I have been growing orchids for a year now: the good, the bad and the ugly

[SaraJean]

I can not BELIEVE how many orchids I have amassed in a short about of time! 50 plants and counting, and my poor spouse is about to kill me It has been an absolute battle with some of orchids but I feel like I am learning a lot with still a loooooooooooong way to go. I have been playing around with different ways to grow orchids: mounting some, s/h for a few (some with success, others not so much), or different types of media like my Rhy. that is in a basket filled with epi web or my den kingianum that is just in a pot filled with leca. I still have a ton of questions but I am having a blast learning. My only goal for last year was to not kill the orchids. I didn't care so much about blooms and I just wanted to focus on root and vegetative growth. I figured I could focus on blooms next year, but some of my plants surprised me both in good and bad ways

First off, the good: I got some of my babies to bloom! My Rhy. Gigantea, Den Aphyllum, Max Tenuifolia, a NOID Phal rescue from a coworker all put out nice displays, and then my Iwanagara Apple Blossom just opened about a week ago with another spike on it to go. None of these were in spike or bloom when I got them a year ago, so it was like Christmas when I was able to see the first bloom start to appear.

Now the Bad: Temperature and light requirements have been a huge struggle for me. I have burnt nearly every single one of my orchids. Some days, I swear, it smelled like fried orchid outside. Mostly this was from me not understanding just how sensitive some of them are to sunlight, especially super hot Southern Louisiana sunlight. The other was from me moving a few of them around in my courtyard with out really knowing what time the sun was blasting where. And then I burnt THE CRAP out of my big, beautiful phal bellina and about 8 other orchids when I cut down some palms on my banana tree, which allowed full sun from noon till 5pm into my little growing area. Oops

And of course..... The ugly.
My Zygopetulum hates me. I have been fighting a loosing battle with this poor plant, it seems to have a will to die and I just won't let it. Rot, fungus, infections, tons of black spots on the leaves, for every new root it shoots out- two more die, pests; you name it and I have had this issue with just this one orchid. I guess it has been a good learning experience
Another plant is a gorgeous Den that I picked up from an orchid show. I have proceeded to drop said gorgeous dendrobium at least a dozen times. There were no leaves and two of the canes were starting to yellow. I was getting ready to put it in the trash when I noticed a new growth, so maybe there is hope yet. I just feel bad for this guy and I am going to try and save him even if it takes a few years for it to recuperate.
And of course my bulb elizabeth ann buckleberry. This was a large plant that I put in a 8" clay pot. It was super happy and sent out 6 new growths. Then I got kitties. Kitties decided to knock over and break my bulbo and now I have ONE healthy leaf. The poor bulbo has now stalled and I have seen no new growth on it since the incident happened in december. Sigh

I am going to post some pictures of a few of my orchids and in particular if anyone wants to give me some adivice on my burt phal bellina leaf (or any other random advice) I would appreciate it! Not sure if I should cut the leaf off or not, the burnt part has not gotten any worse or spread so I am kind of on the fence..

EDIT: just in case anyone is wondering, I have officially killed 3 orchids. One bulbophyllum masdevalliaceum, which is a shame because I am falling in love with all of the weird and wonderful bulbos; one odontoglossum that just would not stop rotting; and one phaph that was potted too deep and rotted to death very quickly. Lesson learned!

[SaraJean]

First, the good with some pretty blooms

[SaraJean]

now the bad, with my burnt pal bellina. Should I remove this leaf or leave it?

[SaraJean]

And finally, the ugly. Starring, in order of appearance: The Zygo on deaths door, The Abused Dendrobium Blue Sapphire (with a before and after), and The Sulking Bulbophyllum. Please try not to judge me too harshly

[silken]

Well, you did not bad for your first year. Some nice blooms. I myself would not cut the Phal bellina leaf if it is not spreading. There is still lots of green on that leaf.

I struggle with Zygos too, but love them. At least yours has lots of leaves. They are famous for spotting. I have heard different reasons, but firmly believe it is heat stress. They don't like a lot of hot temps. Give them moderate sun, not high light and try and keep them in a cool spot with lots of moving air. They are thirsty, but need a bit of air to their big fleshy roots also.

The Den should recover. Some of them are deciduous. Not sure if yours is.

[My Green Pets]

my zygo struggles in the summer but is so pretty in the winter! at least yours still has leaves...mine has a tendency to drop them when the temps rise!

[estación seca]

Excellent first year!

Agree, don't cut sunburned leaves with dry spots.

The Dendrobium looks like a Den. phal hybrid. They need to be warm, and watered when dry, all year, with a little less winter water. If it's cool in winter they need to be fairly dry. Leaves should last for several years on the tall pseudobulbs. You either didn't water enough, or you overwatered and killed roots.

Some cats will destroy any house plant within reach. You have to figure out what you want to do.

You've learned how important it is to know the sun's path overhead. It changes with the seasons, and it's important to know where it will be through the year. You've also learned to think before removing shade cover, whether trees or artificial.

Zygopetalums mostly live in cool, humid high elevation areas. They don't stand a chance in heat.

Before you buy plants, look them up. People talk about orchids and temperature with a rough scale: cold, cool, intermediate, warm, hot. I don't even buy intermediates unless I know they can take it a little warmer. Unless it's at least intermediate-warm growing it won't do well in Phoenix. I would think you have the same issue.

[No-Pro-mwa]

You shouldn't feel to bad I don't even know how many I have killed. But many more than you have and I'm not done just yet either. I have a bad habit of burning leaves on my plants, chock it up to me wanting them to have as much light as I can get them to take. And also not getting them moved soon enough as the sun changes from winter to summer. I never cut them off I like to leave them there as a reminder.

You hang in there girl. It looks to me like your bulbo is over potted.

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Excellent first year!

Agree don't cut sunburned leaves with dry spots.

The Dendrobium looks like a Den. phal hybrid. They need to be warm, and watered when dry, all year, with a little less winter water. If it's cool in winter they need to be fairly dry. Leaves should last for several years on the tall pseudobulbs. You either didn't water enough, or you overwatered and killed roots.

Some cats will destroy any house plant within reach. You have to figure out what you want to do.

You've learned how important it is to know the sun's path overhead. It changes with the seasons, and it's important to know where it will be through the year. You've also learned to think before removing shade cover, whether trees or artificial.

Zygopetalums mostly live in cool, humid high elevation areas. They don't stand a chance in heat.

Before you buy plants, look them up. People talk about orchids and temperature with a rough scale: cold, cool, intermediate, warm, hot. I don't even buy intermediates unless I know they can take it a little warmer. Unless it's at least intermediate-warm growing it won't do well in Phoenix. I would think you have the same issue.

Thanks! I think the den is some sort of den phal hybrid but that was just from me looking at pictures on the internet, so it is good to have someone else confirm this. I took care of it like a den phal, it just got way too damaged from dropping it so many times. It was such a top heavy plant in a tiny little pot that I really need to figure out something better next time around. I guess Im more of a bull in a china shop than my cats

And the zygote was something that I was planning on keeping inside for most of the year. The house is usually 75F during the day and about 68F at night. Are these temps still too warm? Or maybe not enough of a drop in temp at night?
And I absolutely don't even look at an orchid to bring home unless they are at the higher end of the warm growing scale now! I am pretty sure that is what killed my bulbophyllum. I will just admire those intermediate ones from afar, i guess..

[bil]

Yeah, well..... people will tell you that you can't grow x y, or z..

Sometimes they are right. I can't have a coryanthes, because I simply can't guarantee a minimum of 20C

However, I was told I can't grow Milts, because it's too hot here, but I can, because the nights are pretty cold,.... and if I can grow Milts, then maybe I can grow.... and so it goes.