Check out how to start a local plant club and ask us if you are interested in forming one in your area! We are here to help.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Where is this article Tom? I searched but then again, I am no longer a "subscriber" (life does get in the way of the hobby sometimes) so maybe it is in the subscriber's section.

SWOAPE has grown considerably since you visited us last year to include half a dozen members from the Columbus, OH area along with the 20 or so folks from the Cincinnati/Dayton area. I am trying to help the Columbus folks start their own club since Cincinnati is a long way to travel for a monthly meeting. There are also a few folks in Toledo, OH I have offered some help to so any info I can point these folks toward would be greatly appreciated

Hi Matt, yes, I can tell folks a basic run down of what is needed.

How to form a local plant club:

A mailing list or a forum is better.
That is the main cost.

How to pay for it?
Plant sales to Aqua Bid, local fish society clubs love the weed sales, LFS's, forum sales.

Within the club: monthly plant swaps are often the best method to attract new folks and get them to meetings.

Open houses are fun, form good friendships and the4 sales from plants pay the host the extra cost incurred as well.


Tank redo's for an open house is also good, so that other's can learn from the folks with the scaping skills and ability. There's always one in every group and one person who is clueless about any sense of design.

Local speaker wrangling for the local fish club/society is another way to piggy back the cost for speakers, generally a few speakers and you likely will not wanna see them again after folks get good enough and see how things are done.

The list/forum keeps folks tied together well, announcements etc.
The plant sales reduces of eliminates the cost of membership dues.
Monthly plant swaps allow you to trade the plants you might not have enough room for but still want to have the option to sue without having to mail order etc.

Fertilizer and group buys are also very good with clubs, this reduces cost for everyone.

One person is chosen to deal with the $$, generally a web guy and host type person, so 3 folks is about all you really need.


Regards,
Tom Barr

The open house format is a really great way to get started ... and in my personal opinion, the best way to keep going until you just out grow it ...

Unlike fish, it is pretty hard to pick up an aquascape and bring it to a central meeting location to discuss ... and no matter what, traditional amateur pictures just can't do justice to even the typical planted aquarium ...

This also keeps your club in a more personal social gathering format ... where you can really learn from each other ... I drive almost 72 miles to my "local" club meetings. Now I can't always make "every" meeting, I do try to make as many as I possibly can ... for example, tonight, I will be on the road at about 5:30 to make it to our 7PM meeting tonight ...

If you go the open house route where you meet in individual people's homes, I would also encourage you to have one annual "recruiting" meeting scheduled in a restaurant meeting room ... this will give you an annual recruiting focus, plus an opportunity for potential new members to meet everyone in a nice safe neutral location ... this is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate a dry setup (i.e. setting up a new aquascape adding all of the elements just not the water) ...

Greg

Thak you both for your responses