My Mistakes....and Yours!

[HighSeas]

Okay....I thought it would be interesting to share some of the mistakes we've made over the years. Who knows! Maybe our blunders can help others learn by our mistakes! What have you ever done that was REALLY a large mistake....that you regret today? I'll go first. I have many but some of the most heartbreaking are these:

1.) Waaaay back in the day; I used to (hiding my head) throw away the ID tags on my orchids. Which is why today, I have to search high and low for their names. Sigh.

2.) I once put my orchids outside under the beautiful breezy shade of a.....APPLE tree. That needs no explanation. I grew to hate that apple tree. I should have chopped him up and used him to smoke pork butts.

3.) I also left for vacation with my orchids nicely watered and sitting outside where they really like it. I was only going to be gone for a week. A freak cold front came in. Grrrrrrr. I lost more than half of them.

I have others. (Hanging my head in shame....)

[cbuchman]

No need to feel shame. I was so afraid of over watering my orchids that I watered them rarely if ever and then couldn't figure out why they died

Also, I was in Europe on business for about 8 weeks straight one summer. All my orchids were outside and my husband was in charge. It rained the entire time I was gone and my husband thought that was great because he didn't need to do any watering. He has since been educated (and he now lets me buy any orchid I want to rebuild the collection )

(I now have a tent that can be erected over the outdoor benches when significant rain is forecast - compliments of my husband)

Always live and learn !!

[jeremyinsf]

Someone described my Paph Robinianum as 'birds in flight'. There were 13 flowers on it, on two spikes, making it very top heavy.

Well, I was watering it outside... and a really strong wind came.

The birds took flight. And the whole plant went off the balcony.

Fortunately I only lost one flower and one leaf. But I learned an Apple Tree lesson along the way.

[HighSeas]

Wow! Those stories put a lump in MY throat! I have a visual of that plant falling....falling....

[jeremyinsf]

Yes... it was textbook slow motion... I reached out to grab it, but not quick enough... the little baby birds trying to fly in the wind, but not quite making it... the sound of it hitting the ground, with a slight bounce.

Considering I only lost the oldest, bottom-most leaf on a plant that has seven growths... and one flower that had already been open for two months: Hopefully I learned my lesson the easy way!

I might also go with rocks next time in the bottom of this plant, instead of Styrofoam peanuts. More weight.

[shushu45]

I'm new at the orchid growing. So my mistake was overwatering and buying the original miracle grow orchid mix (Which killed all the roots).

[Dendy83]

I used to *gulp* use ice cubes in my orchids. My husband bought me a really nice one and I bought into the fact that the ice cubes really did water just enough water, without overwatering. Yup, you guessed it, that orchid died.

I think my latest mistake is butchering the roots when I buy new ones, chopping off ones that had potential and so it's taken them twice as long to bounce back.

I'm sure I'll make many more mistakes...

[shushu45]

I got one of those add ice orchids too. It's the best looking one out of all of he others.

[Skayc1]

Originally Posted by Dendy83

I used to *gulp* use ice cubes in my orchids.

Me too, although for some reason I've still got that orchid & it did not have alot of root damage. I'm now watering by soaking.
Oh & I went against advice & divided my oncidium by removing the oldest pbulb to share it with my mom, It's only been 1 week & is already growing a new growth. I think I did that because of how much roots it had..I may live to regret that...not yet though...

[NOID collector]

I learned not to rely on mains power to operate a low temp alarm as it can and did cost me ££££ in lost plants