New Year, new orchid project?

[Leafmite]

I do not know anything about the ones that have been suggested. Hopefully, others will explain what they will require to grow happily.

Please feel free to suggest some fragrant orchids that you are interested in growing.

[plantluvver]

My candidate is Brassavola grandiflora. My main reason is Andy describes it as very fragrant and easy. And a miniature has a lot of appeal to many of the posters on this thread.

I like the $8 price tag of the Dryadella simula and think Euceragenera will be at my local show. (Andy also). Just about anything that I can get for under $10 I am willing to gamble on.

[JFeathersmith]

I'm definitely interested in participating! I'm pretty new to orchids, so I don't have any particular suggestions - miniatures are always nice (and so are dendrobiums) - but I am game to try -almost- anything.

[FairyInTheFlowers]

I haven't had much time to look for availability, but how about any of the Isabelia species? There's three species, violacea, pulchella, or virginalis. I've honestly been wanting to try all of these species, and they're all mid-light miniatures. We could have the group project be this genus, and that way it increases a persons chances of being able to find one.

[Leafmite]

The list so far:

1) Dendrobium limpidum Andy's
2) tolumnia
3) Laelia bradei
4) Dendrobium pachyphyllum or oligophyllum Andy's
5) Cattleya alliance, especially oddball Epidendrum species, or anything in the Oncidium group
6) Pleuro group, possibly Dryadella simula Salixx Source: J&L
7) Brassavola grandiflora Andy's
8) Isabelia species (violacea, pulchella, or virginalis)

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Okay, I'm finally going to expand #5, and because I'm like that, I'll make the list tidy. . . lol

Brassavola grandiflora (Andy's)
Dendrobium limpidum, oligophyllum, or pachyphyllum (Andy's)
Dryadella simula (J&L)
Epidendrum amethystina, centropetalum, or echinatum (Ecuagenera) *1
Epiphronitis x veitchii (Ecuagenera) *2
Isabelia pulchella, violacea, or virginalis
Laelia bradei or briegeri *3
Oncidium fuscatum (Ecuagenera)
Tolumnia species or hybrid (I suggest pulchella)


*1 For the Epidendrum, amethystina is the smallest, but on the cooler end of intermediate, and might do best mounted. Epi. echinatum is more intermediate, but the tallest of three, at around 14"-18". Epi. centropetalum is warm intermediate, can be shorter (I've seen images of blooming plants at a consistent 10"-12", and I've seen some that are 18"), can be a bit weedlike, but is the most floriferous and showy of the three

*2 Epiphronitis x veitchii is a primary of Epi. radicans and Soph. coccinea. It greatly reduces the length of the canes, while still leaving you with a warm-intermediate growing plant.

*3 I added L. briegeri because Hawaiian Botanical's in Canada offers that and other rupicolous Laelia, but not bradei. So, just like my suggestion with choosing any of the three Isabelia, why don't we widen it to one of a couple different rupics that are available to all three regions. I think these Laelia are uncommon enough that we could all still have fun growing different species.

Also, if this list gets large enough, I feel like we should have more than one vote to cast. Make it so we can vote for our favourite and then also our alternate favourite. I feel that would make determining the winner easier.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by FairyInTheFlowers

I haven't had much time to look for availability, but how about any of the Isabelia species? There's three species, violacea, pulchella, or virginalis. I've honestly been wanting to try all of these species, and they're all mid-light miniatures. We could have the group project be this genus, and that way it increases a persons chances of being able to find one.

Andy has Isabelia virginalis. I like the looks of it.

[katrina]

I probably won't do the project...it seems the plants usually chosen are ones that I already have or ones that I have no interest in...but I'll be watching to see what you guys pick.

Either way, I would caution against choosing something that is available via import only because recent imports can sometimes be tricky and for newer growers it might be a bit too much. Just a thought.

[Leafmite]

While I do enjoy growing a variety orchids, we need to remember that we want as many people to be able to participate as possible. So, just a few reminders:

All choices should be easy to find in Europe, US and Canada (and hopefully anywhere else). We should probably have more than one supplier for each as some of the 'odd' orchids do not usually have much demand so a vendor might not carry very many of that type. Ecuagenera also sells to other vendors and they do many pre-orders so they do not always have the same orchids available. I like their Lepanthes and a few other things they offer so I see the offerings come and go.

The plants chosen should not be too difficult to grow. I think that setting up a simple terrarium is not unreasonable but we should keep in mind that many will be growing the certain type of orchid for the first time.

Katrina has a good point about Ecuagenera. If we are to rely on Ecuagenera, we should remember that they are importing the orchids, often bare-root, and some of the more delicate orchids suffer greatly from travel and will need excellent culture and conditions to recover after. Also, as I stated earlier, they do not always have the same orchids available. They sell an immense amount of orchids quickly once the show season gets started so it would be unwise to rely upon them as the only vendor. We should make our selections with this in mind.

[rbarata]

I will participate if the selected plant is available in the vendor where I usually buy them (the list I've posted).

There are many posts about Equagenera. That's fine for me. They will be here in Portugal for a show next March, but in a city hundreds of kms away. This means, summing the plant cost, fuel, tolls and show entrance, a single plant will cost almost, or even more, than 100 EURO. Obviously I won't pay this value.

Also, I don't have enough space to buy more than a medium size plant so using such a trip to buy a lot of plants is not an option.