Newbie from Florida!

[ckube]

Hi - I am Cindy and have very recently inherited a large (150+) collection of orchids from an elderly man that had propagated them for many, many years.

The vast majority of them are mounted on boards and are unlabeled, so I am going through the process of trying to identifying them. I can certainly use any help/suggestions that you may have.

I am - by nature - a plant lover, but have never really 'specialized' on any one type. I also have staghorn ferns, milkeweed (avid monarch lover), azalea, hibiscus, palms, duranta, pentas, plumbago, lantana, and many others.

[charlesf6]

WOW!! ...and Welcome Cindy!
what a treat to have you here.

[jkofferdahl]

That sounds like quite a collection to start off with! Good luck with it, and welcome to the OB.

[ckube]

I guess one of my first questions is should I entertain the idea of of potting them (rather than keeping them on boards) or would that be too dangerous for them? I find very little online about orchids on boards/wood.

I also am concerned because - as you may have guessed - I am very ill-prepared to 'house' 156 orchids. I do not have a greenhouse like the gentleman I received these from. We have (so far) had a very mild winter but I am concerned about the remainder of the winter.

I do have a few folks that are interested in coming to take some of the orchids so that will help - but then I feel like I need to (somewhat) identify them first so I don't get rid of ones that I really want (or should want) to keep. Does that make sense?

[wintergirl]

Welcome to OrchidBoard
Most of my mounted orchids will get the roots misted with rain water every day. Some plants will not grow well potted but it all depends on the plant.

[charlesf6]

I do have a few folks that are interested in coming to take some of the orchids so that will help - but then I feel like I need to (somewhat) identify them first so I don't get rid of ones that I really want (or should want) to keep. Does that make sense?

This makes very good sense!

[ckube]

I have posted also in the identification forum and put a link to a Flickr album.

I have not photographed all 156 but various bits and pieces I thought may be helpful in identification.

I know I have the following - based on labels
1. Bulb. Crassipes
2. Blc. Suehno de Amor
3. Label simply says 'Cattleya (fragrant) Pink w/ Lavender lip'
4. V. Blue Grig 'Chula' x V. Gorden Dillon 'Lea'
5. Dtps 'Pete's Gold'

There are two other tags that are somewhat illegible but this is what I can make out:
1. 'H ?? S-P'
2. 'C-94 W'

[AnonYMouse]

I looked at your other thread.

Are you in Florida? If so, you probably don't need a greenhouse. Some of the plants might like a little shade but most of your plants should be okay most of the time.

[ckube]

Good to know!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

In your rainy climate, I suspect it would be easier to care for them mounted on boards. That's why an elderly gentleman was able to care for them for so long. I would leave them mounted until you know what they are.

With just a little experience you can learn to tell general types of orchids from each other. There are two good ways to find out what they are. First, there is probably an orchid society near you. Contact them, and see whether members could come to your home and identify them as to general type.

Or, take a camera to a nursery with a large variety of orchids, and look at the plants. Photograph different kinds of plants along with their name tags. Try to get an idea of how different kinds of orchid plants look. Focus on the genus, the part of the name that is capitalized. The species name, the one written all lower-case, isn't as important for you right now.

Then you can take a stab at identifying your plants. How you grow them varies with what genus they belong to.

Good luck!