Well enlighten us?

'Times are a-changing' was about registration, something we have discussed quite a bit. Basically he was saying that things have changed when it comes to registering names. I was hoping for some call to action, but it didn't happen.

Lets see what the World Conference brings out in regard to this subject. It will be a topic of discussion or even a debate

HDD - Do you know who will be leading that discussion/debate? - and when? I can't see any reference to that topic on the conference program.

Anyone know?

Cheers,
Kerry

Hi WL & HDD, IÂve added a link to the original article (see below) Scroll thru to p15.

My take on the article was not so much on the registration process, but on the availability of these hybrids. (I must admit I had to read it thru a couple of times) What does it matter if there are 1K or 1M hybrids registered if the plants we want are not obtainable. And IMO this is a key point in the whole issue.

Down here in good ole NZ, we are an island nation with very strict import regulations, so I cannot just flick thru MichaelÂs catalogue of plants and say IÂll have 1 of this & 2 of that But we do have an excellent range of plants that ARE available, most of which are also registered. Sometimes we do have to wait years for Âwish list plants. I was only just getting into broms when Hannibal Lector was first written up in the BSI journal & registeredÂnow almost 7 years ago... Last year, I finally got my first HL pup! On the flip side, we have ready access to wonderful Vriesea hybrids thanks to a very talented local hybridist, but itÂll be a while before theyÂre in general circulation overseas.

My point is that good quality broms will get into circulation, and stay in circulation whether they are hybrids or species, registered or not, as the demand for magnificent Ânew broms is fed by all of us who grow these amazing plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Times are a' changing

Derek sent me a draft of that article some time ago. He makes a good point about the impact of Ebay etc. on the trade. Nowadays anybody can sell a one-off seedling with a picture online and there's a good chance it may never get into the trade at all. Should those be registered? Probably not. On the other hand, if whoever buys it ends up sharing pups with all their friends and neighbors and they all do the same, then eventualy somebody's going to start moaning and groaning about why wasn't it registered. This is the inherent problem with using the registry as simply an ID reference. Where do you draw the line? Unfortunately he doesn't really answer that question.

More interesting to me were his opening comments on the article a bit further down dealing with Grace Goode's miniature Neo hybrids. He notes the habit of some people of simply putting their own name onto a plant that they don't know the identity of, regardless of whether it already has a legitimate name or not. This can be a real problem, but having found myself at different times on both sides of that particular equation, I'm not quite sure what can be done about it.

I still think that the registry should have a distribution indicator. BSI members should be able to log in and indicate what plants they have or have seen in the trade so that we get a good idea on what is out there. Then you could filter out the "junk" that doesn't really exist. Then let everybody register away and it doesn't matter much since you can look at plants that are actually in circulation. Add a "peer rating" to that and you have a almost modern system.