DO you buy Home Depot "baggy orchids"?

[orchidexpress]

Many, many years ago I bought a 'baggy' orchid and definately killed it. There is nothing wrong with getting plants from Home Depot. Only you much purchase them with one or two days of when they receive them. Don't givbe them time to kill the roots. So many people would bring their beautiful Home Depot plants into my store to find out what was wrong. Home Depot had the plant in their store for over a week, watering it daily. Then they had beautiful flowers yet no roots.

[cheffysteffy]

I started my collection by buying the bagged orchid I have Phals., Zygopetlums, epicatt, miltissa's and encylia lots of different kinds and with alot of love and care sometimes you get a winner. Here in So. Fla I have about 5 Home Depots in a 20 mile area (being a saleman on the road all day) I get all the freshies first. But I on ly really get the bs ones that are usuall standing up in the bottom of the display no thte litle guys in the mesh. They always seem half dead I have only gotten two out of the mesh and both are doing very well 2 years later


Stefan

[Charles]

I almost bought another yesterday. Large species vandas. They are now $12 and $14 so I skipped. I found a mis-marked Vanda hybrid at Walmart instead. It looks good.

[Junebug]

Hi Charles...I've never heard about the root/flower connection. Your plant does look yummy. I'm from zone 9 on the east coast of Fla. I also have a Vanda that's never bloomed (appears to be semi-terete)and was a cutting I rec'd from my ex mother-in-law about 4 years ago. Her plant was finely displayed in full eastern exposure in an old white 5 gal. bucket containing a couple of chunks of coal and some rain water. Her vanda was huge. It was crawling out of the bucket and all over her concrete porch and had many full sized plants growing from the mother plant and several beautiful blooms. Mine is sending out some nice roots this year. Finding the correct lighting seems to be my problem and it might be your's also. I recently hung my plant from the outer limbs of an orange tree receiving south western sun exposure and a little bit of dappled shade. I mist the roots twice a day and am fertilizing once a week, and praying for a spike.

[Orchidaholic]

Please everyone correct me when I'm wrong. I only have 1 Ascocenda but have read that they like lots n lots of light and fert. I hose my baby(from a seedling bag 4 months ago @ 7" tall) down in the morning and give it 20-40% better grow plus fert when I get home(2 waterings a day). Once a week it gets Superthrive in the fert mix. It's outside in full sun (east un obstructed) from 6:30AM- 11:15AM. When I get off work I put it in the back yard to get a few more hours of dappled light(west with lots of trees).

Junebug, you fert once a week. I would think that is too little( but this may be where I need corrected). I love the idea of weakly/weekly but would think they need a little more. On the Sun Bulb label it said twice a month but I dont use instrucions! Vanda growers... We would love to know how much light and fert you give these plants...Also you said it was semi terete... Is it a vanda or an aerides? The top of my wishlist is Aerides(Papilionanthe) vandarum wich is a terete species in the vanda alliance but it is a cool growing plant.

Since purchase and instant replanting into my own 4.5 in basket( Made or Brazzilian walnut) with large chunks of charcoal and fir chunks, It (ASCDA. Mem. Katherine Hatos 'sweet fragrance' yellow) has grown 1 new leaf and 3 new roots @ about an inch a month. I have left it out when night temps were 57F but if they were to hit 55F I brought it in for the night. I know that is lower than what it likes.

[Junebug]

Sorry, I meant teres (cylindrical shaped leaves) not terete. This type of Vanda requires bright light to flower. Now that I think about it my ex mother-in-laws mother plant probably received a few hours of southern exposure as well as full eastern. She absolutely neglected her vanda in the 5 gal. bucket (no drainage), containing 3 inches of rain water and a few chunks of charcoal. I don't think she ever fertilized hers. The plant did send roots and extensions over the side of the bucket and onto her concrete porch though. All I can say is that it was a beautiful orchid and full of blooms. Don't know the name but looked like photos I've seen of Vanda Tan Chin Tuan with beautiful glowing blooms in shades of yellow to peach to lavender. It's my understanding that the strap leafed vandas don't require as much direct sunlight as the teres variety.

I have a few ascosendas and I give them a little less light than the vanda (either full eastern or heavily dappled south western exposure. They average 3 blooms a year. Don't have their names. Most of my older orchids became noids when their tags blew off during the last of four hurricanes we had a few years ago. I was out of town during the storm and my poor orchids were left to fend for themselves. They actually endured the storm quite well, but the brittle tags were lost forever.

As for fertilizing, I may be too cautious.

[Don Perusse]

Yes, I buy some "baggies" from both HD & Lowes. I don't rescue the sick ones but you can tell the fresh ones. You can get some really good buys. I have an encyclia in bloom now that I love. Ascon. have done very good and I bought a red mini Oncidium that was in bloom and now has two more new growths. I have a friend that bought a "baggie" Cat. and it was awarded an AOS award in the Atlanta show earlier this year. Goes to show you!. They are really good for beginners as they are cheaper than some other suppliers and if they do die you won't feel quite so bad. All in the process of learning how to care for them. Don

[nancy]

Our HD has had some pretty desirable Asco. varieties in the little bags (about $5), but you have to pick through a lot of them to find the ones that look least distressed - they seem to either put them in a plastic drawer and swamp them or hang them and ignore them...in the hot and humid south, a seedling-sized Princess Mikasa will bloom within a few months.
One of the walmarts in town gets the baggies seasonally, and I have found some really choice cattleya alliance seedlings - a Blc Chia Lin that bloomed within a year - just a raving beauty! And I'm sure I'd have paid closer to $30 for it in bud or bloom (well, *I* wouldn't have, but the $5 was a real deal).

[kinte]

I have got some really good ones from Lowes and Home depot, but I havent purchased from either of them in a while

[Charles]

Sorry I have not been around much.
June, yeah. I heard that from a woman who had been growing for years. One of her hobbies was noid flowers. She said she could tell the general color of the blooms by looking at the color of the root end growth.
Nancy? Where are you finding the Princess Mikasa seedlings??? I want one.