Calvin and Martha Anderson started the nursery in 1977. In the early 1980's, Calvin became very interested in tissue culturing woody ornamentals in order to produce large scale commercial production of hard-to-propagate plants. He studied on his own for a few years and eventually ended up taking an intense tissue culture class with Dr. Toshio Murashige in California.
He returned to Florida and immediately build his own modest lab. He had only marignal success with woody ornamentals. His best crop was the Orlando seedless grape, which unfortunately had no market.
As a twist of fate, Calvin was approached about producing Phalaenopsis seedlings on a large scale. He knew nothing about tropical plants, but he needed a project with cash flow to help his somewhat faltering lab. After countless hours of research trials, Calvin was successful in producing 1.2 million Phalaenopsis seedlings, and the lab was expanded to 4,000 square feet.
During this time, Calvin learned that cloning Phalaenopsis would be much more valuable to the orchid market. In 1986, he decided to take on this project with the same gusto he did with all of the others. He began by making a giant chart of 17 different tried and true methods and compared all of the chemicals in the seemingly successful protocols. Over and over again, none of them really worked. He abandoned the plan of trying other researchers' methods and started working on his own eclectic methods. He was no more successful than the others, and had only one bright moment when he actually produced 14 protocorms from one bud.
He continued his research until 1992 with no significant results. Other areas of the outside nursery were growing by leaps and bounds and so he focused his energy elsewhere.
In 2004, the unexpected Hurricane Charley, with its 120 mph winds, decimated the nursery's greenhouses and tree crops. The only building left standing in good working order was the Lab. After many days of trying to decide what to do, Calvin and Martha decided to move forward with orchids on a larger scale, and Calvin decided to once again embark on cloning Phalaenopsis. It was a little easier without the outside operations diverting his focus.
To make a long story short, he did 372 new trials, and on March 14, 2008, his research notes finally stated, "This formula is pouring out the protocorms."
Better Blooming Orchids is now producing clones on a commercial scale for all available markets. We hope you enjoyed our story and look forward to working with you in the near future.
He returned to Florida and immediately build his own modest lab. He had only marignal success with woody ornamentals. His best crop was the Orlando seedless grape, which unfortunately had no market.
As a twist of fate, Calvin was approached about producing Phalaenopsis seedlings on a large scale. He knew nothing about tropical plants, but he needed a project with cash flow to help his somewhat faltering lab. After countless hours of research trials, Calvin was successful in producing 1.2 million Phalaenopsis seedlings, and the lab was expanded to 4,000 square feet.
During this time, Calvin learned that cloning Phalaenopsis would be much more valuable to the orchid market. In 1986, he decided to take on this project with the same gusto he did with all of the others. He began by making a giant chart of 17 different tried and true methods and compared all of the chemicals in the seemingly successful protocols. Over and over again, none of them really worked. He abandoned the plan of trying other researchers' methods and started working on his own eclectic methods. He was no more successful than the others, and had only one bright moment when he actually produced 14 protocorms from one bud.
He continued his research until 1992 with no significant results. Other areas of the outside nursery were growing by leaps and bounds and so he focused his energy elsewhere.
In 2004, the unexpected Hurricane Charley, with its 120 mph winds, decimated the nursery's greenhouses and tree crops. The only building left standing in good working order was the Lab. After many days of trying to decide what to do, Calvin and Martha decided to move forward with orchids on a larger scale, and Calvin decided to once again embark on cloning Phalaenopsis. It was a little easier without the outside operations diverting his focus.
To make a long story short, he did 372 new trials, and on March 14, 2008, his research notes finally stated, "This formula is pouring out the protocorms."
Better Blooming Orchids is now producing clones on a commercial scale for all available markets. We hope you enjoyed our story and look forward to working with you in the near future.