What got you hooked growing orchids?

[Keysguy]

Sounds like you're ready for a greenhouse Cheri.

[Leareu]

I came across a picture of the famous fdk. after dark and that's when I discovered Catasetums and that's what got me hooked haha.

Catasetums are just so gorgeous to me

[TZ-Someplace]

1) Pink Phal. impulse buy at Home Depot followed by a couple more and then their slow decline and death.

2) Pretty pictures on the internet.

3) Semihydro and some Oncidiums from FirstRays. Things grew, but too late for the first three Phals.

4) A local Home Depot sold big bags of hydroponics pellets cheap.

5) I got a big box of dried up Cattleyas from a greenhouse rescue and learned a lot about unhealthy orchids from working with them.

[Relemitty]

I'm new to OB and reading old threads and had to respond.
My mom had an amazing green thumb. She had African Violets she bought in early 70s and orchids she bought in Hawaii in late 70s that were still alive and blooming in 2008.

My adventure in orchids started in 2019 when a friend told me she bought noid phals to decorate her house and then tossed them. I have 18 of her orchids now and they are growing and blooming, though I think some of that is just plain luck. I do repot them and remove all sphagnum moss and replace with a commercial bark mix.

I bought a baby Catt in Feb 2021 that is growing but still probably a year or more from blooming.

I was in Houston about a month ago and walked into Orchid Express and bought a Odontobrassia and a dendrobium that I an now learning about the light and water they need.
I am early in my addiction and looking for my next orchid.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

It all started from me trying to rescue my parent's close to death door cattleya, then it started slow balling into an obsession from there. I am now not just an orchid grower, but trying to be a full-fledged gardener.

[tmoney]

guess i didn't read this far when i joined! so, what got me into this hobby was that my new then (2018) girlfriend had an orchid that her mom bought her and we started researching on how to care for them. then, in 2019 she got me one of my own - another noid phal. that was it, about a year later i joined ob and have been addicted ever since.

so, i mostly blame my girlfriend and the orchid board for my regrettable state. both of you are nasty enablers