Why did you join the OB?

[lambelkip]

I joined to get information on some new purchases, and show off some pictures of old ones. I'm not quite up to 200 orchids yet, but my wishlist is.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Becca

It was an Dgmra. Winter Wonderland "White Fairy". My sister said she was unable to get that one to bloom for her. It bloomed for me! But then in 2007 something when wrong and the roots started rotting.

Did you manage to save it? It's so beautiful it would be sad if it didn't survive.

[nenella]

Like most members I joined this board as I had half a dozen phal noids and was looking for the general care of them.. I lurked for a good 6 months reading every single post posted about everything! and got Hooked! I now have about a hundred..ish..
I'd have alot more but due to my job I get moved around the country every few years and hubby won't let me have a Greenhouse until we are 'settled'....
I Agree that this is the best site!
I'm hooked to Orchids & the OB!

[RosieC]

Great thread Dave!

Well I was given a NoID Phal as a birthday present in spring 2006. I quickly noticed that the roots went silver as it dried out. Hubby and I thought it was a great plant that 'told' you when it needed water.

I was really suprised when I got it to rebloom in June 2007 without doing anything special. When it rebloomed again in Feb 2008 I started thinking about getting more. And actually bought two more NoIDs while I was buying one for my Mum and one for my mother-in-law for mother's day.

My mum had mentioned they needed regular repotting so I searched online for advise and one of many places that I read advise from was here on OB. Unfortunatelly the medium I used was already sour (as I now realise) and by July 2008 it had gone badly downhill.

I needed to ask advise and as Sue has already said, OB is by far the friendliest place so I picked here, signed up and asked my question. Thanks to you guys my Phal started recovering and its now doing quite well.


I started browsing arround the site and found such wonderful pics and realised that my Phal was from just one of many many genuses and I got steadily more and more addicted, both to Orchids and to this site. A couple of months ago Sue asked me to help as a moderator and I still spend most of my time here admiring other people's pics and dreaming of what I will buy next. I love this site because everyone is so so friendly and relaxed.

[johnblagg]

Now thats easy I read some of the posts one day after doing a google search on orchids.....LOL how do you not join?

[Becca]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Did you manage to save it? It's so beautiful it would be sad if it didn't survive.

Hi Camille! No, I wasn't able to save it....by the time I figured out something was really wrong, it was to far gone....I had just barely gotten my orchidarium by then...I kept it in there for a few more months hoping the humidity would help it but I eventually tossed it. I've become quite comfortable with tossing orchids when I know there is now hope It was a learning lesson so not all was lost!

[Paul]

Originally was a member of an os and another forum. Well I moved and have yet to find an os that I like enough to really want to join (got spoiled with having been a part of a very friendly os). In addition, the other orchid forum -- while decent for information -- was decidedly lacking in any sort of community atmosphere. So went hunting on the net and found this forum and another forum that I frequent -- both friendly and more community driven.

[Ross]

My Dad grew orchids when I was growing up in Niagara Falls, NY. I always had that interest in tropical plants, probably from that intro. I started my own collection back in the 1970s with Phals. Had a greenhouse and all the plants lived there. Then I switched to cactus and moved over 300 named spp with us to Cadillac from Oregon. As the spider mites took their toll and my collection dwindled, I switched back to orchids. First Phals, then Dendros. By 2000 I was in over my head and in 2006 I went searching for a suitable forum to discuss orchids. Google had Orchid Board right at the top and here I am.

[LinhT]

I had been lurking for a while and found a lot of info on artificial lighting options. At that time, there was a very lengthy thread on HID, T5's etc here that was posted on every day by the really knowledgeable lighting people.

Then one day, Dorothy posted a photo of Ross outside with a snowblower, naked, from the back. Of course, it was NOT Ross (at least I hope it wasn't). I thought, hey, this forum's got some knowledgeable and fun people. So I joined.

[playtime8978]

I had admired orchids since childhood as a family friend had a wonderful greenhouse in his modest back garden and I thought this was extra special and very exotic, I remember my brother feeling very honoured to look after them for a week while our friend went away. I had no clue how to care for these beauties and I assumed you had to have a greenhouse so I admired them from afar until last february when we went to our local store and they had one reduced dramatically and my husband let me buy it, he said I cant have any more until I learn how to care for them this was a phal NoID it was in a very bad way from being in moss and heavily overwatered and within days of getting it it was heading to the greenhouse in the sky, as I desperately wanted more I thought I better get reseraching what they need, I found many forums but I had never been on a forum before and the OB seemed the most straight forward and user friendly and there was so much info and humour I decided I wouldd join, be brave and ask for help, I got two more noid phals one of which sulked from the day I got it and lost all its root ( its still hanging on in water culture) and the other one looks healthy but no second flowering yet. I learnt so much and as with evrything i threw myself in full whack and my collection over the last few monthe has increased from one dead one to around 60 orchids, I didnt think about space and now aam rather crowded and not got ideal conditions, some I am winning on some I am not, I couldnt do it without the help and support from all the wonderful members on here and I even got involved with the haerella project and that little guy is my star. I dont post an awful lot as I prefer to read and learrn, I have limited knowledge and am scared of giving bad advice and making someone pride and joy worse. I would not have got any more orchids without OB help as my hubby would have seen I killed them all!