How to know what Orchid is right for your conditions?

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Shadowmagic

I know this post has been discussed but I am constantly learning as I go along and this post stuck with me as I knew what I had posted was valid however I did get called out on it so after lots of research I have found a great site explaining phals in the greatest detail I have found.

Be warned though this is a treasure chest of information:

Advanced Phalaenopsis Care: Summer vs Winter Blooming Phals >> Here—But Not

I think Dustin was a regular contributed to this site when he was a kid. He’s got a good channel.

[monivik]

Wow, that's a lot of info... ok, interesting... I'm not Dutch but I do understand some, though for me writing in English is much easier. But I will definitely have a look at that. Thank you so much for the advice.

I discovered not long ago that there is a nursery close to where I live, they have a website: orchidz.nl
They're open every last Saturday of the month. I will probably go there another time, and ask them some questions. They seemed very helpful.

Originally Posted by camille1585

On the assumption that you speak Dutch, the NOV (Nederlandse Orchideeën Vereniging) has a very active Facebook page (NOV-Orchidee). Even without Dutch, they'll reply in English if needed. If you are interested in joining the society, there are a lot of regional societies, listed on their website.

A few thoughts, since I'm also in the Netherlands:

• Cool growers would work well from fall to spring, but you also have to take into account the summer weather, with the more frequent heat waves we now get. I'm guessing that your old badly insulated house also got really warm this summer - at my place it was nearly 30C some days, and not much better at night! I used to have some true cool growers, and they all died or massively suffered over the past 2 years due to the heat. Most Dutch people who grow cool growers seem to keep them in a small backyard greenhouse, but that's just the impression I get from the facebook group.
  
• I lived in a similar badly insulated Dutch house in the past, also quite cool during the winter, with north east and west windows, and my orchids did fine for the most part (assorted hybrid Phals, some Paphs and Oncidium types), as you noticed with your Paph. I did move my warmth loving Phal species to some shelving under lights for the winter. Also, what seemed to help what that all the windowsills were just above the radiators. So however little the heating kicks in during the day, the plants were getting some bottom heat from that, effectively mimicking a heat pad.
  
• I mentioned lights. Even now in my modern, well insulated appartment with only south facing windows, I have supplemental light for my high light orchids in the winter. I've been using these for the past 18mo https://www.trinacria.nl - secret jardin tled, a mix of cool and warm fixtures, for orchids (and also tomato seedlings in the spring) and am happy with them. Being LEDs they give off little heat, but are cheaper to run than standard TLs.

That's actually false when it comes to Phals, and I was quite surprised when I learned that! What is actually important is an overall decrease in temperature, and not a day night difference. I actually learned that from visiting a commercial Phal nusery in the Nertherlands during my studies. Phals are kept at a rather constant high temperature to promote good plant growth and prevent spiking, and spiking is then induced by lowering the average temperature by a couple degrees. Check out the AOS article series (pdfs are online if you google the title) called Growing the Best Phalaenopsis. They're about commercial Phal culture.

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 PM ----------

Oh yes and Camille1585 let me add that yes, I have the same issue that you described at home in the summer, when the heat is unbearable.

I have to say that my orchids actually survived the summer, even the Miltoniaopsis, I'm surprised how well this one did, the flowers lasted a really long time and the plant looks good so far. I would mist it with water, for humidity and use the skewer method to see when it needed watering.

[monivik]

This is the location that I've been thinking about getting an artificial light for. This window is east facing, however because the plant rack is sort of in a corner, or an angle, I don't know how to exactly describe this, I think summer the light it gets may be enough, but winter not so much as we have some very cloudy and dark days. The situation is that in the summer only the orchids in the outer corner will get some sunlight in the very early hours in the morning. The window itself lets the sun shine from sunrise until 12 or 1 p.m. In the summer I don't keep any of my orchids at the actual window because the sun will scorch them, however on that plant rack as it's at an angle, as I explained only the outer three plants will get a little bit of sun in the early morning.

Winter time it's opposite...no sun light at all on them and yeah it also takes much longer for sun to rise that by the time it does it won't get to them.

I hope this is understandable?

[monivik]

Good news!!! One of the Phals that hasn't bloomed in ages is pushing a flower spike. I think repotting them last spring did them good.

So this means I should worry too much about temperature and light inside my house. I think my Phals just weren't blooming because of neglect. But I think that's turning around a bit, they've been making new roots and leaves since I repotted them.


Some are still not as healthy as they should be (still need more roots and bottom leaves wrinkly new leaves small), however this particular one that's making a flower spike is one of the better ones, has more roots.