New Member - In need of help.

[bganzer]

Hello Everyone! I am brand new to the forums, and could use some good advice, but first a little about me.

I started collecting orchids the same way most people probably do, finding an orchid at a big name store. It is a Phal. but i have no idea of exact info for it other than the flowers were pure white. My wife and I loved the flowers and decided to try one. The flowers did last a long time, but eventually the unopened buds started to fall off. We were disappointed obviously, but we were relocating cross country at the time and figured maybe this had something to do with it. This sent me on my internet mission to find out what went wrong.

While looking, I came across all the sites selling orchids and was amazed by all the varieties, I was immediately bitten by the orchid bug. This was around mothers day, so I decided to buy some for my mother in law (who has 3 or 4 Phals.) and got some for my wife and me at the same time. We ordered from Exotic Orchids of Maui and were extremely impressed and satisfied. The orchids we ordered were: 2X Onc. Genting Angel X Onc. Barbie Patches, 2X Den. Samarai x Den. Blue Sparkle, 2X Encyclia ionophlebia (syn. Prosthechea), and received a free C. Horace 'Maxima' AM/AOS x Blc. Xanthette 'Chartreuse'.

My mother in law loved the gift and we were pleasantly surprised when the Onc. started producing a spike immediately. This added to my addiction.

I then decided to place another order for myself, and now am having problems that i didn't before. With the new plants, some leaves are yellowing and falling off, some are browning and dying it looks like, and i have realized that I am not sure what is going wrong (or if this is natural) because it seems that every plant has specific care requirements. So I am going to post the list of flowers I have, and if anyone has plant specific care instructions, or knows what I need to do or where to look, I will greatly appreciate it. I can try to post pictures if it will help diagnose problems. Thanks

Here are the Orchids i have in the order i acquired

1st, Phal. ?? (All White Blossoms)

2nd, Encyclia ionophlebia (syn. Prosthechea)
Onc. Genting Angel X Onc. Barbie Patches
Den. Samarai x Den. Blue Sparkle
C. Horace 'Maxima' AM/AOS x Blc. Xanthette 'Chartreuse'

3rd, Blc. Haiku Dawn x Pot. (Waianae Legacy x Waianae Majestic)
Den. spectabile x sib
Gram. rumphianum
Phal. (Jackie Debonis x Fantastic Lip) x Phal. (Tropical Fantasy x Exotic Sands)
Angcm. sesquipedale x Angcm. sesquipedale var. bosseri
Prc. Exotic Leprechaun
Blc. Haiku Dawn 'Sunshine and Raspberries'
Bepi. Femme Fatale 'BJ' AM/AOS
Arpophyllum giganteum
Den. Wonder Nishii x Den. spectabile


PS. The flowers with problems are:

Den. Wonder Nishii x Den. spectabile - Leaves are turning brown, dying on like half the leaf from the tip down, leaves browning and cracking in the middle, browning on edges, leaves accordianing, tiny black spots on many of the leaves. had spots since i received it, but spots may have increased in number.

Den. spectabile x sib - Leaves yellowing and curling from the edges, then falling off. Half the leaf browning and dying lengthwise on the leaf.

Arpophyllum giganteum - Very pale green leaves, almost yellow, some leaftip dieback but not much

PPS. I live in ND. The newest flowers are in a basement area of the house seperate from the others which are upstairs. All are by windows with Eastern Exposure