Your orchid collecting habits question...

[Nic100]

Originally Posted by Lady Tottington

lol! I think my husband is onto my sneaking tactics. But, luckily he just bought me a great plant rack at the thrift store, welded it up so it's level and solid, and painted it black. Now I have more room to fill!!!

If I ever get married this is the kind of husband I'm looking for!

Great thread - I'm really enjoying hearing about how other members have built their collections, and what they are drawn to in the vast and varied world of orchids.

My first orchid, like many others, was a gift, and a NoID Phal. After 3 repeat reblooming I bought a couple more, and they grew well too. So then I branched out and bought an intergeneric oncidium, and that's where I ran into trouble and found orchid board - and all of a sudden a whole new world opened up.

I have 25 now, mostly Phals and Oncidium hybrids or intergenerics, and a couple of others I came across at shows or on the internet. I've got a few species, and named hybrids, and, like Rosie, would rarely buy a NoID Phal in the grocery store. I still pick them up and have a really good look, and if I see something unusual like a peloric I can find it hard to put them down. But while I love the NoIDs (as much for what I've learned as for their flowers) it's the species and hybrids that float my boat these days. It's fun to know more about them, and learn about how to grow them from other people who have the same plants.

Who knows what the future holds - there are so many things to learn and discover I've no doubt that if you asked this question again in a year or 2 I'd have something different to say.

[shadytrake]

Originally Posted by Lady Tottington

Anyway, tell me more about what you mean of seedlings? You mean me crossing them myself, or could I purchase from others via online? What are some sources for this that you recommend? I like this possibility, as I think it would be rewarding to watch it develop from a little thing to something that you get to see what it will be.

Oh boy oh boy...you asked the loaded question.

Welcome to the world of obsession...FLASKS & SEEDLINGS. This is exactly how my obsession...er hobby started.

There are many good vendors online for flasks and seedlings, but I started with Meyers Conservatory mainly because they specialize in species. Troy's website is filled with information about flasks.

Check it out and have FUN!!

https://lab.troymeyers.com/flasking/home.php

[Erce]

i love my noids, and i love my other chids - but noid the first orchid i got, and i do them well, thats why i keep getting more!

but for my orchidarium, its only named chids

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by shadytrake

Oh boy oh boy...you asked the loaded question.

Welcome to the world of obsession...FLASKS & SEEDLINGS. This is exactly how my obsession...er hobby started.

There are many good vendors online for flasks and seedlings, but I started with Meyers Conservatory mainly because they specialize in species. Troy's website is filled with information about flasks.

Check it out and have FUN!!

https://lab.troymeyers.com/flasking/home.php

LOVE IT! Obsession, er... hobby. LOL. True enough. Thanks for the names of who to look at, I will enjoy reading up tonight!!! Perfect!!!

[WhiteRabbit]

I have noids and named orchids.
A word about seedlings right out of flasks - I expect they can be quite challenging to grow. And it can be quite a few years before they are bloom size. So take into consideration how much space you have for growing, and how much of that space you are willing to give over to plants that won't bloom for many years. I can't even get compots because I just don't have the space for even 5 of the same plant lol.
There are growers that sell established seedlings, and large seedlings, and near bloom sized plants - and you can get 1 or more, but not as many as from flask or compot, and still have the nice experience of raising a seedling.

Whatever you decide - I'm sure you will get all the help and advice you need from the fine people here

[shadytrake]

So True Rabbit! Troys has some awesome seedlings too!

I bought a couple and they were really nice.

Also, check out the Vendor Feedback Forum for vendor ideas. There are lots of them out there.

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by RosieC

You should not feel like that. There are lots of people here (including me) with loads of NoID's we just love. I think I'm in between the two. I don't think the groups are actually so distinct.

A good 80% of my orchids are NoIDs and I'm so excited as many of the Phals are spiking just now and I can't wait to see them flower again

But at the same there is (at least here in the UK) a limit to the variety available as Grocery Store orchids. When I look arround the grocery store ones now (I always have to look even if I don't buy) I don't see anything of interest because I've pretty much got most colour combinations of Phal you can find at grocery stores. I will still pick up the odd one with when I see an ocasional one in very different colours to any of mine and I'm still on the lookout for a good harlequin, which I would buy as a NoID if I see a good looking one.

... so now I favour those I can get on-line and I have started to find knowing the name and thus the parantage to be important to my understanding of why they look like they do. There is a whole world of Phals (just to pick one genera) when you start looking at species and primary hybrids, that you would never see in grocery store ones. That does not make the grocery store ones worth less to me than the ones I get online. It just adds a whole world of extra interest.

So to answer the original question. I think the value of a collection is almost entirely in the enjoyment the owner can get from it. No point owning an orchid worth loads of money if you hate the sight of it in my opinion. If you fall in love with a NoID then it is worth far more to your enjoyment than a tagged one that you are not so keen on.

I buy both, but having limited money I would rather save it for something interesting from an online grower or when I visit a grower... but I still grab those discount rack ones when there is something I fall in love with.

i would like to have a name on mine, but if they are just perfect and cute, i cant help myself!!

[jeffg]

Wow, what an interesting discussion - thanks for your post.

The way I see it, my collection has evolved based on several facets. First, what can I successfully grow in the conditions I have. I have learned this, of course, at the price of dead plants. Certainly, killing a $10 noid vs. a regal $150 AOS awarded plant feels a smidgen better.

Second, initially, I bought "flowers" without looking at the plants that were left to tend. This had me send several dozen Catts and other leggy plants to "Boarding School" at a friends greenhouse. Gratefully, they come back home for bloom.
So, this evolved a space consideration - how much plant for how much space. With 250 plants in the house, I have to be selective.

Third, I've learned from reading that the Noid Phals, in particular, are parentage "designed", then mass produced based on the beauty of the flower. Certainly I have some beauties that I simply couldn't resist from this category, but, well, I now feel that anyone could own this plant, so the specialness evaporated. This happened with an HP Norton Phal. For about 2 years I never saw another one, and suddenly, I walked into my local upscale nursery and there were 10 of them sitting there (I bought one as a back-up of course...) and whoosh, the idea that it was my special plant went away. I guess this is the part of the "mass production", i.e.NOID-land, I don't like.

Finally, I've found that understanding and studying etiology and endemic conditions for species, and parentage for hybrids very rewarding. I love to learn and love the reward for suiting the plant to conditions no matter what "title" it has earned.

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

I have noids and named orchids.
A word about seedlings right out of flasks - I expect they can be quite challenging to grow. And it can be quite a few years before they are bloom size. So take into consideration how much space you have for growing, and how much of that space you are willing to give over to plants that won't bloom for many years. I can't even get compots because I just don't have the space for even 5 of the same plant lol.
There are growers that sell established seedlings, and large seedlings, and near bloom sized plants - and you can get 1 or more, but not as many as from flask or compot, and still have the nice experience of raising a seedling.

Whatever you decide - I'm sure you will get all the help and advice you need from the fine people here

Excellent point... I like the idea of growing them from small, but the instant gratification part of me thinks that I'd miss out on a lot of blooming while waiting for them to mature to that point. There are some things that are worth the wait, but in my seasonal depression in the dead of winter, I know the blooms are the best anti-depressants my money can buy. Will a compot give me that same reward? Well... it may have it's own sort of medicinal quality, but like you pointed out... do I really want 5 of the same plant (provided I haven't already killed the other 4)

Part of me thinks to get the ones I really want, but on the side, have a couple "projects" that I could then "gift" out when they reach a size worthy to gift.

I'm hoping my orchid fancy is not a passing fancy... sometimes my hobbies are like that, and being that brutally honest is painful , but it's good to challenge myself with that question. In all honesty, some of my houseplants (plain jane house plants mind you) I have had for 20 years, so I suspect this is not a passing fancy, but more a "hobby" that I can grow with as I watch my plants hopefully grow.

In the end, I'd like specimen size plants that seem to always bloom, ones that I could pluck off a start from to make as a gift to someone else. I really want plants in every room, including the bathroom, I want to see them everywhere I look. Afterall, my outside yard is now fully landscaped and I keep going out to fine tune that, move this plant here, and that over there to maximize space and sun. I feel like I am doing that in the house now, and can do that in the dead of winter when there is three feet of snow outside and it's -17 degrees and I want to cry because winter feels like it will never end.

Whoa... sorry for the long ramble. See??? Orchids are good therapy!

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by jeffg

The way I see it, my collection has evolved based on several facets. First, what can I successfully grow in the conditions I have. I have learned this, of course, at the price of dead plants. Certainly, killing a $10 noid vs. a regal $150 AOS awarded plant feels a smidgen better.

.............

Third, I've learned from reading that the Noid Phals, in particular, are parentage "designed", then mass produced based on the beauty of the flower. Certainly I have some beauties that I simply couldn't resist from this category, but, well, I now feel that anyone could own this plant, so the specialness evaporated. ...... I guess this is the part of the "mass production", i.e.NOID-land, I don't like.

I totally get these... for one, I'm not as proficient as others may be, and would feel horrible if I killed a $150 plant as opposed to a $10. I recently had a crown rot on a walmart special, and felt no remorse about having to send it to the garbage... BUT, if it was something that I had paid a fortune for, that could be VERY UN-THERAPEUTIC for me... and in the end, I would feel very very bad.

The other point you mentioned about having something that everyone else and their fleas have, that would seem a little "less special". And I think that is one of the reasons why I asked the whole question to begin with. There is something about having something that is "rare", and in my area the noid's phals can be easily found at four stores, but the other varieties and/or named and AOS recognized plants or clones/mericlones are no-where to be found, which therefore makes them seem "more special" and like gourmet, or something that would be fun to treat yourself to now and again.

So, that brings me back to I guess deciding how and what to collect, knowing that I want to collect more, because even though I have 20, I have a 2500 sq. ft. house with lots of space to "fill" and a very supportive husband who loves to see me happy. Not to mention that the other houseplants appear to benefit from the addition of orchids, because they get more regular attention as well.