RSS For Orchid Growers

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a very useful and completely free resource / tool that can help orchid growers...

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stay up to date on relevant information

Google Reader is what I use to subscribe to websites. It's basically an electronic magazine with content that you choose. For those not familiar with the RSS concept, the following video explains it in an easy to understand manner...

If you do not already have a Google account you will need to create one. After creating an account you can modify your View Settings to Sort by Oldest and click Set as Start page...

The following are some of the websites that I subscribe to. The URLs (page address) can be copied and pasted into your Google Reader to subscribe to their content.

Craigslist

Craigslist is an outstanding place to find great deals on orchids. The major drawback is that all posts are automatically deleted after one week...which is a narrow window of opportunity to connect a rare orchid species with somebody who is searching for that specific orchid. That's where RSS comes in. The minor annoyance is that Craigslist does not apply stemming to searches so for example, you would have to subscribe to the search results for both "orchid" and "orchids". This means that if somebody includes both the words "orchid" and "orchids" in their post then you'll see the same post come up twice in your Google Reader.

Even if there are no search results you can still RSS subscribe. The beauty of RSS is that when there is a new search result, it will be automatically added to your Google Reader.

Here is a step by step process of subscribing to feeds on Craigslist. This process is also applicable to other websites with some differences such as whether you have to conduct a search and/or the location / design of the feed button.

1. Conduct a search for "orchid" in the farm & garden section of craigslist...

2. Click on the orange RSS button on the bottom of the page...

3. Copy the page URL...

4. Add the subscription to your Google Reader

Go to your Google Reader
Click + Add a subscription
Paste the URL into the text box
Click "Add"

5. Repeat the process with a search for "orchids"

Here are some subscriptions for people located in Southern California. The word "orchid" in the URL can also be replaced with other plant names such as tillandsia, bromeliad, epiphyllum, nepenthes, rhipsalis, platycerium, etc.

Los Angeles

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchids&format=rss
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchid&format=rss

Orange County

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchid&format=rss
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchids&format=rss

San Diego

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchid&format=rss
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchids&format=rss

Santa Barbara

http://santabarbara.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchid&format=rss
http://santabarbara.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchids&format=rss

Ventura

http://ventura.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchid&format=rss
http://ventura.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchids&format=rss

Inland Empire

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchid&format=rss
http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/search/grd?query=orchids&format=rss

eBay

Instead of having to visit eBay every day to conduct a search for an orchid that you are looking for, you can subscribe to feeds that will send you new listings when they are added. Here are some examples...

Encyclia On eBay

In the following URL I've bolded the word encyclia. You can replace it with any other genera that you are looking for...ie...Laelia, Cattleya, Bulbophyllum, Oncidium, Phalaenopsis, etc. For very popular genera I recommend subscribing to specific species instead.

http://rss.api.ebay.com/ws/rssapi?satitle=encyclia&FeedName=SearchResults&siteId=0&language=en-US&output=RSS20&catref=C6&from=R40&fsop=1&fsoo=1&sacat=-1&sabfmts=1&ftrt=1&sbrsrt=d&ftrv=1&fts=2

Dendrobium speciosum On eBay

In the following URL I've bolded Dendrobium+speciosum. You can replace it with any other genera and species that you are looking for...ie...Laelia+anceps, Cattleya+intermedia, Bulbophyllum+affine, Oncidium+flexuosum, Phalaenopsis+taenialis, etc.

http://rss.api.ebay.com/ws/rssapi?satitle=Dendrobium+speciosum&FeedName=SearchResults&siteId=0&language=en-US&output=RSS20&fsop=1&fsoo=1&saprchi=&sacat=-1&fspr=0&fts=2&catref=C6&from=R40&sabfmts=1&saprclo=&ftrt=1&ftrv=1

Orchid Books On eBay

eBay is a great place to find deals on a wide selection of orchid books. The following subscription takes advantage of Yahoo Pipes to filter out some irrelevant results...

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=HEbkZk4G3hGDiWeMwTSbTQ&_render=rss

Orchid Nurseries

No orchid nurseries, that I know of, currently offer RSS feeds. However, with Yahoo Pipes it's possible to create feeds from orchid nursery websites that have regularly updated content. For example, using Yahoo Pipes, here is a feed that I created from the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate's "Orchid of the Day" feature on their website.

Orchid of The Day (SBOE)

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=610e4989e1e8280206e3690e023a1d8b&_render=rss

Orchid Forums

Orchid forums are great places to find and share orchid information and photos. Yahoo Pipes can be used to combine all of the following orchid forums into one feed and/or used to filter for specific terms such as "conservation" or "Laelia".

AOS Orchid Forum

http://forum.aosforum.org/external.php

Garden Web

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=59807c3382faeaf761b292736bff3d69&_render=rss

Orchid Board

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=c8a5e9ab30b4856806a9cff1b7d5ecff&_render=rss

Orchids Interactive

http://www.orchidsinteractive.com/external.php

Orchid Source

Orchid Source Feed List

Flickr

Flickr is a popular photo sharing website with some outstanding orchid photos and groups dedicated to orchids. There are numerous feeds that can be subscribed to...

Landscaping With Orchids

This feed is for people interested in seeing photos of orchids growing on trees and rocks...

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/groups_pool.gne?id=996193@N24&lang=en-us&format=rss_200

Orchid Society of Southern California Photos

If your orchid society has a group on Flickr, you can subscribe to see orchid photos that society members have added to the group...

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/groups_pool.gne?id=949546@N21&lang=en-us&format=rss_200

Orchid Society of Southern California Discussion

This feed is for orchid growers in Southern California to receive new orchid related discussion topics...

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/groups_discuss.gne?id=949546@N21&lang=en-us&format=rss_200

Orchid Blogs

Unfortunately, there aren't that many good orchid blogs yet. Currently most of the old school orchid experts only submit their articles to orchid magazines such as the AOS magazine and the Orchid Digest magazine. However, as more orchid growers come to realize the utility of RSS then hopefully more and more advanced growers and experts will start their own blogs that orchid growers can RSS subscribe to.

So far the only orchid blog that I subscribe to is the BackBulb.com blog by Richard Lindberg. I'm a big fan of propagating orchids from back bulbs and really enjoy reading his blog entries. They contain detailed documentation of his propagation efforts and useful cultivation notes.

Subscribers according to Google Reader: 16 as of 26 Apr 10

The BackBulb.com Blog

To subscribe to the BackBulb.com blog copy and paste this URL into your Google Reader...

http://blog.backbulb.com/feeds/posts/default

AOS Articles

The American Orchid Society occasionally adds articles to their website. Hopefully in the future they will do so on a more frequent basis. They do not currently offer RSS for their articles but with Yahoo Pipes it's possible to create a feed for their articles.

American Orchid Society - Orchid Articles

To subscribe to AOS articles copy and paste this URL into your Google Reader...

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=0954f44cab9c6f493b497f4944be4bd8&_render=rss

Weather

For those of you that grow orchids outdoors, it's important to keep a close tab on temperature and rain forecasts. These forecasts can help you determine when and how much to water your orchids...as well as when they can be taken outdoors or need to be brought indoors.

Yahoo Weather - Glendale CA

To subscribe to weather forecasts for your location, replace my zip code (in bold) with your zip code...

http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?p=91204

Orchid Presentations and Shows

Here in Southern California there are quite a few orchid presentations and shows. To keep up-to-date on orchid events I created an experimental page to map local events.

Orchid Events Within 200 Miles of Glendale, CA

To subscribe to orchid events in your area replace my zip code (in bold) with your zip code.

http://outdoororchids.com/events/eventRSS.aspx?t=z&z=91204&x=o&y=sh&ds=200&so=d

Coming Soon?

There are still quite a few sites that do not provide the option to RSS subscribe to their content. However, Yahoo Pipes has narrowed this list down.

Google Search Results

It would be great if we could RSS subscribe to Google search results for specific orchids. We would be notified when new culture information was posted ...and/or when an orchid vendor added that orchid to their inventory. Actually...Yahoo Pipes could probably, and somewhat ironically, be used to create an RSS feed for Google search results.

Conclusion

RSS is a time saving device that all orchid growers can benefit from.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or comments regarding subscribing to orchid content from websites.

21 April 2009