Hello from Australia!

[chrisdclarke]

Hey all,
I've been looking at this site for a while for all my orchid related queries, have done some great research and figured it's probably time to sign up and say hello.

I live in Australia and currently have a collection of around 20 orchids, mostly dendrobiums (australian and PNG native as well as a few hybrids) a few Phalaenopsis and a few from the Oncidium Alliance. I got into orchids during Uni exams last year when I had to do anything but study.

Haven't killed any orchids yet thank god but I have two Dendrobiums from the Spatulata family that got a little too much water in their sphagnum when I went away, they're in charcoal now and looking much happier, just need some new roots.

I'm also hugely into aquariums, I currently have 6 planted tanks and thousands of aquatic plants. Recently got interested in tissue culture of aquatic plants so am hoping to transfer that on to orchid seeds.

[RosieC]

Welcome to Orchid Board

[chrisdclarke]

Thank you!

I guess I should also add that I spend a lot of spare time bushwalking and as such get out and see a few native orchids from time to time, photography is another hobby of mine so once I am able to post photos I'll put some up of the orchids I've encountered (not as many as I would have liked to have seen).

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Welcome to the Orchid Board from the OCRC in China.

Going to the bush is my idea of a perfect vacation.

[WhiteRabbit]

[chrisdclarke]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I'll put up some pictures soon!

[megrim]

Welcome! I come from an aquaria background too ^_^ Though my passion is reef aquariums - it transales well IMO, both hobbies are about maintaining set parametres within an enclosed environment.

I've found orchids to be more or less easy in comparison to twitchy marine tanks, so hopefully you experience much the same

[Bolero]

Welcome to the 'Board' from Geelong, Victoria.

[chrisdclarke]

It's nice to see other Australians here!

Originally Posted by megrim

Welcome! I come from an aquaria background too ^_^ Though my passion is reef aquariums - it transales well IMO, both hobbies are about maintaining set parametres within an enclosed environment.

I've found orchids to be more or less easy in comparison to twitchy marine tanks, so hopefully you experience much the same

I too have found that a background in planted aquariums has been good grounding for my orchids, i'm also a chemical and biomolecular engineering student so that may have come in handy too.

The only thing that kills me is patience! Aquarium maintenance is non stop and there's always something to do each day, plus you can see the plant growth throughout the week. Orchids have been hard for me, it takes months to notice changes and I constantly want to fiddle with them, plus the wait between flowers is exhausting.

Fortunately I've gotten some practice with tissue culture and have got some small shadehouses/greenhouses spread between hydroponics, aquarium plants and orchids.

[RNCollins]

Welcome from New York Chris!