Obssesive care vs. Negligance

[Cookiemonster]

Originally Posted by beanluc

Me: 1.5)? I make love with my orchids, but we're always very spontaneous.

lol

[Cookiemonster]

It all depends on-
The type of orchid and where you are growing.
If your in florida, hawaii or somewhere tropical, i think you can get away with throwing the damn thing outside and it having a chance.

If you live an environment very different to that of the orchids- extreme heat, dryness, freezing cold ect- you have to accommodate them and probably provide more time and effort. Most people have conditions in between those extremes.

Some orchids are easier than others- all depends on how you can replicate their growing environment-
For me some plants I have to constantly keep up with, those that require frequent waterings and others like the cattleyas and stuff, i just let them be

[lobsterman]

I REALLY APPRECIATE EVERYONE'S INPUT!

I hope I didn't affend you Ray, I was just kidding.
I guess I'm lucky enough to live in South Florida where I don't need all the "bells and whistles" per say. But if I did live in those requirements, I'm sure I'd see you at the "bell and whistle" store.

Also, I probably should have prefaced my origial post by stating that I do in fact live in South Florida (Ft. Laud), and the people I speak to are primarlily growing here as well.
That being said, again I don't know all of the specific names of my orchids other than the basics (den, paph, phal, catt. etc..) but here is my basic "middle-of-the-road" regimine:
WINTER: "weakly-weekly" with lake water and a basic mix. ALL ORCHIDS.
SUMMER: try and get them all out in the rain as often as possible.

I went from a shady yard to the desert after Wilma, so I'm jam packed stacked 3-5 high on my South-facing front porch.(hang-a-pot.com)Catts and Cymbiums up high for most light, dens in the middle (or wherever) and phals and paphs down low (most shade).

How am I doing????

[Tindomul]

I'd say it depends on the orchid. Some will not make it without obsession, others will be fine strapped to a tree. Nature will take care of it.

[Ross]

I also like this thread. I may be classed as the obsessive because I keep a calendar that I use to determine who gets watered when. But I need to qualify this reply with the fact I grow mostly mounted orchids that are miniatures and they can sometimes be demanding. I also have my fair share of Masdies, Paphs and Phals that need at least observation, frequently, if not watering.

I have three groups - 1) those that get watered daily by dunking or spraying the roots/mounts; 2) those that get checked for water needs every-other-day because they want to stay moist, but room humidity wanders enough to make a schedule impractical; and 3) those that are most forgiving and desire dryish conditions (Cats, Brassias, etc.) These guys get watered every 3-4 days during active growth season and every 4-5 days in winter. However, I spray the top of the medium with RO water every day to encourage roots. Roots are good!

In short, I have found that if I use some sort of system that fits the genera I grow and my growing conditions, then I can teach others in my family to replicate these actions whenever I cannot do the watering. I also water using a fertilizer mix with every watering. I don't specially flush any orchid. The Masdies get mostly RO water. This has worked for me. I don't recommend anyone follow my regimen unless you know why you are doing it. Like Sue says: "One of the beautiful...and frustrating...things about growing orchids: there is no right or wrong!" I'd add to this and say that unless you are an exact duplicate of the conditions someone posts about, you might not get the same results as that person. "Obsessive-compulsive" may be fine for some people and "who cares? Let the plant take care of itself." may work for others. I suspect most orchid growers fall in the middle of these extremes and successful growers have learned to adopt their growing to their conditions.

[let_it_grow]

My mom is #2 ... but having said that i have a couple of her "patients" at my place cause they couldnt grow themselves. I'm a 1.5, I have some that I dont pay attention to as much cause they seem to like what i do... even when i'm not doing it. And I have some that I "monitor" daily cause i would be absolutely devastated if they died... but i only take action if things start to look bad

[peeweelovesbooks]

I think I may be a 1.6.....LOL ..... I make the rounds almost daily, and have to consciously hold myself back from overwatering...overpotting, overfeeding. I have to admit that I've been doing better though.

I water the mounted plants daily and since I'm a neatfreak, I don't like random stuff on the pots, growing medium leaves, etc....so I'm constantly making sure that the plants look "clean," if you know what I mean. Like for example, I take off the spotted or dried sheaths from the Catts, snip off old spikes or pull out teensy tiny plants growing in the medium, or clean up the ceramic pots they are in.

It's relaxing to look at them almost daily and my collection (about 73 thus far) is small enough that I can do this.

Having said that, I keep thorough records of everything.

[ronaldhanko]

The cure for being obsessive about your orchids is to get so many that you don't have the time to be obsessive about them - just my kind of cure and I'm off to buy some more!

[let_it_grow]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

The cure for being obsessive about your orchids is to get so many that you don't have the time to be obsessive about them - just my kind of cure and I'm off to buy some more!

that sounds like a fantastic plan to me.... BRB... gone shopping.. lol

[Ray]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

The cure for being obsessive about your orchids is to get so many that you don't have the time to be obsessive about them

That's pretty much where I am, but I guess I could also say that I have become a 1 on the conditions - RO, dosing pump, separated-combustion heater, air circulators, fogger, etc. - so that I can get away with being more of a 2 on the personal attention.