What should my next orchid(s) be? :)

[Jenn4a]

My addiction is growing stronger! Must.. Have... MOARRR... The best part? Everyone already thinks I'm crazy. I figured it would be wise to stick with types that'll get along with what I already have. Or at least something fairly easy to grow. As temps can get lower than zero occasionally, but higher than 100°F,
I think it's just better for me to stick with the intermediate temp loving chids. The house stays 58°F - 70°F in the winter, and lower than 40% humidity without additional components. I think it gets above 80 in the summer, with high humidity!
I have:
Phal noID
Lc. Final Blue
Lc. Mari's Songs..
Paph. Sukhakulii
Paph. Ho Chi Minh (Delenatii X Vietnamense)

I like these, in a broad sense:
Dendrobium
Vanda
Oncidium
Phrag
[catasetum Alliance <- for when I'm more experienced? I do like these though]

From what I have read, they don't seem to be too difficult and may suit me for what I can provide.
-I do have a setup where I can provide high humidity all year too.
-I prefer inorganic potting medium(like LECA), But it's not necessary.
-I can mount some small orchids in my set up.
-I can provide extra lighting.
-I prefer compact or mini sizes. Unless they can tolerate my normal house temps, low- mod lighting, and variable humidity all year round.
-Near blooming size (within a year at least)

I basically want a little of everything. I did a search through Andy's and 2 dendros came up.So maybe this would be my best bet? I'm surely going to add on anyways..

I'd love to hear some suggestions, if you want to. Having more prevents me from focusing on just one. I found out that my phal is happier without me constantly inspecting it.
I'm becoming an orchiaddict. Sounds like a disease

[LovePhals]

I'll make some suggestions in the genre you listed. I love my Dendrobium Victoria-Reginae which bloomed without me really doing anything so I like it even more! My Miltassia Sweet Senoirita smells really good and blooms easy, my Dgrma Winter Wonderland White Fairy is the best smelling orchid I have. I also love Vanda coerulea and it's hybrids in the Vanda alliance! I hope this helps!
I am orchid addict to. I said no more than 30 but I just creeped above that mark and I really like big plants so don't want to divide

[Leafmite]

I do basically just get a little of everything. For me, variety IS the spice of life. I like fragrant orchids and, lately, I am trying to buy things that bloom more than once a year or stay in bloom a while. I just bought a motley group of orchids from Andy's for the main reason that they were on sale, bloomed often and were fragrant.

LovePhals, I try to stay around sixty but I have seventy right now, not counting doubles.

[MrHappyRotter]

Duh. Phrags.

The Phragmipediums are starting to have another Renaissance right now, and for the most part, providing you do your research and are willing to grow them the right way (i.e. wet, wet, wet for many of them) they are fast growers and frequent bloomers.

You can get miniature phrags, giant phrags and everything in between. There are pretty flowers, there are bright colors, there are round shapes and then there are the more traditional slipper shapes. Some of them are even fragrant. You can find phrags with branching spikes. Some of them bloom many months at a time, successively throwing out new flowers every week or two.

There was a time when phrags were uncommon to find or very expensive, they were also initially introduced to me as "difficult". Ha. But, now quite a few vendors carry them, with lots of variety in the offerings. Even one of the local garden centers occasionally has them in stock. It's easier than I can ever remember to find lots of options that fit lots of different tastes, from beautiful to macabre.

I find Phrags to be far less fussy than Paphs (generally speaking). You DO have to keep an eye on water quality as well as quantity. But other than that, if you're already having success with groups such as Paphs, Phals, and various Oncidium alliance plants, then Phragmipediums will likely do well for you.

[The Mutant]

Neofinetia? Some more Paphs? Phrags? Dendrobium normanbyense (I haven't tried to force it onto people lately, need to start again)?

And there all my orchid knowledge ended...

Oh, Phal celebensis. I have about the same conditions that you do and Phal. celebensis is about the only Phal that likes me.

[Jenn4a]

My phal does pretty well, other than sometimes letting it dry a bit too long.. Oops. The clear container helps me though.
The paphs are both in black pots so I can't tell when to water them. The problem I have with any orchid is that the top always dries out really fast, but the bottom takes a long time to dry out.
My phal is in a 4" pot and the bottom roots turn white in 5-6 days.

I'd love to get more paphs, but I think I should see how the two I have work out for me. Plus I've had them less than a week, and the Cattleyas almost two weeks. I think I want one or two of various orchids to see what I can handle. I wouldn't want to get 10 paphs and then kill them all. I would be SOL, haha.

I'm trying to stay below $30 with shipping per orchid, otherwise I'd probably have a phrag on the way. LOL.
From my first experience with shipping during winter time, I believe that seedlings might not make it (Experiencing fast rot with the Lc. mari song seedlings, while the Lc. final blue looks okay still.) Most of the phrags I see below 30$ are seedlings.. Unless you can point me to a place? I have no idea about what vendors to check out. *I think if they're cool tolerant the cold shipping isn't as stressful, I just know the young Cattleyas rapidly declined. This is another reason why a Dendro would be nice, a lot of them seem to like cooler temps than other types.

I have RO water, if that's helpful.. And Dyna-Gro 7-9-5 and liquid rooting hormone.

I see many of Dendro Kingianum on eBay as well as Dendro Loddigessi. Those look like a good starting Dendro?

How are Andy's orchids, leafmite? They have some orchids priced pretty cheap. I think on ebay it says it can take them 20 days to ship though

I don't know which sites to check out, BUT I live around 40-50 minutes away from Hilltoporchids.com

[wintergirl]

I too am getting ready to buy some new orchids. I want to wait until after Jan 1 so nothing gets stuck in holiday day off. I have seen some orchids on Ebay and I saw something on Firstrays I want. Seedlings can be fun. I have some I am watching grow and everyday is exciting to see some progress.

[Jenn4a]

Originally Posted by wintergirl

I too am getting ready to buy some new orchids. I want to wait until after Jan 1 so nothing gets stuck in holiday day off. I have seen some orchids on Ebay and I saw something on Firstrays I want. Seedlings can be fun. I have some I am watching grow and everyday is exciting to see some progress.

Seedlings aren't particularly a bad thing to me, it's just that I had bad luck with the first two that I got. If I didn't check on them when I did, they'd be toast. Right now I'm trying to balance them out by giving them water (they got really wrinkly! But dry enough to minimize the rotting.) It just seems like as soon as I get it all, more areas become suspicious. I treated them with generic cleary's so I'm hoping they'll pull through.
I'm sure these seedlings would have been dead right now without the beloved members of OB. when I wasn't asking questions, I was reading through old threads.

[CA2FLxplant]

I say get yourself a Brassovola Nodosa!! Compact, easy to grow, and SUPER fragrant at night. I just L O V E mine!!

[Leafmite]

Andy's is great! I buy directly from their site and they ship REALLY fast. If you have really cold weather, they might have you pick the box up at the Fed-ex place, though, as they are really careful. I have ordered three times from them and the orchids are really great. I am already plotting to make another order for this spring.

You are welcome to check out what I am growing. I try to grow orchids that are easy...most are fragrant but some are not. All but the ones from Andy's are in red lava rock or LECA and basket pots...or mounted. The only ones I do not recommend growing from seedling size is bellina and violacea but they are easy if bought mature.

I am sorry about your Cattleya seedlings. I have found that Cattleyas are really easy to grow if you put them in LECA/red lava rock and use a basket pot. I even have a few in plastic Vanda baskets (the mounted ancepts will be put in a vanda basket this spring). They like to be watered well but dry quickly/have plenty of air around their roots.