Endeavouring to rebuild collection, advice welcome.

[Triffid]

A big to everyone, and an announcement of a return to something I adore, Orchids!

Long story short, after a few hard years regarding health issues and a lack of family and friends locally who have that green fingered touch, I find myself with a rather reduced Orchid collection. Yet that hasn't stopped my love for the green beauties, more adjusted my thinking on how to go about rebuilding my collection.

So that being said, with an abundance to choose from I would like to pick some brains.
I am looking for suggestions on which Orchids people would recommend?

I am looking for Orchids that:
Are not heavy or too large.
Can cope with a home environment.
Can survive in Hardy UK conditions and sandy soil.
Will not Bankrupt me.
Are not Phalaenopsis (love them, but like variety).

Currently my surviving Orchids include:

Neofinetia Falcata, mounted on mopani wood and set in a small fish tank with gravel and water base. Mount does not touch water. It is doing very well. Has flowered and looks set to make me happy again this year.

Cattleya Intermedia, mounted and taking over the mount considerably. Sits atop a large sealed base plant pot with gravel and water to provide extra humidity. Plant mount does not touch water! Doing better now I am better. Has flowered in the past.

Oncidium sphacelatum, potted and due for a re-pot. Has never proved troublesome but also has not yet flowered, though this year it is again producing healthy new growth. This is a reasonable sized plant and currently the limit of what I would be looking for. Pseudobulb and leaf length currently at 15 inch (4 / 11)

Dendrobium fimbriatum, struggling with this one and will be adjusting its environment this year. Currently potted, but looking into a hanging mount due to the long pseudobulbs it produces. Has never flowered, but produces new growth each year. Needs TLC and is a bit beyond the size limit for what I can currently handle.
Pseudobulb reaches past 2 foot.

A Noid Brassia - was £4 and cheaper than a bunch of flowers - producing new growth, but does not seem as happy as it should be.

Coelogne cristata, never flowered but happily keeps growing. Currently small in size.

Selection of NOID Phals.... No problems here.

Conditions:
As for light it is rare where I live in the UK to get too many grey skies, usually temps are a few degrees more moderate than elsewhere in the country, and we are relatively coastal so humidity is reasonable.


Any suggestion of plants to look in to and consider would be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

PS: It's lovely to be back on this Board with such an abundance of beautiful Orchid Pics to make me drool.

[catherinecarney]

Welcome back!

I can think of a few orchids that might suit your conditions:

Dendrobium kingianum--hardy, stays small, blooms in late winter (a bonus for me here since in Ohio we get a lot of grey winter days) and quite fragrant (honey and vanilla).

Brassavola nodosa and primary hybrids with nodosa (Yellow Bird and so on)--hardy, relatively small, often fragrant (nodosa blooms at night with a citrus scent).

Oncidium Twinkle and Tsikku Marguerite--small growers, tend to bloom multiple times a year, and Tsikku Marguerite smells like baby powder.

I'm sure there are tons more out there, this is just off the top of my head--I've found the ones I mentioned to be easy growers and consistent bloomers for me....Happy shopping!

Catherine

[Orchid Whisperer]

If you like small to miniature plants, consider the genus Restrepia. Restrepia brachypus is a good beginner plant in the genus. They do require humidity, but you could provide that by keeping several plants in an aquarium (built as either a terrarium, or just a tank with lid to keep potted plants in). There are cool, intermediate and warm growing species. Many Restrepias do well in a 5 cm diameter pot; typically they are under 10 cm tall.

[Triffid]

Thank you for the quick replies and suggestions thus far, I have made notes and will be keeping an eye out for them all.

Especially keen on the Oncidium Twinkle & Tsikku Marguerite which are charming and the Restrepia brachypus is something I would definitely love to grow in a terrarium environment. I have some sturdy glass sheets of good size that I may just have to assign to use as a terrarium, certainly given me something to think about there.

[Leafmite]

Haraella rectrocalla. You can mount it, put it in a jar, leave a little water in the bottom of the jar for the mount to wick up to the roots and then just leave it alone for a few months at a time (until it needs a little more water). For all that fuss, it just keeps blooming and growing. I have two and I love how little care they need.

[u bada]

With a little research here's a list of UK growers... I'm sure some are closer to you than others, and unfortunately know little about your shipping services over there... but it seems like there are a fair amount of really interesting plants available for you folk in UK, and certainly in other parts of EU...

OrchidWire - Orchid Vendors in the United Kingdom

What I do know is that UK just doesn't get as much sun as other parts of the world, so I'd aim for medium to low light plants, and intermediate to cooler growers.

If you have options for artificial light and terrariums then your options go up.

For in the house, think you'd do well with many of the oncidium intergenerics, as long as you give them as much light as you can. You can probably grow miltoniopsis really well.

If you stick to ceologynes, that would good be a genus to continue with if you go the botanical/species route... just again giving as maximum light, when growing indoors.

other botanical interests- cooler growing dendrobium would probably do very well for you, there's a lot so again focusing on intermediate to cooler growers, anything from cloud forests. d. victoria reginae, it's hybrids are a suggestion. or d. lawesii and it's hybrids as another... Even Nobile types would do well and their hybrids, which would be easily found.

If neofinetias do well for you, then any of their related hybrids would be good choices as well.

Paphiopedilum would do well for you, particularly the maudiae types. the bulldog types could do well but may need more warmth in summer and certainly maximum light. Again just make sure they're paphs that do well in intermediate to cool temps. Some really need heat and bright light.

I struggled with cattleya types when I lived in a climate more like yours, so i wouldn't suggest not to try too many of those, unless they have sophronitis in it's ancestry, then I think it would be possible.

Hope that helps-

[Triffid]

Thank you again

Leafmite - Haraella retrocalla is one I had looked at before, but is now definitely going on the list. Especially if it's so nice for so little bother


u bada - Thanks so much for the info. Very useful and much appreciated. The link you provided was one I bookmarked, the UK nurseries are quite good and there are a couple European ones that I have used before. I tend to find though that stock will vary and even sell out quickly, so better to make a list of potentials and then speak with the various nurseries when ready to purchase. They are often willing to order plants in for their customers, which is nice.

Originally Posted by u bada

What I do know is that UK just doesn't get as much sun as other parts of the world, so I'd aim for medium to low light plants, and intermediate to cooler growers.

True for most of the country, but we are quite lucky in our little weather trap area. Grey times happen, just not nearly half as much as elsewhere. For us it's wind that's the main worry as you occasionally watch bins travel down the road like excited Darleks. Yet the wind often also drives the cloud cover in land, which is handy.

You're right though, and I will have to start thinking about better lighting in the long run. Especially considering the reduced Daylight hours of winter.

I think my husband will be very happy with the maudiae type suggestion. He's not green fingered, but does seem to like the slipper orchids.

[pipsxlch]

Bulldog paphs wouldn't do well? I thought England was THE place to grow them well. I'd always been told they couldn't handle my hot climate.

My first thoughts are of the Onc. Twinke/Tsiku Marguerite, paphs, cool/cold dends and Catts heavy on the sophronitis- or even the species. There are some really nice Catt hybrids along those lines, and they tend to be mini to compact in habit.

Also thought of Pleionies, Masdevallias and Miltoniopsis. Never grown any of them since I'm in a hot climate; the Pleionies are attractive to me and I do wish I could grow Milts.

[u bada]

Well, I'm not a paph person... but what I've gathered over the years is that they need the cool winters to initiate blooms but warm during the growing season to develop their growths well. I struggled with them when i lived near the coast here... but wouldn't be the first time I'd be wrong. Since they're complex, i do know there are paphs in some of their parentage that need heat and light so those for sure stay clear of in maritime climates, other than that maybe i should try them myself again... lol.

of Paphs i prefer brachys and many can do cooler and lower light from what I know, so those might interesting to you, triffid, beyond the easy breezy maudiae types.

[estación seca]

This is pretty funny... there are a lot of English on this board, yet it is the colonials who are answering!

I would echo suggestions for some of the beautiful cooler-growing plants many in the US struggle with. Cochleanthes/Warscewicziella, Coelogyne, Cymbidium, Epidendrum species, Miltoniopsis, Odontoglossum, Sophronitis species and hybrids. And don't forget the garden outside! There are a lot of temperate-climate terrestrial orchids for you to grow.