Hi everyone!
Just wanted to introduce myself to the Orchid enthusiasts community! I love this forum and I've been reading it here and there for months.
My name is Mateo, I was born and raised in Spain, then moved to New York City and I currently live in Los Angeles, CA. I'm in my late 20s and I work in the entertainment industry. In addition to orchids, I love reading, theater, film, finance, and traveling!
My orchid journey began last year, I slowly built my collection (currently 14 orchids) which I grow indoors in my apartment. My success rate has been 50%: I kill one out of every two orchids Lol
Through this experience I slowly started learning more and more about Orchids. First through Miss Orchid Girl on Youtube, however, her tips would generally lead me to killing an orchid. Then through several blogs, forums, and the AOS publications.
Finally, this summer, I was able to bring a rootless orchid back to life. I learned that I was asphyxiating them in Sphagnum and torturing them letting them get bone dry before watering. I also learned that I wasn't fertilizing correctly, that my water was too hard, and that I wasn't creating the right microbial environment for them. I also had to fiddle a lot with the right media and watering technique for my environment: bark would dry out overnight, too much Sphagnum would stay wet for two weeks or more. I currently am experimenting with mixes of bark+perlite+sphagnum+leca, with S/H, and with Kokedama style (with fully hollow core using an inverse slitted plastic pot with additional holes drilled into it)
When trying to find a good Kelp extract to help during repotting weak plants, I ended up finding First Rays and that was a before and after in my orchid growing journey, and I see most people on this forum are acquainted with Ray's company. Which is great!
I hope to find more extraordinary information on this forum and to meet more Orchid enthusiasts! I'm attaching some photos of my current collection!
Hi everyone!
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