How did your orchid addiction begin?

[Luizacft]

It startes when I was a child and saw a dendrobium nobile in a tree on my grandmother house. It was a specimen size plant full of flowers. Very, very, very beautiful. I still have a division of that lovely plant! :-)


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Do. Or do not. There is no try.

[PaphLover]

Originally Posted by NWUSRoxy

Hello All, I am an absolute newbie. I inherited a phal last year from my work. It was left behind in my office. It was alive but never grew new leafs or spikes. Last June I was at a festival and met a local orchid grower and asked advice on my phal. I came home with a milt./pansy and the love affair began. The flowers lasted months and my house smelled like a flower shop. I have experimented repotting the phal a couple times and I am rewarded with two new leafs and one little spike. Turns out my kitchen has perfect light, an eastern and southern window and I now have 3 Phals, 2 dwarfs, an oncidium and my latest purchase a very fragrant zycopetalum (forgive spelling please). It is so rewarding successfully watching them grow. Looks like my milt may have 3 spikes this spring. There is so much diversity, they are unique and rewarding is what hooked me. I am also getting hooked on air plants and figuring out how to make more room in my kitchen to grow my collection. My goal is to have at least a couple plants in bloom year round.

Welcome! Welcome! And thanks for sharing your story on your very first post. You will love this site. It is full of excellent information, and, as you can see, a host of people in love with the very same plants as you.

[Roberta]

A co-worker gave me a Cymbidium. She lived inland, where it gets much hotter and colder than where I was living near the coast, so I figured if she could grow orchids, I could grow orchids. I went to a show, and was so blown away that I did not buy anything... the last time that ever happened! I joined a club, then another. I bought raffle tickets, and orchids started following me home. That was nearly 20 years ago. Now my collection is up to about 1800, and there is still so much to learn...This is an ongoing adventure sufficient to fill a lifetime. I do still have a few of plants from the "beginning".

[NWUSRoxy]

1800 orchids! Oh my, I can't even imagine. You must have a green house.
I am so new to orchids I feel like a worried paranoid new mother.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by NWUSRoxy

1800 orchids! Oh my, I can't even imagine. You must have a green house.
I am so new to orchids I feel like a worried paranoid new mother.

It starts with just one... For me, though, one orchid is like one potato chip. Can't stop there...

I do have a small (8' x 12') greenhouse, but most of my orchids live outside, since I live in coastal Southern California and can get away with it. When I started, I lived in a condo with a 6'x10' atrium and small patio in front. The warm growers got the spare bedroom (with lights to supplement what came in the window.) I rigged a sprinkler system outside. Eventually I got a nastygram from the Association complaining of moss growing on my front steps (from all my watering) that was visible in the common area. That pushed me over the edge.... two weeks later I was in escrow on a house with a yard (room for a GH) Now guests don't have to sleep on the sofa. But it is possible to grow a lot of orchids in a small space.. focus on miniatures. But in the meantime, just have fun, and enjoy your new hobby. You'll find places for your "babies" when you need to.

[NWUSRoxy]

That is so true. Already I am looking around for ways to utilize more window areas in my home. I am trying to resist getting anymore orchids until I prove to myself I can get what I have to rebloom

[Roberta]

If there is an orchid club anywhere near you, a wonderful resource. There you can meet others who grow under conditions similar to your own, hear some interesting talks, and have opportunities to acquire orchids at very modest cost.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Luizacft

It startes when I was a child and saw a dendrobium nobile in a tree on my grandmother house. It was a specimen size plant full of flowers. Very, very, very beautiful. I still have a division of that lovely plant! :-).

If only we could grow orchids outside all year round. I would have them growing all over, hanging in the trees...

[theloyalplum]

Originally Posted by Roberta

But it is possible to grow a lot of orchids in a small space.. focus on miniatures.

I can attest to this. I have about 30 orchids and orchid buddies growing in roughly 5 square feet of grow space (Two 2'x1' shelves in a mini greenhouse and 1'x1' of flat space outside the greenhouse). If I didn't have my larger orchids like my latouria dens I could probably fit more.

OT: I started when I was like 6 when my grandfather brought me a piece of his reed-stem epidendrum and told me not to kill it. After I got my apartment a couple years back, I attempted to rescue a couple of my parents' abused catts and dends (to my success!) and at the next POE stocked my windowsill with an assortment of species with different growing conditions to see which did the best. Thankfully it's been a year and none have died; I must be doing something right. Hot growing 'chids do as well as my cool/intermediate ones in the same area as do the high light/low light ones. It's quite puzzling! Still have space for mounts and might be moving apartments soon, so maybe will upgrade my mini greenhouse in size and lights to accommodate. Working on getting materials for those Brad's Greenhouse mounts that look super efficient!

tl;dr: Grandfather was a farmer. Grandmother was from Hawaii. I grow 30ish plants in 5 sq.ft. of grow space (actually 3 sq.ft. of windowsill). Upgrading soon because I just have to because I'm moving. Darn it.

[NWUSRoxy]

Luziacft, that is so cool that you have an orchid from a cutting from the wild. I have never seen a wild orchid. However this spring I am going hiking and being on the look out for them