Beginners VS Advanced growers

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Maryanne

I've heard it said that an experienced grower is someone who has killed 100 orchids. A professional is someone who has killed 1000.
; -)
ML

That means that I must be almost an experienced grower by now! I try not to think about how much money that represents....

[Daethen]

I guess I don't feel like a beginner because when I look at the post from the beginner that says help me with this plant, I am often able to tell what might help. However, I am NO expert.

[AJW]

I would like to put a different slant on this topic. I feel we all start out as growers . But as we gain experience we become collectors. Unless you are doing it for commercial gain.
To find the complete orchid grower in my view is not an easy task. I for example can grow Dendrobiums from PNG yet cant get DISA from SA to grow yet my Masdevillias flourish I like the quote from Maryanne and yes I have killed a few but we learn and move on.

[snowflake311]

Yes I would say I am a collector now. I killed one Phal years ago and thought I could not grow any orchids. Looking back I just did everything wrong.

I almost killed 2 other but some how managed to save them both after doing real research. Once I saved them there was no stopping me. I started buying more and more...... You live you learn.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I think this is a matter of which types of orchids the grower is able to have a higher survival rate in comparison to death rate,and of those that survive, which of those can you continue to grow for the longest. Then you look at if they can repeat that success over and over again, or if they can teach others how to successfully grow certain orchids. And these people opt to teach others, you can track how well they are able to teach each successive person how to succeed with the orchid(s) in question. Then you can make your own decision as to whether someone would be considered an advanced grower or not.

For example:

If I purchased 10 plants of Laelia autumnalis to start off with and I am able to have 7 of those plants survive. And on top of that I have grown all 7 for about 10 years with each one blooming and getting larger with each passing year. I would say you have a good handle on how to properly grow Laelia autumnalis.

Say for example…

If I purchased 10 Lepanthes hirtzii to start with and only 3 survive. Out of those 3 plants that survived after about 3 weeks, they start to progressively look worse until after about 1 - 1.5 months they all die. I don't think that I would have had a good handle on how to grow Lepanthes hirtzii. If after 3 attempts, you do not learn anything new on your own, and you don't get any results, then it might be time to consult someone with a better handle on how to grow this species, (provided there are any, and provided they are willing to tell you).

Also say for example…

If I was able to get a handle on how to grow and bloom Disa uniflora, (an orchid with a reputation for being difficult to grow), and have them reproduce in numbers far greater than they would die. Not to mention, if I continued to learn about the plant with each passing year and remember how to apply what I learned to growing this species successfully, then that would be a point in the right direction. And also, if I were able to repeat this success reliably over a period of 15 years, that's another point in the right direction. Then, if someone asked me to, and I was able to successfully teach someone else how to repeat that same success, and I kept repeating this for 5 - 10 other people, then I think it would be far easier to make a decision on whether I had the skills to grow the orchid or not.

[Ray]

I don't know if I entirely agree, Philip. Some of the success or failure is related to the ability to provide the correct cultural conditions, which may have nothing to do with the skill of the grower.

Often, just because one is there as a guest speaker, folks in orchid societies consider the speaker to be an "expert" at orchid growing. I point out that an "expert" is someone who has killed his or her weight in plants. Fortunately for me, I seem to have more room for 'expertise" every year! (I'm now exiting the OB and getting on the treadmill.)

[va.orchids]

I consider my self a beginner only because I don't kill as many orchids now as I used to, but I still don't seem to able to get them to re-bloom. I am learning and I hope that next year I'll have spikes on most of my phals.

[Fabian24]

Somebody asks "how to water my Cattleya"...

Beginner's reply:

- "Twice a week."

More experienced grower's reply:

- "What hybrid/species is your Catt? Is it in a basket, in a plastic pot, clay pot or mounted? Is it growing in bark? Does the medium hold too much water, is there some sphagnum moss in it? Do you grow it outdoors or indoors? Are you in the tropics? Is it summer or winter there? Is your water too hard?..............."

That's why beginners always love beginners' replies.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Teaching as opposed to speaking on a topic are 2 completely different things.

Teaching, or rather, I should call it mentoring to some degree, implies training on a more personalized level compared to giving a talk on a subject matter. This kind of learning experience will usually encompass the orchid grower's growing environment. The skill is to use the grower's growing environment and finding ways to manipulate things so that the goal can be achieved. I cannot agree that orchid growing is solely based on the grower's given growing environment and whether the orchid will tolerate it or not without any attempt to manipulate situations. Things are not always so clear cut and simple. Speaking specifically on the topic of orchid growing, there are usually nuances that the orchid growers need to learn about the plants and their hobby in accordance to their growing environment in order to make it work. It's not always, "plug and play". Sometimes it is, other times it's not.

Very rarely do people benefit solely from going to a symposium. Learning is not always passive. There is also an active element to it. Sitting in a room watching PowerPoint slides and listening to some person talk orchid talk on a particular subject matter that the speaker finds interesting, is not the same thing as being taught how to grow an orchid.

I could give a talk about Masdevallias coming from the high Andes and how many different species there are in the wild till my face is blue, but the audience will not be learning how to grow an orchid.

I could also be giving a talk about how different wavelengths of light affect an orchid's photosynthetic processes all I want, but this subject matter doesn't necessarily pertain to an orchid grower's interest or might not even be relevant to some growers on how to grow the orchids that that particular grower is interested in growing.

A symposium, talk, or presentation doesn't necessarily have the same gravitas as going in there and teaching someone or mentoring someone. Giving a talk is me standing at a distance minding my own business and telling you what I think is cool, while you mind your own business in regards to growing the orchids you're interested in growing. Teaching is me overlooking what you're doing when you ask for the help, and me guiding you through matters. This guiding process implies that mistakes can be made, and adjustments to those mistakes can be applied. I think that when a talk is given and you attend, you may learn an interesting subject matter, but you're still left to your own devices to figure it out because you don't even know where the problem is or what it looks like.

[snowflake311]

"Very rarely do people benefit solely from going to a symposium. Learning is not always passive. There is also an active element to it. Sitting in a room watching PowerPoint slides and listening to some person talk orchid talk on a particular subject matter that the speaker finds interesting, is not the same thing as being taught how to grow an orchid.
"

Agreed that was my problem with college sitting and watching power point it was the worst. Hands on and learning by doing is the best.