Too Much Time Tending Orchids?

[Triffid]

with regards to previous posts.
People are People, some good , some bad
Some Friendly and Helpful , some Mean and Secretive

So some Orchid Societies may be eh erm... "Snobby" and others well less so and even far from it.

Strange thing is there has always been an element of secrecy when it comes to Orchids and this dates back to the original hunters who would lie about where they found their Orchids, just to keep themselves as the Big Dogs (so to speak).

Oh the wonderful world of Orchids... Fascinating!

Anyway back to the question at hand

Originally Posted by jrodpad

Hi everyone -

I wanted to ask a question to the group and see how much time you spend in an average week tending to your orchid collection.

I take about 10 minutes every weekday morning to water/mist the more thirsty orchids and then spend around 2-2.5 hours every weekend watering, feeding and otherwise tending to the collection. So all tolled, that's somewhere between 3 and 3.5 hours a week caring for the collection.

What about you?

- J

[marydaniellesantos]

It may help if the question is clarified, there are a LOT of aspects of growing orchids. Some people flask them, some deflask, some grow seedlings, some pollinate their plants, some do stem propagation, and the list goes on... And of course there are those (many of us) who spend countless hours sitting and conversing with others to learn new things.

By the way, Did you ever tell us how much time you spend J?

[Nico]

Well, it's an everyday job 5 min. in the morning and about 5 min. more in the evening. In weekends, it depends... Sometimes I spent 1 or 2 hours for watering, mist and fertilizing, or reppoting from time to time. But while carrying for them, I feel so peaceful... (if everything it's alright with them) or very happy if I see new roots, new growths, or better, new flowers

[susiep]

Very interesting discussion! I didn't add Orchid Society meeting time into my weekly time spent on orchids. To me OS time is strictly social. I don't go there to learn much. However, once in a while I hear a new "pearl of wisdom." I have had orchids off and on since the early 1970's so... there is only so much info out there. Like fashion, it just gets recycled, what's old is new, etc. But it is fun to rub shoulders with people from all walks of life with this one similar interest, don't you think?
When I decided recently to join an OS, I went to about 4-5 different OS and checked them out. I ended up joining the 2 that best suited me. I didn't want any snobbery or "in crowd" to deal with and these 2 were cool. They both have excellent speakers every month. Plus food, raffle table, ribbons if you bring in plants, and the speaker usually has a sale table! What more can you ask for on an otherwise boring Monday night? hehe
Maria, would you like to go to the Coalition for Orchid Species meeting at Fairchild Gardens this Monday night? I bet you would like this group. Actually, would anyone else like to go, too? Please send me a pm, ok?

[Eyebabe]

Originally Posted by goodgollymissmolly

I'd agree that the person with one or two orchids spends the most time per plant. They are most likely to have little in the way of productivity improvements. They probably carry them (it) back and forth for watering and whatever. They also probably know the least because experience is a major part of learning the meaning of reference materials. If you haven't grown "moisture" loving and "dry" plants you have trouble relating to the meaning of those terms when you read them.

That doesn't mean these people aren't smart or involved. They might be just starting out in life or in plants or in orchids regardless of age. Many of them will quit, but the survivors will become experienced growers someday.

I would like to say that it is not how much time you spend, but what learning you do that counts the most. In my orchid society there are people who have had a few orchids for years and don't know squat and some new comers who are fast learners. There is some minimum time required, but it's the rate of knowledge improvement that counts in the end.

Join your local society and the AOS and attend shows and judgings. Face to face contact with successful growers is the way to learn. The internet is fine entertainment and there is some basic information available, but there is also much useless, misinformation. By meeting and talking to people whose plants and skills are right before your eyes you know who to believe and who to ignore. Electronic interactions are no substitute for knowing your sources. Good growing!

Along this line of thought...and unrelated to the theme of this forum topic (sorry ) I would highly recommend Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers.
It is a book about "experts" and how they become such!
Bottom line: about 10,000 hours in whatever you do and VIOLA! you will be an expert!

[jrodpad]

Marydanielle - yes, in the first post I owned up to spending about 3.5 hours per week (10 minutes or so per morning and 2.5 on the weekend). Since I'm so far below the average, I'm going to have to buy more orchids to catch up!

Susan - How I would love to meet up with you guys for the orchid society meeting! Living in New England is not at all conducive to becoming an orchid fanatic

Eyebabe - Great book. Great author. Gladwell has a real knack for distilling down complex statisticy/scientific concepts so that liberal arts majors (like me!) can understand them. I wonder though, if he spent less than 10,000 hours researching how people become experts, is he really qualified to give his opinion on the subject?

-J

[quiltergal]

With 85 orchids I spend about 6-10 hrs a week on them. The bulk of that time is one day of the weekend spent watering and fertilizing, and cleaning trays. While I love them dearly frankly I'm feeling a little burdened with basically losing one whole day from my weekend to schlepping trays of orchids to and from the kitchen sink. I'm still working full time, so I imagine it won't feel quite so much like drudgery after I've retired. I'll be able to spread the workload over more days.

[Rosiefuture]

I must admit I have resisted the idea of joining a local orchid society. I don't like the idea of being preached to or told everything I'm doing is wrong. But I know this isn't the attitude to have and I'm going to look into the nearest Orchid society which is about 30 minutes drive from my house.

I'm always complaining about the lack of 'different' orchids available in retail outlets here in Western Australia. I think if I was a member of an Orchid Society maybe I would be able to buy a wider variety of orchids from other members ...........and maybe sell some of my many doubles, trebles.........quadruples....lol

I'm a grown woman but I always imagine others know better than me and I'm going to be made to look stupid, it's a lack of confidence thing.

Marion

[fotofashion]

Marion: "Preached to, told everything I do is wrong?" Wow, I hope you can find an Orchid Society that is a bit more laid back than that. After all, what is said at the meetings is the speaker's opinion and spoken out of his/her experience and conditions.
I guess I am like someone else on this thread that said their reason for attending is mostly social. I enjoy the raffle, the silent auction table, the food and the show table. Sometimes the subject of the speaker is germane to me, sometimes not but you never know, you can usually learn something. Oh, and when the speaker brings plants-watch out checkbook!
There are a few in my Society who are a bit snooty or crabby but I just avoid them. Why let their bad day ruin mine.
Although I am considered a newcomer, I am not. I recently found a picture of me taken in 1965 with a Phalaenopsis in my hand. Poor thing is a bit baked, I was new then and didn't know Phals needed lower light, but, it is blooming.
Beverly A.

[susiep]

Beverly, I know what you mean! haha It's all good.