Busy morning here; I have to go pot up the most recent flush of seedlings while the weather is decent. Looking back to 2002, I was still doing a lot of work with miniatures, breeding more miniatures. (These days I use some miniatures with the intention of creating shrubs of a certain character, not miniatures.) Back in '02 I was using 'June Laver' quite a bit, and this seedling is a cross of 'June Laver' X 'Little Darling', a very "old school" cross. (I mean, who uses 'Little Darling' anymore??!) Still, this turned out to be a very decent seedling. I've watched it for years and it makes a very compact bush about 14" tall, presenting blooms well-placed at the top of the canopy of foliage. No fragrance, of course. Essentially its a light-medium yellow with a reddish flush mostly at the petal tips. It gets the red blush more in the Spring and Fall and is a clear yellow color in the Summer. It has exhibition quality bloom form about 80% of the time.
This pretty rose has sat on my benches for years now and I have admired it but never considered it as a commercial introduction. However, recently one of the "big boys" in the rose industry has taken an interest in it and is evaluating it for potential introduction. No point in leaving a perfectly pretty rose stuffed in a corner of my greenhouse where nobody gets to see it, right? ;-)
Ok... so how does a 'Big Boy' come to know about a rose that is sitting on your bench then??? Do you invite them over to look at your new seedlings or do they ring you up and ask to come over and see what's new and happening? How does this work as far as future production go? Have you registered it already?
ReplyDeleteIn short, you call them up and email them some photos and ask 'em if they wanna grow it! I present only unnamed and unregistered seedlings to this particular company because they will want to patent it before introduction, and named seedlings more than 12 months old are ineligible for patenting.
ReplyDeleteIs that the end of it as far as income derived from plant sales goes or is there some other arrangement? I am assuming it is like royalty free photography where the buyer purchases the exclusive rights to the photo but at a higher price than the per-use price??? I really need to try and understand this whole process a bit better... I spoke to Ms Lilia Weatherly, of 'Pink Iceberg' fame, who said when 'Pink Iceberg' turned up she immediately got a PBR for it and then Swanes took up production of it and Lilia receives a royalty for each one sold after that for the period of the PBR. Is that how it works over there too?
ReplyDeleteHere in the US the way it generally works is this: if you want a large commercial nursery to propagate, market and distribute one of your roses you allow them to patent the variety on your behalf. This means they "own" the variety from that point forward. (Well, they own the Intellectual Property, I mean) Depending on the company, you may or may not get a fee paid to you up front, but you DO get a royalty paid to you for every plant they sell for the life of the patent (20 years). The royalty fee varies from company to company and can be as little as 40 cents per plant and as much as a dollar or more.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, you can make a deal to sell the variety to a company, outright. What I mean is, that you sell the variety for a one time fee and from that point forward, the buyer owns the plant and all profits made from it are theirs. There are no royalties paid to you and no more income from the sale/distribution of it. Its their rose now, not yours. You sold all rights. My friend Ralph Moore did this sometimes. Circa 1996 Ralph sold one of his seedlings he called MORjoybon to Springhill nurseries for $20,000 US. They now own that rose under the name of 'Its Showtime', and they own the patent. Ralph gets no royalties from sales, he got his one time fee and thats that.
It all depends on how the company you are dealing with wants to handle making a deal, and what they are willing to do for you. In most cases here in North America, a breeder gets a deal to receive royalties only, paid once a year.
Thankyou for this excellent reply Paul. Can I ask also, if it is not a rude question... do you do this full time now or do you do it as a sideline to other employment? I would LOVE to do it full time... But think I will need to wait until the kids are grown up *sighs*
ReplyDelete... which is ironic because I want to do it so badly so I am around at home more to spend more time with my partner and kids and enjoy the slower 'the way life was meant to be' pace of life *heavier sighs*
ReplyDeleteOh, believe me, I'd starve to death very fast if I was to rely on this "hobby" for income. There may come a day when it generates some meaningful income for me, but I'm not counting on it. If I bred the next 'Knockout' that might be a possibility, but luck will have more to do with that than skill, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteSo talking about luck... so do you still collect every hip... even the op ones? I'm still deciding whether to collect all the OP hips here this year because I have a lot of planned cross seeds to tend as it is... but luck, as you say, plays a big part and you just never know what will turn up... I don't know what I'll do yet. The 'Flower Carpet' roses are covered in OP hips and I'm really tempted but I want to use them in planned crosses next season so am debating whether or not to worry about them this year and just focus on the planned crosses next year... what to do... what to do...
ReplyDeleteGood lord, no. I would need bushel baskets and two dedicated fridges if I were to collect everything! I do still collect OP hips for two reasons though: 1) to evaluate whether a potential seed parent makes viable seeds or not and 2) whether a potential parent has any desirable traits it passes on. I often grow OP seeds of a plant I am considering as a parent just to see what kinds of traits it offers. Usually OP seedlings don't have a lot of potential in terms of resulting in a commercially viable seedling, but it does happen on occasion. OP seedlings, however, can sometimes provide a fertile link to move forward with in difficult breeding lines. See my new post this morning (May 6, '09)
ReplyDelete