Changes in collecting habits

[Optimist]

Yes Fernando, only 4 years! Can you believe it! You can get a degree in 4 years, so why not massive knowledge (or adequate knowledge) in something you absolutely love.

[theloyalplum]

This is so me right now! I started about 2 years ago in my own apartment windowsill. It started with a few Catts and Dens and anything else I could find for a decent price. After I killed a few MANY, I finally got the hang of it. This little challenge from college has turned into a full fledged hobby so much so that I built a greenhouse that I've been using for the past year. I have since moved on from Catts and into the territory of Dendrobium species and Phal species (that speciosa got me hooked) and now venturing into angraecoid territory though my track record with them is not the best. And now I'm even considering some Onc. types after talking with an old professor from my school...

Save me...

...and my wallet.

Someone talk some into me.

[Joseia]

My experience has been similar. It all started with a phal given to my wife as a birthday present by her sister. Then I bought every Lowes bag baby I could find. Eventually I fell in love with Latouria Dendrobiums and they now dominate my collection, along with some vandaceous minis and phal species. Posts on OB got me hooked on carnivorous plants, and now I am getting into bonsai.

I've always loved growing houseplants and spent many hours with my grandmother when I was young as she taught me everything she new about taking care of plants. That woman could grow anything! She died forty years ago, but I still have three of her plants from her collection that I have propagated over the years. When my dad comes over and sees the orchids blooming, he gets a little teary eyed and remarks how proud his mother would be if she saw them. I think about her almost every day as I water my houseplants and orchids.

[Dollythehun]

Joseia, how sweet!

[estación seca]

Most people wind up being happy with things they can grow well, and stop beating themselves up by trying to grow things that just don't like their conditions.

I also limit my collection by trying to get mostly fragrant plants. And some kinds of plants that really wow most people don't do much for me, like big-flowered, round, overlapping petal, non-fragrant Vandas. Give me unusual, fragrant Vanda hybrids, involving just a few species, that don't include sanderiana.

I personally like to buy young plants, unbloomed seedlings or mericlones, and watch them grow. I'll buy a mature plant of something I want if I can't find seedlings after searching for a year or so. A member of our society harangues me that I should only buy large plants of awarded clones so I get good flowers faster. I try to explain my main enjoyment is watching plants develop; he doesn't understand at all.

[Joseia]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Most people wind up being happy with things they can grow well, and stop beating themselves up by trying to grow things that just don't like their conditions.

I also limit my collection by trying to get mostly fragrant plants. And some kinds of plants that really wow most people don't do much for me, like big-flowered, round, overlapping petal, non-fragrant Vandas. Give me unusual, fragrant Vanda hybrids, involving just a few species, that don't include sanderiana.

I personally like to buy young plants, unbloomed seedlings or mericlones, and watch them grow. I'll buy a mature plant of something I want if I can't find seedlings after searching for a year or so. A member of our society harangues me that I should only buy large plants of awarded clones so I get good flowers faster. I try to explain my main enjoyment is watching plants develop; he doesn't understand at all.

Totally agree with you about seedlings vs mature. The satisfaction of growing a plant to maturity and being rewarded with flowers is a great feeling.

[Optimist]

That is an interesting point. I am not interested in seedlings much. I like to buy the "specimen" size plant. I do have a few seedlings, but I suppose I am into having a "backbone" to the collection. Of course, I do have the odd 5 year old full sized cattleya that is 2 feet wide and yet has not bloomed yet. I am pretty sure I have to move to Georgia to have consistent blooming.

[Mountaineer370]

Interesting topic! I've enjoyed reading the responses from those with decades of experience, as well as those who have only been addicted for a few years.

I got my first orchid about two years ago, so I may be the "youngest" one in this thread so far. With the exception of one plant I got off my society's raffle table, everything I have I acquired in bloom, so I can enjoy the flowers and know that the plant is at least capable of blooming. Now the trick is getting them to rebloom under my care. It's only happened once so far, with my first one, a NoID phal, and that plant looks to be developing another spike right now. Fingers crossed!

For me, I try very hard to select plants that are likely to thrive in the small growing area I have in my home and shy away from others which are very nice but require much higher light and/or humidity than I can provide.

Another important factor to me is that the foliage be on the attractive (to me) side, even when the plant is not in bloom, as that is probably what I'm going to be seeing most of the time.

I'm sure things will evolve, and in another two years, there may be many different plants in my collection. We shall see......

[Jeff214]

Mountaineer370, it's also been two years since I got my first orchid. I was intrigued by the bizarre flowers of Den spectabile I saw as a Lowe's bagged orchid. Initially, I tended to buy 'exotic' ones like psychopsis and latourias. Since then, I've diversified to more 'traditional' types like phals and catts. I guess that's in contrast to many who start with a phal.

It's been a weekend tradition for me to go out hiking or biking somewhere new, stop by a random Lowe's near there, buy one orchid. This way I found a variety of orchids around my home (...plus or minus 3 hour drive, haha). And I somehow find myself surrounded by 40 orchids.

This might sound odd, but I enjoy watching things grow more than the flowers themselves. I tend to buy seedlings or dying plants on sale and find pleasure in reviving it. The flower is like a 'thanks' of that care.

I think it just goes along my graduate studies in fermentation science. I study how microorganisms grow and produce antibiotics. It's slow and tedious - only for the true enthusiast of culturing things!

And that brings me to the end of my orchid collecting. I'm about to graduate and who knows where I'll move. I'm planning to sell / give my plants and start anew. I guess I'll start my new collection as I did my first: with a Den. spectabile that will never, ever bloom.

[Pippa]

I started off with phals I had been given, had to give them all away when I moved and started rebuilding my collection with 'rescues', either £2-£3 bargain bin plants from the supermarket, or ones that friends were throwing out. TBH, this is still my favourite type of orchid as I love the challenge of trying to save the plant and also it is a lot less stressful - if I buy a perfect, in-full-bloom plant, I feel a lot more responsibility to keep it that way!

Last year, I bought my first den phal and then acquired a rescue den phal and a rescue odontoglossum. I would like to get some named varieties this year. I do still love all my originals though - if I ever have a rescue that I don't like once it has recovered and is in bloom, I give it away. Most people are delighted to have an orchid, so it gets a good home and I get some more space for a new orchid!