I'm still scared of killing all my plants. How do I get over it?

[Raqsharqi]

I hate to lose an orchid, and was particularly despondent when I asked the grower what I was doing wrong and got yelled at for trying to grow "above my ability." Then I thought about the two loquats, two limes, the lemon, the grapefruit, the hibiscus, and who knows how many annual plants I managed to either kill or let die on my watch, either because I didn't know what I was doing, or because the conditions weren't just right. We try to do our best, and amazingly, we often succeed. Now I try to take the loss as a learning experience. If I can help an ailing orchid to pull through, that gives me something to use in the future. If I can't, I try to investigate what went wrong so I can watch for that in the future.

[lkg1323]

I like to think of it as paying for education. The same as taking a class.

I read and read and read about different culture needs when I first felt myself becoming interested in orchids - but no matter how much I read, I still needed the hands on experience for it to make sense.

There are days I still want to just be able to water them all at once, weekly. But that's not how this game works. I could've read that 5 million times and it wouldn't have sank in. Kill a plant you've had for quite some time because of the desire for ease? The lesson tends to stick a little more.

Keep learning, keep enjoying, keep growing.

[dbarron]

I think most of us won't have any problems continuing to kill orchids, err grow orchids.

The bug to accquire more doesn't respond to many treatments and continues to reinfect us at intervals after spontaneous remission.

[Cym Ladye]

It is mostly about conditions and environment. Learn what genera grow best under your conditions, and stick with those in the beginning. As you become more adept at growing these plants, venture into other genera if you can adapt your conditions to their needs.

Most orchids are lost from water issues: too much or too little. If you suspect a problem, immediately tip the plant out of the pot and look at the roots. They will tell the story!

[gngrhill]

Originally Posted by dbarron

I do understand the overwatering part and the clear pots. I'm using clear pots to try to get my hands around my new babies (paphs).
I actually worry like you...about under and mostly overwatering.

Edit:

Ok, you guys are awful, I look at beautiful photos and want things. I went and added a miltonopsis to an outstanding order.

I will now have to bear the weight of seeing crinkly leaves if I fail to water enough...and crinkly leaves for 2 or 3 years somewhat rend my soul. Now I must fear underwatering even more.

See what you've done?

I have also found that sometimes crinkly leaves come no matter how much you water, and you can't risk rotting the roots. I, personally think that humidity is more important than watering as far as crinkly leaves go.

[Stray59]

Yeah, you can read all the books and watch all the videos, but until you actually kill a few, you won't know how to grow orchids in YOUR environment. It's sort of like how you can watch someone play a piano, but you have to DO it before you can learn to play yourself.
Yesterday I was thinking about how many, many, many (and on and on, ad nausem.....) orchids came to my house and left as compost! And yes, it was troublesome and I have thrown SO MANY towels in the ring, it's not funny.
But, hey, I could have a drug habit - orchids keep me too poor to be able to be addicted to much of anything!
Keep trying, keep asking questions, keep reading, keep growing and keep learning from your past mistakes and successes. Eventually it will happen - and I would either not go back to that vendor or would let him know that I did not appreciate his "assistance".
All my best - !

[bicyclephysics]

I love thrift clothes shopping but I hate special wash instructions/dry clean only clothes. Sometimes I find a great outfit but the label says hand wash or dry clean only. If I like it enough I'll buy it anyway and put it through the regular wash with everything else. If it "dies" well then it just wasn't meant to be. If it survives, though, I am happily surprised and glad that I gave it the chance!

[theloyalplum]

It sounds wrong in so many ways, but killing orchids one after another kind of desensitizes you to it after a while... eventually you find out enough of what you're doing wrong to fix the problems before they happen.

[dbarron]

I try to fix problems before it's too late...but in some cases (let me give a recent one), you don't know you're overwatering the paphs till the roots are gone. And no, I didn't complete their destruction, I unpotted and saw I did bad and put them in a lighter mix...but I was operating on hunches, because everything on top looked good.
Being as it's now 20 days since I repotted and the leaves look like they're happier, I'm hoping that the two that had issues, are recovering.

[Paul Mc]

I thought of this thread today when I read an article where an author for Orchids Magazine a few years back wrote about new orchid growers and the fears we all have when we first start growing orchids. The commentary made thus far pretty much summed up the 4 page article about the fears, overcoming them and not giving up while you learn the language of orchids. He said (paraphrasing here from memory) that it's like learning a foreign language. You can read and study all you want, but you learn the most from practice even though sometimes you might be embarrassed by learning what you said was wrong (or in this case what you did with an orchid was wrong). But it's all a learning process.