Your Orchid phases...

[lotis146]

So I told OrchidsAreFun in another thread I made for a new plant of mine that I was going to create this thread.

In my relatively short time as an Orchid enthusiast I've watched myself go through a couple of phases already. They've been short and sweet, largely driven by my inexperience I'm sure. At first I just wanted to get my hands on new orchids and I was more than happy to pick them up at big box stores. Then I really started trolling Ebay for Orchids and that did me in. I saw some posts of coloratum Paphs here and vinis and I was certain I needed to get Paphs, Paphs and Paphs. Got some, like em, but didn't love love them like the ones I wanted I saw here and elsewhere.

I went to an Orchid grower where I thought I was going for Catts I'd seen online (only the flowers did I see) until I saw the whole plant. Shoot! They had tons of Phals and I was drawn back to them for that trip.

I had a short phase of wanting mini Catts until the mini Catts started to tell me they aren't sure they like me so much and now I've got over a dozen that I'm waiting to see bloom. Plus I wanted to get more blue minis!

Now I love Oncidiums but for some reason when I saw bunches in the greenhouse I loved them but thought gosh they're so big! Which I do have quite a few hybrids but I think I'm waiting for the perfect ones.

Right now though I'm a bit obsessed with Zygo hybrids. I think I'm drawn to getting my hands on some of the less common hybrids even as I've got a couple common ones. They don't have Paphs beat on their beautiful leaves - half why I thought I'd always be hooked on Paphs mostly - but I like their shape, their unusual color combination (dark purple/brownish/reddish and green?), and that their fragrant. But honestly the plants themselves are big and awkward, most of mine. When they're different I think they're pretty darn cool and it's awesome that a lot of them are fragrant.

So we'll see. If I had to guess my next phase I could move into it'd probably be getting target Oncidiums, those with lots of striking moderately to large-sized flowers. (Not that I'll ever stop loving the Zygos...) Oh sorry one more thing for my saga here - gosh I'm long-winded - I also think Zygos got me because my Zglm Rhein Moonlight turned out a bit of a surprise and then it grew a bunch of new growths for me, I killed one, one stalled (and is now growing) and of the other two one threw two spikes! So I was rewarded I feel by that plant as a newbie and it has me watching it even more closely than some of the others.

Deep breath...Are you still there?

So what phases have you gone through in your collecting, be you new or old in Orchid collecting years?

[801229001]

First phase was those Dendrobiums! Just couldnt stop buying them!

Second phase was cattleyas! I saw some of those unifoliate types at a show and came home with 10

3rd was Anything strange and rare! the so-called 'botanicals' I dont even know why! I just needed to have the strangest plants i could find

4th was a combination of slippers and vandas . I am still on this phase!

Never really liked the oncidiums other than miltoniopsis and mexicoa though but maybe that will change! My collection is also almost completely species

[lotis146]

I think species are beautiful but hybrids just take me like magic!

You know I have no Dends because I don't dig the overall plant and I don't know that I can sustain those in the upper-upper light range, like Vandas. I'd love to get one or two of the latter but I'm a chronic under-waterer it seems, add that to not so bright lighting and well I suspect I'd have sad Vandas.

Interesting phases you've gone through, and you're so young! I can appreciate people and their love of the super strange ones but me I'm not so taken by them as I love the idea of having "flowers" in my home.

What's got you hooked in your current phase 801229001?

[gngrhill]

I started almost 3 years ago with Phals because every thing I read said how "easy" they were to grow. I found it not so for me anyway. I kept getting new ones and finally got a few to rebloom. Then I went to Dens, big mistake there, Can't grow the darn things. they are alive, but look horrible and never did rebloom. Then the Oncids. I have had the best luck with them and particularly like the large flowered intergeneric ones. Miltassa Miltoniopsis, Odontoglossum, etc. Started with the Paphs just last summer, so too soon to know if they will rebloom for me. So for right now, I guess I will stick to the Oncid alliance and throw in a few Paphs. for fun.

[801229001]

Originally Posted by lotis146

I think species are beautiful but hybrids just take me like magic!

You know I have no Dends because I don't dig the overall plant and I don't know that I can sustain those in the upper-upper light range, like Vandas. I'd love to get one or two of the latter but I'm a chronic under-waterer it seems, add that to not so bright lighting and well I suspect I'd have sad Vandas.

Interesting phases you've gone through, and you're so young! I can appreciate people and their love of the super strange ones but me I'm not so taken by them as I love the idea of having "flowers" in my home.

What's got you hooked in your current phase 801229001?

So lately i have been revisiting Nepenthes; the plants that started it all. even though it is not an orchid, I grew a few species and got hooked on orchids after seeing how well they do with the nepenthes. (And a book about plants in the library was what got me hooked on the nepenthes)

And also the nepenthes have their little pitchers to catch insects and eat them, much like the slippers which don't eat them but use them for pollination, I started growing more and more of them!

the vandas I grow because I just love how tropical they look! My room already looks like a jungle with hot and cool and dry and humid and all sorts of orchids growing and blooming in little stations for their different needs!

[Leafmite]

I had forgotten until last year that I started with some Dendrobiums from Phipps Conservatory (Pgh). I knew nothing about them and paid very little attention to them. They did quite well and bloomed. I wasn't impressed and gave them away a few years later. That would be the first phase...the forgotten, unimpressed phase.

Before the internet was a place where one could find any information or vendors, I house sat and, as a thank you, I was given a Vanda and a Cattleya. I was not exactly interested in orchids and they just got shuffled around with the other houseplants. For a year or two they tried to grow in bark and plastic pots. (The Phipps people had told me about bark when I bought the Dendrobiums.) I began reading the Rex Stout books and that got me interested in orchids. I got the only book out about orchids that our library had and read that they needed a greenhouse and tree fern fiber (the internet still did not have information as it does today). I did see that my little Vanda and Cattleya roots were rotted and while I was browsing at a garden store, I saw the red lava rock and thought...why not?
And, that summer, the orchids began to grow.

Phase three:
Sharry Baby, noID Cattleyas, the noID dendrobium and noID Phals. (still no internet vendors)

Phase four: I discovered a love for fragrant orchids, internet vendors and seedling Cattleyas
I did not realize how large Cattleyas became at this stage. The seedlings were small and cute.

Phase five: Calcium deficiency...the loss of many Cattleya seedlings I had been growing for a few years. Joined online forums.

Phase six: Joined an orchid society and saw how large the Cattleyas became. Began to get rid of the noID orchids. Got rid of all my Phals as I no longer liked Phals. Got rid of all my Oncidiums as I could not stand the spotted leaves. Gave away the noID Cattleyas.

Phase seven: This is the phase I am currently in. Gave away many of the large Cattleyas and now have smaller orchids and a diverse collection. I even have some Phals as I discovered species phals that were fragrant. Most of my orchids are either species or primary hybrids with a few (four) exceptions. I even have purchased a few that are not fragrant just because I like them anyway. I have seventy-five orchids, now, and will probably add about three more little ones and then I must be finished or get rid of my C. purpurata as I won't be able to cram one more on those shelves.

[AussieVanda]

Always been one for vandaceous, usually hybrids.

I'm currently trying to challenge myself a bit and am starting an angrecoid collection. My shade house is designed for your standard vanda, so I must be cautious about which angrecoids I choose.

[lauraeli]

Im all about phals still :-) I love em, and cant grow anything else anyway due to low light levels in my apartment.

[Skycat]

I'm still primarily a Phal magnet. Mostly mini ones now, though, because I already overcrowded myself with big ones. Currently over half my collection is Phals.

Sometimes I'll be briefly in a mood for something else, when a convenient opportunity presents itself (usually winning a raffle). Like, the first non-Phals I wanted were Dendrobiums, but then I kinda got more interested in Cattleyas and Oncidiums. Especially Cattleyas because I'm finding them to be very forgiving of being dry.

[ddivey36]

Phase one: one Phal at a time, killed it then got another- this went on for years- loved them but never developed the knack of orchid care.

Phase two: got a Dendrobium and a Cattleya.....several years went by with success, got those to rebloom BEFORE the Phals...

Phase three: joined the local orchid club, daughter went off to college, empty nest syndrome set in and the orchid collection EXPLODED

Phase three: books, research, books, research, forums, began to hone my favorites - couldn't stop buying the scratch and dent orchids from the stores

Phase four: now collecting certain colors, species and hybrids of the genus that I can grow in my world of windowsill winters and outside porch summers. Starting to trade some with other orchid friends to gain more and tweak my collection of 80 plants. Learning not to kill/overwater and to rebloom.

Phase Five: 2015 looks to be a good year to collect a few, trade a few and maybe get a couple of new genus I haven't tried and to hopefully get the 3 Draculas I bought for way too much money to love me and bloom.....