Classic goofs

[Dollythehun]

OK. We have a lot of new members! Yay! Many of them serious and looking to us as problem solving experts. So, we all have made classic growing mistakes, and I just made one. It might be fun and interesting to share some of ours here.

My most recent blunder was placing a Wilsonara back on the shelf and breaking a bloom spike from my (long awaited) Epi. radicans. And no one to blame but me!😝

[jkofferdahl]

Carol, if that's a major goof then your plants are ever so lucky! I have a Phal Fuller's Sunset that's been knocked off it's perch 3 times, twice snapping spikes. This poor plant is no only blooming out of utter fear!

[Dollythehun]

I've waited for these blooms for two years, John! Backstory: Epi came from Purdue via a supplier of mine. Said they were so tough in their native habitat they cut them down with brush hogs. Mine limped along for two years and now under lights has four long awaited spikes...Until just now. I'm sure I've done worse too. But this is fresh.

[estación seca]

When I was in college all we had one night was rum and grape soda, so we mixed those. Even college students couldn't drink that.

---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ----------

Oh, growing mistakes!

When a plant just doesn't look good it's incredibly tempting to water it some more. But overwatering kills more orchids than almost anything else we do, so don't water until you are sure the plant needs it.

Different kinds of orchids need different kinds of watering, so you need to read about them rather than winging it.

I learned most of what I know by reading and asking questions of growers much more experienced than I.

[Dollythehun]

Obviously you were never in the Navy.
Actually the Chief says to tell you that's "party juice."

[jkofferdahl]

Uh oh. If we're going back to college then I'm in trouble. I don't need an online thread, I need a confessional! And that's just for the parts I remember! Those who knew me said I had a great time....

So, soon after I graduated I became friends with the school's botanist/greenhouse keeper. Both he and his wife were growers. He spent a lot of time in the greenhouse with me, and by now I've probably forgotten more of what he taught me than I know. So one day he and I were in the greenhouse and a large Phal. schilleriana was knocked from its bench. He said, "John, this plant wants to teach you." So we left the plant where it sat (picking up the stray pieces of terra cotta) and sprayed it every day. After three months on the floor the plant, vibrant and spewing out new roots, sprouted two tree-trunk-sized spikes, and about 3 months later it bloomed close to 70 flowers. Once the spikes faded, he repotted the plant (actually put it in a basket) where the plant continued to thrive for many years. The resiliance of orchids will never cease to amaze me.

I guess we all make "classic goofs". The Phal I mentioned in my previous post lost 5 or 6 flowers and at least as many buds when I knocked it over. It's not the first orchid I've lost flowers or spikes on, either, just the most recent. But like my friend's schilleriana, my Fuller's Sunset recovered well and at this very moment has three spikes, two in bloom and with about 25 flowers, while the third keeps budding out. It's sickening when you break a spike, but next year your Epi will throw up 5 or 6 spikes. Whether out of spite or out of fear I can't say.

[estación seca]

Another classic goof is buying a plant with no chance of surviving your conditions because you fall in love with the flowers, or a vendor lies to you.

Years ago somebody really, really wanted to sell me a orchid. This was in the early days of the Internet when we had dial-up access. This person told me Neomoorea wallisii (now called N. irrorata) should be easy to grow outdoors on my patio in Phoenix heat and low humidity. I bought one. It didn't like temperatures over 110 F / 44C, coupled with relative humidity under 10%, and didn't last long.

Now we have access to all sorts of information on growing orchids. Orchid Board is one of the best. I now think I can grow this plant, because I've modified my growing area. So I may try again.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Another classic goof is buying a plant with no chance of surviving your conditions because you fall in love with the flowers, or a vendor lies to you.

Ditto that! I'd say it's THE Classic Goof.

[Salixx]

My biggest mistake?

I put my first Dendrobium, first orchid, in peat moss... The ground up stuff. I misted it daily and stuck it in a dark corner too... The internet told me not to move orchids once you put them somewhere... I took it way, way too much to heart.

Also, I have learned that a litter of kittens and a spiking, mini oncidium hybrid do not mix. The tragedy of turning a corner and seeing an almost full grown spike hanging out of a cat's mouth cannot be understated. 'Twas six years ago almost and the grief is still real... You must remain vigilant. Cats are not your friends. (Even though I still have and love that same cat to death!)

[Leafmite]

Where to begin? I have knocked off numerous buds, spikes, roots, new growths.... I do this all the time. In the past, I would get upset or frustrated but, now, I just shrug and continue.

Some notable mistakes, though.....

First: Thinking it was cute to let my Maltese-poodle mix be my orchid/plant buddy. She enjoyed sniffing them all, especially the blooms. One day, after years of our time spent together caring for orchids and plants, I found my Anggraecum sesquipedale (bought seven years prior as a $2 seedling from Oak Hill Gardens Ill.) and a very beloved Vanda coerulescens shredded to tiny bits on the floor with part of the sesquipedale still in her mouth. We had a few more orchids destroyed in randomly spaced attacks but, for the past eighteen months she has been good. Maybe that is because the orchids are where I can better watch them and up higher?

Beloved Angraecum magdalenae, the favorite orchid in my collection....
I had also grown this one many years, from a tiny seedling from the old Oak Hill Gardens, Ill. It was a very easy growing orchid and was finally blooming, giving me flowers that were fragrant day and night, that lasted nearly three months. I had always grown it in a cold window during the winter but I had set up my new lights and shelves and someone had posted that the Mag was perfect for growing under lights and that it would do well there. Except...mine absolutely hated it. It did well for a month and then turned brown overnight. I am thinking that it really does prefer cooler temperatures during the winter, just as the Angraecum Encyclopedia had said, many years ago. So, I am starting over with a new seedling that I hope will produce as nice flowers as the other. It grows in my kitchen window and has been doing very well there for the past year. Joining it today is an Angraecum Lemford x Magdalenae. I will say, the replacement sesquipedale has been thriving under lights. Maybe someone got them mixed up? Maybe the orchid was improperly labeled? Maybe some Mags are just more tolerant?

Third: At one time, Burr. Nelly Isler 'Swiss Beauty' could be found everywhere. It blooms often and is quite striking. So, a few times, when we had guests and they admired it, I would give the current Nelly Isler away and just order myself a new one. The last time I did this...Nelly Isler was not available anywhere! They finally reappeared this past spring and I bought one...that I will be keeping.

Fourth: Putting my favorite noID Dendrobium in a place where it could be knocked over. It absolutely hated to be disturbed and it did not survive being knocked down twice, three months apart. And that is also why I wish all plants were labeled....

Fifth: Plant goof (not orchids): I just bought Elettaria cardamommum. I had done quite a bit of research but, somehow, I must have missed how big this thing gets.... Oh boy! But, I already love the plant so it looks as though I am going to be creating a grow tent. I might as well toss in my Theobroma cacao and the Cinnamomum zeylanicum.