The craziest orchid stories - Orchid Board

annehylee · #1 06-23-2009, 08:16 PM

Hi guys,

After reading Bluezz's post about "Yesterday's Overhaul", I realized that I have seen and heard some crazy things

from fellow orchid lovers. I mean, my bf calls me the crazy orchid lady (instead of the crazy cat lady)

so I am in that "crazy" group for sure

.

But for example, I have a friend who literally doesn't put too much care into growing orchids. I mean, don't get me wrong... She LOVES orchids... but she does everything that I have been told not to do:
- She waters them with freezing cold tap water. On top of that, she just puts her orchid under the tap and let the water run on the spike, leaves, crown, medium... EVERYTHING is wet.
- She's NEVER repotted any of her orchids (it's been sitting in the same pot and the same medium from day one)
And after all the abuse, all her orchids have been re-blooming every year, they look super healthy, and 3/6 orchids are even growing a keiki.

So tell me, what are some of the craziest things that you've heard or seen from fellow orchid growers or you have done yourself?

camille1585 · #2 06-23-2009, 08:50 PM

The craziest thing I've ever seen? A lady who chronically overwatered her phal, yet it had 3 spikes, a bunch of basal keikis the size of the full growth phals and 2 keikis still on the plant!
2 years ago I lived with a nice dutch woman during an internship at a plant breeding company. I noticed her gorgeous phal in a nice decorative pot. There were aerial roots everywhere, and sooo many blooms. I decided to take the plant out of the decorative pot to see what the root mass in the clear pot was like (I was imagining a huge root ball) Imagine my horror when I discovered it was sitting in a pool of smelly water,and there were no visible living roots in the pot. The plant was barely ancored in the pot, it was living on aerial roots alone.
She told me that she always left water in the decorative pot on purpose in the 6 years she's had the plant, and someone told her to water it that way. If I water a phal that way, it would probably die very quickly!

Here's a pic of the plant in question. I wish I had such a great looking phal!!!

quietmorning · #3 06-24-2009, 09:16 AM

The first time I saw an orchid actually LIVING in a private home and not a botanical garden at a museum was at my mother's house when I went to visit one Christmas. She befriended an orchid grower who had an "Orchid Party" (one of my aspirations one of these days) at Christmas every year. It was one of those 'exclusive' parties that everyone wanted to go to - but usually didn't get an invitation unless you rubbed elbows in an exclusive way, or something like that. The gentleman that held the parties gave an orchid to each guest that came every year.

She walked over, poured about a half a cup of water into the orchid and walked off.

I asked her if it was an orchid, she said it was, then told me everything I mentioned above, tickled pink that she and dad 'got an invitation' - then said, 'orchids are easy to grow, you should get a few'. . .

Welp, this was several years ago, I've 'gone through' a few. . . remembered about this moment in space and asked her if she still went to the parties and if she was still getting orchids from the man. She told me that he passed away - so no orchids, and she "never received an orchid from him that stayed alive." I asked her if she would like me to bring her some the next time I visit, she said, "Oh no, they die too easy."

Heh.

isurus79 · #4 06-24-2009, 04:04 PM

While I did not witness this a group of people here on Oahu were learning about orchids and the leader of the group was trying to impress upon the crowd that orchids are very tough and not the sissy little creatures that most people think they are. To prove his point, he ripped a vanda out of its pot and threw it on the roof of the house in the middle of summer! He said that when they come back to check on the vanda in a few months it would be just fine. Sure enough, after a few months of roasting on the roof of a house in the middle of summer in Hawaii, the vanda was just fine!

camille1585 · #5 06-24-2009, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by isurus79

While I did not witness this a group of people here on Oahu were learning about orchids and the leader of the group was trying to impress upon the crowd that orchids are very tough and not the sissy little creatures that most people think they are. To prove his point, he ripped a vanda out of its pot and threw it on the roof of the house in the middle of summer! He said that when they come back to check on the vanda in a few months it would be just fine. Sure enough, after a few months of roasting on the roof of a house in the middle of summer in Hawaii, the vanda was just fine!

OMG! That's crazy!!

I had no idea that orchids could withstand so much punishment. Then again, if he had thrown a phal on the roof instead of a vanda, the outcome may have been much different. We seriously baby our vandas (and others) too much.

Blueszz · #6 06-24-2009, 05:54 PM

I needed perlite and was not able to get it in the the garden centers. I had seen online that grow & head shops sold perlite but the shipping made it expensive.
I don't know if you know what we (in NL) call "grow & head shop". It's a shop that sells mainly equipment that makes you able to grow Cannabis sativa - the lights, anti-detection foil, pots, perlite

, reflectors, misting systems. These shops are not forbidden here because the equipment they sell is not forbidden (growing the cannabis still is forbidden), except this equipment is so specialized that somebody who grows veggies doesn't need them. You don't need anti-detection foil/tents when you grow tomatoes, right? Nor do you need equipment to clean the air from suspicious smells when you grow carrots.
When I walked one of the dogs I decided to enter the local grow shop and asked if they had perlite (yes, bingo) and my next question was if they had grow lights too. I asked which kind of lights. They started with 600 Watt. I started smilling friendly and said quietly: that's a bit too much for my orchids in the livingroom. :roflol:

BTW today I went back to that shop to get myself some white foil (reflection walls from a small growing enclosure I'm going to build) and the lady recognized me right a way. I started looking around and asked about their reflectors and humidity trays/misting systems and she started to ask me all kinds of things about growing orchids (light requirments etc).

I never could have dreamed walking into that kind of shop without being hesitant or nervous!

Nicole

Blueszz · #7 06-24-2009, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by annehylee

Hi guys,

After reading Bluezz's post about "Yesterday's Overhaul", I realized that I have seen and heard some crazy things

from fellow orchid lovers. I mean, my bf calls me the crazy orchid lady (instead of the crazy cat lady)

so I am in that "crazy" group for sure

.

I asume that is a compliment?

Blueszz aka Nicole

annehylee · #8 06-25-2009, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blueszz

I asume that is a compliment?

Blueszz aka Nicole

Nicole, if spraying down the orchids and hanging it upside down on a clothes-hanger and make it work is a little bit crazy, then it is definitely a compliment from one grower to another. BTW, your new orchids are GORGEOUS!!!! I'm so jealous!!!