Types of orchids suitable for beginners?

[estación seca]

Welcome! We are all crazy plant people here.

Read through the forums on this site. There is a huge amount of information posted by great growers. Orchids come from a wide range of climates, and you can read about them here.

When you've learned more about some of them you'll be in a better position to decide. Cattleyas and relatives should grow easily for you. Also intermediate to warm Oncidiums and many Dendrobiums.

Read about Draculas and their relatives a lot before trying them.

[lunarlemon]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome! We are all crazy plant people here.

Read through the forums on this site. There is a huge amount of information posted by great growers. Orchids come from a wide range of climates, and you can read about them here.

When you've learned more about some of them you'll be in a better position to decide. Cattleyas and relatives should grow easily for you. Also intermediate to warm Oncidiums and many Dendrobiums.

Read about Draculas and their relatives a lot before trying them.

Thank you. I've been reading, but it's a lot to take in as a beginner. Really glad to have the opinions of experts and other seasoned people to steer me in the right direction! I've read up a lot on the Draculas, and think I might be able to grow them in an Eastern facing room that has A/C (lots of us here in WNC have none, but my studio has a window unit) with a humidity tray. I'm willing to put in the work, as the overwhelming amount of plants in the rest of my house can attest, but I hope I'm not just some overzealous noob. I might go for a cheaper Drac, as I've seen some in the $10-$20 range, and I feel comfortable setting that amount of money on fire for learning. Will certainly look into the other recommended families as well though! Thank you everyone for the fast and friendly replies!

---------- Post added at 11:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:50 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

This may be contrary to what others may recommend, but I would advise learning to grow the orchids you already have, grow them well and learn to re- bloom them, before branching out to the more exotic types. To me there is no faster way to extinguish interest in orchids than to buy a load of exotic hard-to-grow types before learning "orchid basics" with easier plants first.

Solid advice, thank you. I have had my current bunch for a little over a year, no problems. One of them came to me with holes in the two sad leaves it did have, half the roots rotten, hadn't bloomed in years, and it's now got new everything! I did my research on fertilizers and potting mediums, roots and growth cycles, etc. Was waiting to see bloom spikes before deciding I really could do this, and I did so here I am. I'm in no danger of buying loads of new orchids, just one or two at a time for me.