Regarding the time Orchids can go without water...

[reliablefool]

Yep...months! I think my humidity is high enough and the fact that I had my blinds shut to block out intense sun/heat so I could actually see my computer screen helped some when I neglected them so completely. None of them have bloomed but all are making great progress towards recovery...soo many roots, leaves, and psuedobulbs! It's such a great feeling to see psuedobulb size/plumpness increase so much with each growth after years of decline. Hehe.

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by reliablefool

Yep...months! I think my humidity is high enough and the fact that I had my blinds shut to block out intense sun/heat so I could actually see my computer screen helped some when I neglected them so completely. None of them have bloomed but all are making great progress towards recovery...soo many roots, leaves, and psuedobulbs! It's such a great feeling to see psuedobulb size/plumpness increase so much with each growth after years of decline. Hehe.

That's awesome to hear, good for you. I can second that with the ones I've been babying that got me started down this path of addiction in the first place. New growth, new roots, even one new spike. I'm so happy. Lucky us to have a place like this where we can share our enthusiasm with fellow Orchidists, hard to describe the excitement to non-Orchid people, I've tried. I think even telling the nons how thrilled to have them survive is hit or miss although many people have houseplants they care about.

[tarev]

Know exactly what you mean lotis...hard to express and impart our enthusiasm with those who really cannot understand it. I even have to ask a friend to give me her plants since she just throws out the Phals after it blooms..not understanding that it is still alive.

[RandomGemini]

I just don't even bother trying to talk to my friends about my orchids anymore. They don't get it. They are not going to get it. I'm okay with this now. I figure it's like with my dogs and my lectures on canine nutrition. It's just gonna go in one ear and out the other anyway. My friends don't care about feeding their dogs a healthy diet. They don't view their pets as part of the family, like I do. They view their pets as "just a dog." which is an attitude that I can't understand because I've never believed that animals are lesser beings than we are. I've never understood that thinking so that's a bridge we're probably never going to cross in our friendship.

Same thing with my orchids. They don't get it. They never will and that's ok. I just set them out in public spaces of my house when they bloom and wait for them to go "Oooh! This is pretty! What is this?" and then feel amused and entertained when their eyes glaze over when I tell them the name of the plant they like so much.

[tarev]

To each his own passion..we love orchids..some love baking, some love senseless bragging