species or hybrid?? - Orchid Board

aries23 · #1 09-27-2009, 05:17 PM

In general, what is the difference between species and hybrids? I love orchids, I also wanted to know what is a good website to purchase some online? I went through some of them and they dont give me the price or its for businesses. I would like to purchase one from colombia. Thank you for your help!

RosieC · #2 09-27-2009, 05:59 PM

Hi Aries,

Species orchids are the forms found in the wild (in general). In some cases their needs can be a bit more difficult to provide because you need to try and match their natural conditions. Some species are less picky though so this is not always the case.

Hybrids are crosses between species, or crosses between other hybrids. They can often be easier to care for because the mixture of different species in their background means that they can cope with a wider range of conditions. Many common hybrids have been bread by growers to be easy to grow in the temperature/light ranges generally found in our homes.

To slightly confuse the matter there are natural hybrids which can form in places where multiple species grow close together. These will often have similar requirements to the species, because those species have similar requirements to each other.

But all that is just a generalisation. Some hybrids are very picky and difficult to care for and some species are easy to care for.

RosieC · #3 09-27-2009, 06:00 PM

As for where to buy, I'm not sure as I'm in the UK.

I've heard many people here on OB say that 'Andys Orchids' in the USA is a good website to buy from.

aries23 · #4 09-27-2009, 06:10 PM

Thanks very much rosie for your help!!

orkie · #5 09-27-2009, 06:30 PM

Parkside Orchids, Hauserman's and Oak Hill Gardens are good places to buy from as well. There are plenty of other good vendors, those 3 have a lot to select from though and have both species and hybrids.

Sara

Royal · #6 09-27-2009, 08:00 PM

Good explaination, Rosie.

Andy's specializes in species, and you can search their site by country. That's a great place to start if you are looking for a plant from a specific region. The vendors orkie mentioned are all good too. Add Carter and Holmes to that list.