What are good orchids for beginners?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Mini Cymbidiums like Cymbidium sinense, Cymbidium ensifolium, or Cymbidium aloifolium perhaps? Are these more to your liking? I mean, you do seem to like your Grammatocymbidium. Grammatophyllum and Cymbidium are closely related. Grammatophyllum mostly consists of giants. Cymbidium have a bit more diversity in size.

Cymbidium sinense has been cultivated in China and much of Far East Asia for a very long time. (A long time, as in ancient China long. I just don't recall specifically how long ago. Apparently Confucius himself admired Cymbidium sinense.)

[estación seca]

Both those Cymbidiums are large plants. They might be smaller than many hybrid Cymbidiums, but most people think of a miniature plant as one smaller than perhaps 4" / 10cm tall. My Cymbidium aloifolium is at least two feet / 6dm tall, not counting the pot.

[nogreenthumbs]

Interesting, so the Oeceoclades (I think someone was screwing with everyone when they came up with that name) are terestrial. That would be a whole different ball of wax.

I like the pattern on the leaves of the Oeceoclades maculata

Oeceoclades roseovariegata is really cool. In the photos on the web the leaves look like reptile skin! Some of the photos remind me a little bit of some of the earth star bromeliads with the reddish to black striped tough serrated leaves. And the pbulb that appears to be shaped like a lemon or orange with the two leaves practically flat on top is visually interesting. Most of the pics on the net are of the plant instead of the blooms.

Oeceoclades calcarata is another visually appealing plant with pbulbs that look like acorn squash.

I've had a Oeceoclades calcarata for about 10 years or more. This is a giant of a plant. It is about 3' - 4' tall when in spike. Each pseudobulb can get to be about the size of a softball at the largest.

Very cool, I'd love to have one, but I've already saddled myself with a Grmcym that's probably (fingers crossed) going to displace us from our apt.

I also find Laelia superbiens to be ridiculously easy to grow as well. This species is a beast![COLOR="Silver"]

Holy moly, no kidding.



Eulophia petersii is another really cool looking plant.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

He never really made it clear how big or small he was hoping these suggestions would be.

I just don't know how mini he likes his flowers to be.

I mean, if he wants mini, the easiest mini I can think of is Trizuexis falcata. This is an Oncidium relative with tiny flowers the size of a pen tip each. The plant is about a couple of inches across and fan shaped. I just don't know if this is something most people like.

---------- Post added at 09:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 PM ----------

Schoenorchis fragrans gets talked about a lot on many orchid forums, including the OB. I find this one to be fairly easy.

Trichoglottis triflora are good minis. Some individuals have markings on the flowers that make them look like they have smiley faces.

Stereochilus dalatensis is a decent one to start with. The flowers look like a bird in flight.

Nageliella purpurea or Nageliella angustifolia are both pretty easy miniatures that keep blooming from the same spike. They stay in bloom quite often.

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Mini Cymbidiums like Cymbidium sinense, Cymbidium ensifolium, or Cymbidium aloifolium perhaps? Are these more to your liking?

All very cool. My liking is all over the place. I've only seen a few orchids in the grand scheme of things, so your suggestions are great. The missus would love the pendant blooms of the aloifolium. When I told her that the upside-down "J" shape of the inflorescense on our Phalaenopsis wasn't natural, but was trained that way, she was disappointed and has gone on and on about how pretty it is. I can see I'm going to have to train it if I manage to get it to bloom again.

Originally Posted by estación seca

Both those Cymbidiums are large plants. They might be smaller than many hybrid Cymbidiums, but most people think of a miniature plant as one smaller than perhaps 4" / 10cm tall. My Cymbidium aloifolium is at least two feet / 6dm tall, not counting the pot.

Ah, so like saying that the pygmy elephants of Borneo are small? Yeah, smaller than a regular elephant, but still 8'-9' tall and 3-4 tons.

Still, if a miniature cym is a cym that's kind of a more average size, that would be an improvement of a cym that's 4-8' tall and wide.

---------- Post added at 11:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 PM ----------

Philip, more amazing suggestions. The minis are really neat. Some of the bloom displays are amazing. I like that many of those seem to end up getting mounted.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Forgot...

Neofinetia falcata are fairly easy to grow in my opinion. They are not really "idiot-proof", but they are still resilient little things and when they bloom, they put on a show! I'd stick to the normal variety first. These are minis.

Maxillaria picta are quite forgiving.

Dendrobium kingianum is a breeding machine. Plus they have the advantage of being largely lithophytic. They can be grown in pea gravel. Mine blooms every spring, and the bees love them. I got an army of these guys by the way.

Sedirea japonica are even easier to grow than Phalaenopsis are, in my opinion, and they look like Phals vegetatively.

[nogreenthumbs]

Lots of cool stuff, and so different from what you usually hear/read discussed. I'm surprised that you haven't suggested any Paphiopedilum (Shadeplant suggested them I think) or Dendrobiums. They seem fairly common, but then so are Phals, and I've read or heard in several places that despite being some of the most common due to the BBS trade, they probably aren't the easiest. I guess they are the easiest and most profitable for the nurseries that are producing them.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I didn't suggest Paphiopedilums for a few reasons:

1) Some of them grow painfully slow. If you thought Phals grow slow, wait till you start growing Paphs.

2) The root systems on many of them are not very extensive.

3) Some grow on limestone cliffs or outcrops in the wild, so they have the need to have calcium and magnesium supplemented in order for them to do good.

I don't think these are great for beginners to start with. If you get something like Paphiopedilum villosum or Paphiopedilum parishii, they might be ok to start growing for someone with a little bit more experience than a total newbie. Both these species are epiphytic Paphs.

I mentioned a few Dendrobiums that I thought would be fairly easy to grow. I just don't like suggesting too many of them to beginners because of things like dormancies, them going deciduous, and ribbed pseudobulbs for some species. Then there's the issue of some naturally looking like they're dead, but they're really not. Dendrobium is just too big a genus of orchids to generalize culture for. When you talk about the genus Dendrobium and cultivating them, it is far easier to generalize culture for each section of the genus.

A nice mini Dendrobium in section Dendrobium, (I didn't make a mistake, there is actually a Section Dendrobium in the genus Dendrobium), that I think is ok to start with would maybe be Dendrobium unicum. They go dormant and deciduous though. Some canes actually look like they're dead, but they're not, so do not start removing canes on these until you're sure they're done producing shoots or flowers. There is also the very closely related Dendrobium lamyaiae, they grow similarly to each other.

If you have the space and the ability to provide adequate lighting, and a little bit more experience I would've recommended Dendrobiums in the section Spathulata. Dendrobium antenattum is one of the smaller ones. These orchids are not terribly difficult to care for. It is just that they are somehow not that resilient. They have a limit to how well they can make a comeback from a mistake a grower has made.

Some species of Dendrobium in Section Latouria are easier than others to grow. I know that Dendrobium normanbyense is pretty bulletproof.

I personally love Dendrobiums in Section Stachyobium, but they have a dormancy, and they go deciduous.

Dendrobiums in Section Aporum are definitely unique, but they grow very slow.

Some Dendrobiums in Section Formosae are not very forgiving plants. I have a hard time suggesting anything from this section unless you've got a little bit more orchid growing chops.

I also love how showy orchids in Section Densiflora are, but most of them are pretty big plants. The smallest one being Dendrobium lindleyi (aka Dendrobium aggregatum). Not too long ago, I had a discussion about how Dendrobium aggregatum naturally had ribbed pseudobulbs. After the discussion, I felt that this section of Dendrobium is not really suited for someone who has never grown an orchid before or are very new to growing orchids. I'd prefer to suggest these guys for someone who has grown a few Dendrobiums.

To be honest, I've not attempted to grow Dendrobiums in the section Calyptrochilus often. I did try growing Dendrobium cyanocentrum, and it didn't go over so well. I guess some of the easier species to grow in this section would be Dendrobium bracteosum or Denrobium capituliflorum. Some species in this section can be quite difficult to grow if you are in a warm area of the US and if you don't have a place to keep them cool. Being that I don't have too much experience growing orchids in this section, I decline to advocate for plants in this section.

I guess you can try plants in the genus Dockrillia. These used to be classified under the super genus Dendrobium. They're mostly small plants. There are no dormancies to worry about, nor do they go deciduous.

Anyways, I think you get what I'm saying and why I didn't just outright suggest a bunch of Dendrobiums to grow.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Both those Cymbidiums are large plants. They might be smaller than many hybrid Cymbidiums, but most people think of a miniature plant as one smaller than perhaps 4" / 10cm tall. My Cymbidium aloifolium is at least two feet / 6dm tall, not counting the pot.

Cym. sinense and Cym. ensifolium are small and stay small. Fragrant, don't need a lot light, like a bit of warmth. Attractive foliage, so nice even when not in bloom. (In short, should do fine indoors) Cym. aloifolium on the other hand is a beast... not for small spaces, they can get enormous.

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Cym. sinense and Cym. ensifolium are small and stay small. Fragrant, don't need a lot light, like a bit of warmth. Attractive foliage, so nice even when not in bloom. (In short, should do fine indoors) Cym. aloifolium on the other hand is a beast... not for small spaces, they can get enormous.

That's good to know, thanks.