How would you grow a NOID Zygopetalum?

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Saw a NOID Zygopetalum at Trader Joe's. It had no fragrance. I can't tell apart the ones with blue stripes on the lip, even when I compare them on IOSPE, so I don't know whether it was a species or hybrid, and it had no name tag.

Any idea whether the things sold in mass commerce are usually hybrids, or species? I'm not about to bring a cool-intermediate orchid home.

[Cym Ladye]

Very few species are mericloned in the orchid world, with a few exceptions, I would surmise. The care is generally more specific and they tend in many genera to be more difficult to grow. That tends not to be true for many standard Cym. species and certainly not true for Zygo mackayi, as it is very easy to grow.

I would suspect that the noid Zygo you see is not a true Zygo but one of the intergenerics and probably more a warm growing. These are sold as pot plants for home enjoyment and the sellers/mericloners would just as soon you killed them and bought another than Heaven help us, learn to care for it so well that you grow it large enough to divide.

I do not know your climate conditions but if it really rings your chimes and you do not care if it is a NOID, buy it and experiment with it. Just keep it above freezing in the winter either in a greenhouse or other location free of frost if you get those temps in the winter.

I just noted that you live in Arizona and the biggest problem you will have is the lack of humidity all year long. But as you are a member of an orchid society with fellow hobbyists facing the same problem you already know that.

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Thank you - this was what I was looking for. My primary concern was whether they would sell cool-growing Zygos out to the general public, because I sometimes see cool-growing Miltoniopsis in big box stores in California (though not here.)

In addition to low humidity, my growing area is pretty warm except both weeks during winter, but the cattleyas seem to do OK.

[Bud]

Chances are that NOID you found at Trader Joe's is a hybrid. If that Zygo you found is a cool growing kind=it will die in that shelf and wont last a couple of days. The mere fact it is on display in that shelf it means it is also going to survive in your home environment provided you give it the proper culture.

Zygopetalum Orchid Care - Carter and Holmes Orchids Culture

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Originally Posted by Bud

Chances are that NOID you found at Trader Joe's is a hybrid. If that Zygo you found is a cool growing kind=it will die in that shelf and wont last a couple of days. The mere fact it is on display in that shelf it means it is also going to survive in your home environment provided you give it the proper culture.

Zygopetalum Orchid Care - Carter and Holmes Orchids Culture

Thanks. That was over a week ago, and it's not a TJ near my house... but who knows what might happen? I was really taken with Zygos as a child, what with the purple/blue lip and strong fragrance. But I've never lived in a place where I thought I might be able to grow them.