New Member from South Florida, inspired by WOC.

[Gwenchanter]

My StoryBeginnings:
My name is Lisa, I'm 24, and I've been living in miami for 5 years now. I grew up in southern california where I loved to help my aunt with her tropical garden and orchids, but she was into the more difficult to grow varieties and I thought I didn't have the time or money necessary to devote to them, not to mention I was just a kid. My dad and I had a huge pot-bound red Epidendrum sitting in full sun in our backyard. We forgot to water it a lot but somehow it did pretty well dispite the neglect.

Success in Miami:
Then in 2003 my fiance' inherited an old house from his grandparents in Miami so we moved there and started attending college. My sister came to visit for Christmas in 2004 and bought me a pink phalaenopsis at a local grocery store for $19.99. I absolutely loved it and figured if I killed it at least it was'nt a huge investment.

It was growing in sphag moss but seemed like the pot was too small so I re-potted it again in sphag and kept it on my covered back patio and screened in pool area. I sorta forgot about it again during the school year and only soaked it a few times. It seemed to stay moist because of the humidity down here. Anyway, to my delight, come Jan and Feb of the next year it bloomed again, this time with two spikes and tons of flowers!! It had flowers on it all the way until May!

My Pink Phal Gets A Brother:
That winter I fell in love with my Phal. and figured if I did that well with it, I knew I could at least grow Phals easily. The next winter I bought another Phal from a local warehouse store for $20.00. It was labeled Brother Lancer and I adored the color pattern even more then the one my sister bought me. It's blooms have been abundant but still not as profuse as my pink phal.

Crisis in Miami:
Every summer I go back to California for three months so last summer I stuck my Phals in the bushes in front of my house so the rain would water them while I was gone. When I got back, my pink phal's leaves were in bad shape. I'm not sure what happend but I think something was eating them. I cut one of them off because it had so many holes in it and was pretty much looking dead. It's only ever had two leaves at one time, and the other leaf had lots of holes in it but I figured the plant had to have at least one leaf to survive so I left it on. Brother Lancer also had some holes and was missing parts on the edges of the bottom leaves. Feeling guilty for messing up my orchids, I re-potted them in some special Phal mix that I got at home depo which is mostly coco bark to see if they would be happier.

Recovering:
Since then, my pink Phal put out two new leaves in the fall, which was cool because so far every year it had only put out one leaf, and my Brother Lancer put out another two leaves. They really seemed to like the new phal mix. This month (jan) Brother Lancer set out a spike off of it's old stem from last year plus two new spikes. I think it's going to go crazy with blooms this year! The bad news is the pink phal isn't doing as well as previous years (so far). One of it's two new leaves has a brownish valley near where it comes out of the plant and it's only sent out two spikes so far whereas last year it had four. (all of which I had to cut off because they dried up) It's third leaf has been looking worse and worse and I'm not sure if I should cut it off or not. I will post a picture in another thread asking for advice on this matter.

New Orchids and the WOC:
So, yesterday, (Saturday) I went to the WOC with my mom. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!! It really made me feel ashamed of my poor orchid care and made me think if my blooms have been pretty fantastic without really doing much work, I wonder how awesome they could be if I actually knew what I was doing. My funds are very low because I'm an unemployed college student with bills to pay, but I was able to pick up two new Orchids from the show for good prices. I decided to stick to phals again since I've had good luck with them.

I got a really pretty white one called Symphony "White" for $15 but some of the leaves are cracked down the center. The man who sold it to me didnt speak English too well and said it wouldn't hurt the plant and that he didn't know what caused it. The flowers were big and in good shape and it had several unopened blooms and It wasnt in any worse condition then the ones I had at home so I figured I'd take my chances.

The other one I bought was the reddest phal I could find at the show for sale. I love red and I love phals and I quickly found that the two are not easy to find in one plant. It had smaller leaves and flowers then my other phals but looks extreemly healthy and I'm just in love with it. It was $25 dollars but I negociated it for $20 plus tax. When I got home I realized the ID tag just had a bunch of numbers so I googled the numbers to see if that was some kind of ID for a certain genus/species but it was just jibberish I think that only meant something to the grower. After looking at pictures online I have identified it to be Doritaenopsis Taida Salu. Even though the color in the picture was a little off, its the only thing that even remotely resembles it and I didnt see anything else that could be confused with it. So, I was a little surprized that it's not a regular Phal but interspecies mix. I love it so much and I want to take the best care of it I can so I've decided to try and get involved in orchid communities to help me learn and propogate my newfound obsession.

I should mention that I took Ornamental Horticulture at Orange Coast College in California so I'm not a total newbee but we never did learn about Orchids.

Thanks for reading my little history, and please forgive me for all the stupid questions that I'll probably be posting in the near future!

[cb977]

Hi Lisa

Welcome to Orchidboard! Did you happen to pick up one of the OB promo cards at the WOC? Wasn't the show spectacular? I was like a kid in a candy store!

Great intro...we don't believe there are any stupid questions, so if you have something to ask...just jump right in

While you may have found a picture that looks somewhat like the red phal you picked up, there's a chance that it's something different. There are SO many hybrids available. While names are important if you're entering plants for judging, in the grand scheme of things...you buy a 'chid because it makes you happy, named or not Red orchids of any type are among my favorites

We'd love to see pictures of your 'chids and I look forward to seeing you around the neighborhood

If you need help with anything, let us know

[tuvoc]

Welcome aboard, Lisa. Don't worry, we are all still learning, and asking lots of questions. Feel free to jump right in, and have fun.

Kim

[Dorothy]

WELCOME GWEN
Glad you can join us at the OB
What a great intro !
Here is the OB's care sheet on Phals if need be -
http://www.orchidboard.com/Phalaenop...ure-Care-Sheet
Just for starters -
Here are some websites that feature red phals
Bedford Orchids
Red Purple Phalaenopsis - Big Leaf Orchids
Orange Red Phalaeonpsis - Big Leaf Orchids
Yellow Phalaenopsis w/Red Markings - Big Leaf Orchids

You will see orchids here that will make you and
You'll have a great time here with orchid lovers and growers from all over the world sharing their trials, tribulations and photos

[Lorraine]

Welcome Gwen

My first plant was a Phal in 2004 and I still have it. 1 or 2 spikes a year. I don't have a name on it but It makes me happy knowing it was my first and is still here. I have lost others but that can happen to anyone.

I glad you got to go to the WOC and enjoy all the orchids there. My second chid was a den and I still have that one too. It just grows all over the basket I put it in, where ever it feels like going. I have some kikis from it that are getting bigger. Maybe your phal will give out a kiki to keep you going too.

Enjoy of Orchid Board and welcome.

Lorraine

[Deborah]

Hi Gwen,
there is no such thing as a stupid question, I love the saying " the first step on the road to knowledge is I don't know" and that definitely applies to orchid culture,
I recently joined OB myself, but have read from posts from here for quite a while, they are a great bunch,and very helpful, congrats on reblooming, could we see some pics?

[Gwenchanter]

Thanks everyone!
Thanks for the links Dororthy!

I've posted pics of my pink and red phals in the identification thread if you havent seen it yet.

Lorrane, that would be so cool to get a keiki! Is there anything I can do to encourage that sort of thing?

Suzanne B: I'm not sure if I got an Orchid Board card from the WOC. All I got was a program that they handed me at the entrance. Were they handing out cards at a booth inside? If so where was it located about? I found this website just by searching the string "Orchid Identification" in google and a link to the ID forum came up.

-Lisa aka Gwen (whatever u want to call me is fine =)