Longest living Orchid Kept - Orchid Board

mujacko2002 · #1 12-03-2009, 08:54 PM

Mabuhay!

I hope everyone is fine. I am quite a sentimental person that's why i have so many things kept in my room like notebooks from my elementary days, ballpens since college etc. Specially when it comes to plants i want it for as long as i can sustain it, maybe that's why i love trees because they can be around for such a great length of time.

Anyway, i am just wondering or wants to know what is/are your longest living orchid/s in your collection? (10 years and above) What is your regimen/maintenance that you are able to have it up to this day? and how many it is right now?

Kindly share your thoughts.

thanks

Godbless

nutgirl · #2 12-03-2009, 10:02 PM

I've got a phal I've had for 12 years.
(of course I almost killed it and had to start it over from a keiki about 4 years ago, so I don't know how that counts)

Maureen

WhiteRabbit · #3 12-03-2009, 10:13 PM

OOO nice question! I can't wait to see the replies!
I can't qualify since I have only been growing orchids about 5 years, so my oldest are 5 years lol

I do have a potted asperagus fern that's probably close to 30 years old, and a Christmas cactus that I'm guessing is between 15 and 20 years old.

orchidraver · #4 12-04-2009, 01:25 AM

Great topic! I'm really sentimental about my orchids, and my three oldest, all noids, are all 16 years old and among my most prized.

2 Noid Standard Cymbidiums - My very first orchids, one in spike, bequeathed to me by my buddy Markus who was moving. I was given care instructions, including lots of chatting to them. I complied (with lots of snickering), 'cause he was a dear friend and I didn't want to kill or maim his prized plants if he wanted them back later. When that first spike flowered, I fell in love.

Care: just lots of watering, filtered sun outside year round, diluted bi-monthly feeding, anti-slug bait. Blooms without fail every year, and the white one's now 4 plants, and the burgundy one's 2 plants, but they're in large tubs.

Noid Rod McLellan White Cattleya - on sale at McLellan's for $10, out of bloom and lost tag. I remember thinking back then - OMG, that's soooo much money!, I'm sure to kill it!, but it was the cheapest there, and I had to have another orchid.

Care: It's an incredible orchid that's survived all the abuse (32 degree nights) and neglect (scale, no water, no light) I could throw at it over the years, and bloomed faithfully. It's now about 3 plants, but again, I like them large.

And yup, I'm still always talking to them all, 250+ orchids later.

tuvoc · #5 12-04-2009, 11:18 AM

I've still got the first Phal I bought for Rod McLellan at least thirty years ago. It's a noid that I got in bud, and has bloomed every year, sometimes not so well, but it always has something on it.

Kim

Angurek · #6 12-04-2009, 12:08 PM

I hate to break the rules, but I've only been growing orchids for seven years, so I'm not quite a member of the ten-year club.

Anyway, the orchid I've had for the longest time is, in fact, the very first orchid I ever bought, my den. It's been growing and blooming reliably each year since I bought it.

ronaldhanko · #7 12-04-2009, 03:13 PM

I have an Epicattleya Frances Dyer that I have owned for 28 years (yes, I know they're not called Epicattleyas anymore, but I can't get used to and don't like the new names). It has gone with us from New Jersey to Texas to Northern Ireland to Washington state and survived. It was one of my first orchids, I think the fourth orchid that I ever owned, and the first that I was successful with. I was given it by a gentleman who had obtained it originally from the estate of W. Avrell Harriman, a former Democratic Presidential nominee and US Ambassador to the USSR and Britain (this gentleman once worked for him as a groundskeeper and horticulturist). I only know that he obtained it in the 1950's. The cross was registered in 1955, so it must have been in the late 1950's that he obtained this plant which would make my plant somewhere around 50 years old.

stefpix · #8 12-04-2009, 05:25 PM

Ron
how did you take it from country to country? any CITES/quarantine issues?
what are epicattleyas called these days? i have an epic Nebo that looks a cross with a reed stem epi

ronaldhanko · #9 12-04-2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stefpix

Ron
how did you take it from country to country? any CITES/quarantine issues?
what are epicattleyas called these days? i have an epic Nebo that looks a cross with a reed stem epi

Whenw e went to Northern Ireland, a friend who was in the orchid business provided the necessary paperwork in order that we could take some of the plants with us. Same when we returned.

ronaldhanko · #10 12-04-2009, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stefpix

Ron
how did you take it from country to country? any CITES/quarantine issues?
what are epicattleyas called these days? i have an epic Nebo that looks a cross with a reed stem epi

Yours is still Epicattleya Nebo, but depending on the parents, many Epicattleyas have been renamed because the Epidendrum parent is no longer classified as an Epidendrum.