Beginner orchids

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by catweazle1962

i was advised that the plants we have now that was easy to look after

Be aware that some of the members here who have had actual experience with growing a Promenaea, including me, will most likely advise you that a Promenaea is not the easiest orchid to look after. And as I've either implicitly or explicitly mentioned, there are far easier orchids to grow. You may find that some people who have or had a Promenaea in their collection at one point or another will tend to disagree with the advice given to you by this anonymous person to some degree. While Promenaea is definitely not the most difficult to understand or grow amongst the group of orchids closely related to orchids in the genus Zygopetalum, in general, they are not the easiest orchids to grasp an understanding of how to grow them properly.

Also, be informed that while Beallara is the easiest of the 2 orchids you have, some may or may not consider this orchid the best orchid to start with if you've had no prior successful attempts at orchid growing.

While I do generally tend to agree that overall Phalaenopsis is not exactly the easiest genera of orchids to deal with - again, imo, there are far more easier orchids to grow than Phals. There are some species or hybrids that are generally considered far easier to grow than others. Of those species of Phals that are the easiest, I have already listed them. Should you give the ones I mentioned a try, I have a strong belief that you would be much more satisfied with the results of your choice than previous.

[Rowangreen]

I only have about a year's experience of growing orchids myself. However I go into a lot of people's homes as part of my job. A lot of them have pretty neglected phals that bloom and bloom for months and years. Some hardly ever get watered, others get left standing in water (both supposed to be a bad idea...) yet they seem to keep going! Hence why I suggested you try one of the phals that are so easy to get hold of before something else.

On the other hand one of my clients was given a milt some weeks back. In spite of me lending books etc it's gone steadily downhill. All the flowers blasted, and at that point she gave to me. Since I got it I've done nothing with it and it's perked up no end. It even looks like one bud has survived and I'm going to get a solitary flower out of it! I think it just likes my slightly more humid home (and maybe being watered less!). It may well be an easy orchid in my home (too soon to really tell), but it wasn't for her.

Also workers in shops, even garden centres, often don't keep a particular plant themselves. They may only have very basic instructions from suppliers to go on, often generalised over several types of orchid. They don't always know exactly how to care for a particular plant they are selling, or how hard it really is.

Perhaps we are going at this question from the wrong direction? What do you consider makes a 'beginner' or 'easy' plant? If you give us some guidelines maybe we'll be able to recomend something.