Hi, I"m new to the forum

[NickEngler]

Hi, I"m new to the forum, and new to posting on news groups. If I break proticol let me know.

I've been growing orchids for 32 years. Currently I have a lot of plants in a lot of different genera -- probably about 300-350 plants. I'm afraid to count. I won't even hazard a guess about how many genera that represents, possibly 30-35 if all the various combinations of Cattleya, Laelia, Brassavola, and so on are taken as one. I mostly grow intermediate growers, but with careful care placing have a few cool and warm growers. I try to stick with compact to smaller size plants. I have one Stanhopea and a large standard white Cattleya (Bob Betts?) I inherited when a friend passed away. The majority of my plants are under lights, flourescent tubes as opposed to HIDs, but some have permanent homes on my windowsills, which seem to be fewer and more occupied than I thought. I garden also and have tried two different Cyrprepediums in my garden -- C. montana which bloomed the first year but didn't come back,and I tried a C. calceolus this last spring so I'll see what happens this coming spring. It is all under about 6 inches of snow at present. Late in spring I also add my Cymbidiums to the garden, and create a chelter on my deck for many of the other plants that can go outside.

So glad to meet all of you, and hopefullly will talk again soon. Nick

[cb977]

Hi Nick and welcome to Orchidboard

Sounds like you've got a wonderful collection
We'd love to see some pictures

We've got a wonderful community here with lots of great folks from around the world sharing their obsession...
no, no, I mean hobby...that's right...hobby

If you need help with anything, just let us know

[shakkai]

Hi Nick, Great to have you here! Welcome to Orchid Board - the best, friendliest place on the internet to talk about orchids! We'd love to see photos of some of the things you grow... with a collection like that, you must have an amazing display almost year round!

Looking forward to your posts... if you have any questions in the mean time about anything on Orchid Board, just ask!

[Ross]

Welcome Nick. I almost moved to Missoula with the US Forest Service once, but pulled out - never figured that one out (I guess one of my first career mistakes.)

We'd love to see pictures of your setups and hear more about how you grow that many plants under lights. Lots of lights growers here to chat with.

Drop by often.