNA hijacker as it has none of it's own.

Pollen has half of the dna complement of the future plant. I believe that means that pollen in and of itself shouldn't necessarily transmit virus (Am I wrong though???)

The other burning question for me is;

Can I or other members of the forum not in the USA send pollen to you?

I can receive it but how well would it travel?

Given the "trust" element here; exclusion from the interchange of pollen is probably more likely than not - would there be a possibility of dry seed (he says wistfully knowing that green pod is better for the plant)?

Cheers
Stephan

Research on both ends would need to be done concerning the exchange of pollen and dry seed across borders. If it's legal in both countries, it could be open for consideration. For me, the jury's still out concerning small or large groups. I'm waiting to hear more comments on the pitfalls and how to possibly avoid them.

Great idea! Good luck!

For me, the jury's still out concerning small or large groups. I'm waiting to hear more comments on the pitfalls and how to possibly avoid them.

Good morning Ross,

To address this more directly, I would first suggest perhaps another poll of hybridizers on this board to get a feeling for the final flask count that results from various types of Paph crosses.

I realize the flask counts would vary enormously, but frankly I have not done a lot of Paph hybrdizing and I have no clue what typical yields are. I have to pay $200+ for flasks of complex crosses in part because, as the breeders tell me, the yields are terribly low. How low I do not know, but often there will only be 2-3 flasks made available of these types of crosses. Granted the breeder is keeping some back to flower, but surely the final count may be as low as 10 flasks in many cases.

So, let's say you want to put together a group to exchange pollen and flasks for complex hybrids.

Let's further assume that the average expected yield is going to be 12 replates on these crosses as per your poll.

Now there is another question to ask- how many flasks will the two who made the cross typically want to keep, and how many flasks will other group participants likely wish to have.

Let's assume that the two who made the cross want 3 flasks each- a reasonable number. Let's also assume that group participants will want a flask each on average- with some crosses where a person wants none and another wants 2 etc.

So, if the average expected yield is going to be about 12 flasks, then under the above assumptions (which you would need to poll as well) the ideal group size is around 8 people- 3 flasks each for the two hybridizers and 1 flask each for the other six group members.

The other consideration here is how often people expect they might make crosses. If you are going to have 10-12 crosses going on per year, then it is quite possible that many group members will soon have far more plants than they can manage.

This begs the question of what to do with the excess flasks. One alternative would be to go the eBay route or take them to a show and let the one who did the flasking keep the profits for his efforts. Another would be to have a waiting list maintained by the group whereby a sort of "second tier" of members would be able to purchase the flasks at cost plus a small markup anytime there was excess to share.

To recap, I would suggest a few new polls to get a feel for the following,

1. For various general types of crosses- Corys, Brachys, Parvis, complex etc., what is a reasonable average number of replated flasks to expect (with the understanding it will always be quite variable.)

2. If one is a member of this group, on average how many flasks do they anticipate they might want to keep if they were one of the two who made the cross? How many on average might they want to purchase at cost as group members who did not make the cross? Who might be interested in going on a wait list and being offered surplus flasks at cost plus a reasonable markup?

3. In a given year, how many high quality or botanically significant (ie a sibling cross of a very rare species regardless of the quality of the parents) crosses does a person anticipate they might be able to make given their own stock and the expectation that others will have a similar range of plants to chose from?

4. How many flasks per year does one think they have the space and interest to own and grow?


I think if you can explore these dynamics it will be more helpful to you. On the high yield end it is not so important because extra flasks can always be sold at shows, online or by word of mouth.

But on the low yield end, this kind of data could help you ensure a group does not get so large that people are frequently shut out of getting flasks.

Granted, first come first served is the best policy. But in the internet age that could be a matter of minutes. Some guy who cannot access his email at work might come home and on the same day the flask offer went out be out of luck because others could log into email at work- or perhaps because that person lives half way around the world and the flasks were spoken for on a Friday afternoon in California while he was fast asleep in the wee hours of Saturday morning in the UK.

Thus, I think the critical point is to ensure a system where there are enough flasks for everyone to have a reasonable shot at one (and there is another good rule for you- noone gets more than one flask until everyone in the group has had a chance to accept or pass on a given flask offer.)

(I don't have anything much to add, just wanted to say)
I love this forum!! Such great discussions and exchange of thoughts!

Forgive me for the slow response, elpaninaro. I'm still digesting your last post. I think a few polls would be interesting, if only to survey the interests of the SOF membership. Being that we're talking about small growers here, I think that most growers will not be able to take on multiple flasks and will have to carefully choose which crosses that they want. This might help to reduce the demand on any one cross.

I tend to agree with both elpaninaro and couscous74 that some sort of priority 'hierarchy' should be set up:
1. Pod owner
2. Pollen owner
3. Other pod and pollen contributors
4. Interested growers (waiting list per elpaninaro)

The one flask limit could apply to No.'s 3 and 4?

For interesed growers, I think a posting similar to Troy Meyers site where people express interest in a flask at the time of assessing seed viability by the flasker would also give the flasker an idea of how many mother flasks to make. This could be risky because you are asking for people to commit to something they wouldn't receive for possibly 2 years.

Elpaninaro, would you be willing to set up the polls that you discussed in your posting? Nos. 1 and 4 I think are the most important and should be done together. Number 2 would be tough for me to even answer. I've donated pollen for other people's crosses that I was extremely interested in and for others that I had no interest in whatsoever. Number three will be greatly dependent on what is available from various members and timing.

Thank you for continuing the discussion.
Ross

From my high school biology I remember a virus being a DNA hijacker as it has none of it's own.

Pollen has half of the dna complement of the future plant. I believe that means that pollen in and of itself shouldn't necessarily transmit virus (Am I wrong though???)

The other burning question for me is;

Can I or other members of the forum not in the USA send pollen to you?

I can receive it but how well would it travel?

Given the "trust" element here; exclusion from the interchange of pollen is probably more likely than not - would there be a possibility of dry seed (he says wistfully knowing that green pod is better for the plant)?

Cheers
Stephan

You can pass virus through pollinia. The gametes themselves are probably clean, but there are other tissues in there. I don't know how likely it is, but I'm sure it is possible.

I am not a virologist... But I have heard that if seed is sown dry, it is virus free even if the parent is virused. I'm not sure how that might work. But it is a common belief (or misconception). Early research in orchid tissue culture was, in fact, largely driven by cymbidium growers looking for a way to get virus free stock. Rapidly propagating cells might 'outpace' the virus infected ones, which would presumably be a bit slower, and you could grow out a bunch of clones and select for virus free plants. Or at least that is the very basic theory. And it did work, although I don't know how well.

Viruses in Paphs are not well appreciated, at least here in the USA. I know a large number of people (paph growers, even) who believe that slippers are somehow immune from orchid viruses. This is not at all true. It is true that they do not often show phenotypic signs of virus, say like a cattleya would. And most people tend to ignore things they can't see. I wouldn't be surprised if a very large percentage of older slippers in this country were virused. Of course that leads to a question... If you can't see the effects of the virus, should you worry about it?

For me, the jury's still out concerning small or large groups. I'm waiting to hear more comments on the pitfalls and how to possibly avoid them.

Good morning Ross,

To address this more directly, I would first suggest perhaps another poll of hybridizers on this board to get a feeling for the final flask count that results from various types of Paph crosses.

I realize the flask counts would vary enormously, but frankly I have not done a lot of Paph hybrdizing and I have no clue what typical yields are. I have to pay $200+ for flasks of complex crosses in part because, as the breeders tell me, the yields are terribly low. How low I do not know, but often there will only be 2-3 flasks made available of these types of crosses. Granted the breeder is keeping some back to flower, but surely the final count may be as low as 10 flasks in many cases.


Actually the yield can be a couple dozen seedlings, or fewer, in some cases. I've seen that personally when I was doing flasking. And of course there are many cases where the yield is zero seedlings, even when there is no contamination or other technical problems. Some crosses (Maudiae types, for example) are dangerously fertile. But that is an exception. For me, as a hobby flasker (and using dry seed only), I would rarely make more than 8 replates. Usually I would do four. In a few cases there may have been enough protocorms to make a few dozen flasks (if I had the time or inclination). That would be a rare exception. Cattleyas and many other genera are much different, way more seed and much more viability.


So, let's say you want to put together a group to exchange pollen and flasks for complex hybrids.

Let's further assume that the average expected yield is going to be 12 replates on these crosses as per your poll.

Now there is another question to ask- how many flasks will the two who made the cross typically want to keep, and how many flasks will other group participants likely wish to have.

A very generous estimate... I do now recall that we divided our flasks up three ways. 2:1:1 (mom, dad, flasker). This worked. But there were many cases where we only got two, or even one, flask. Then we were on the honor system to give a portion of the grown out seedlings to the pollen parent, since you can't cut a flask in half.

Other random thoughts. We had perhaps 5 or 6 people in our little group. This worked well... But we never tried to distribute flasks to anybody who wasn't a direct parent. I think it would work best if the originators of the cross took all of the flasks, and sold them to others in the group (or elsewhere) as they see fit. This rewards hybridizers with excellent studs, and is incentive to make good crosses. Regardless of how little attention you pay to profit, when you breed plants you must take a commercial view. Otherwise you are doomed. Speculative crosses are great, and you make some. But you don't grow out as many. The solid crosses you grow out a lot of, because you know people want them. If you just make crosses like a rabid hummingbird, you are going to waste time, money, and greenhouse space. If there is an incentive of selling some of your flasks, you check the hummingbird instinct a bit.

If there were a hybridizer's exchange, I still think it is best to provide a framework for trading and leave it at that. What is a framework for trading? Part one, a central resource where people can list pollen they have to offer, or plants they wish to breed. Part two, a suggested set of guidelines for performing a trade and dividing the loot, which individual parties are free to consult. Part three, some resources for the hybridizer - perhaps articles or discussions about breeding, a list of reputable laboratories, recipies for media, etc. Part four, get out of the way and let the interested parties fight it out. You don't want to be the guy who gets sued because Joe Schmoe and Jill Smith can't follow through with their commitments. And that will happen if you try to do much more than what I've outlined. Or at least that is my opinion.

Hi guys,

Ross- sorry for the delay. I actually started a new job last week and was real busy. So just now getting to email and checking the boards in detail. I am off for some evening antics soon, but will get those polls up tonight.

Rob, thank you for the feedback on plant count. That is even more dire than I expected, and since the latest trends are moving more towards the plants that tend to give the lower yields, there is grounds for concern.

At the end of the day, I think it is all about expectations. It seems most important for all involved to have a realistic vision of what they might expect to gain from this kind of group.

Anyhow- off for now, but will return later to start some polls!

So, where do we go from here? The responses have ranged from enthusiastic to skeptical at best. Elpaninaro has very ablely added some other polls to gauge feelings about various issues. Judging from the number of responses to the polls we have an interested group of 10 to 15 people at the present. I suppose the next step would be to build a database of interested growers.

What kind of a database Ross? I am interested!

Are volunteering to run the database?
I assume it will be a centralized database. We would report to Ross what we have in spike and what pollen we want to donate. And Ross would but us in touch with potential partners. That way we can keep track of who has been trading and who might have flasks coming them. Then when seeds have been harvested and flasks produced Ross would advertise the extras. Or do we advertise flasks before the seed has been sent to the flasker so the flasker knows how many to produce.

And was this going to be a worldwide effort or will each country have there own? Canada could sure benifit from American pollen.

I think you should make a new thread to discuss how this will be run.

Kyle