first time Orchid owner
 

Hello all,

this past weekend I visited the Fredrick Meijer Botanical Gardens here in Michigan. I got talking with a lady in the tropical rainforest greenhouse about orchids. She quickly dispelled a lot of assumptions I had heard over the years about orchids being super high maintenance plants. I am a low maintenance plant kind of person. I grow pothos, bamboo and pilea like its cool. Any way, she turned me onto this site. I have a North and a West facing window in my home office, and a south facing sliding door. However I live in Michigan it is getting cold and I don't to kill an orchid on my first go around. Any advice on what species of orchid to get and how to best start off coming into this cold season? thanks in advance.

First, WELCOME!
Do browse around the forum... there are many members who live in climates similar to yours. I'll let them jump in with specifics. Look in the upper right corner of the posts for others, many show their location. (I suggest adding location to your profile too... that's very useful information for people supplying advice, growing orchids in the US Midwest is a whole lot different than doing it in Florida or California.)

Welcome to the Orchid Board! It's very smart of you to ask before jumping.

What temperature is your house in winter? Phalaenopsis hybrids are good for warmer homes. Oncidium intergeneric hybrids and Paphiopedilum hybrids do well in most houses. You can probably find them in flower at local markets.

Go to the left yellow menu, click Forums and look for those genera. You can look in threads for photos of the amazing range available.

Many orchids are easy to grow, but they're different from other plants. Start with something inexpensive from a local market.

Welcome to the OB, caseycheath. You have found the right place for excellent orchid guidance (they have saved several of my orchids from certain death)!

I, too, am a newbie to orchids and am now obsessed. I started with Phals from the grocery store, then by mistake purchased an Oncidium from a big box hardware store. They both re-bloomed in my living room, which has BRIGHT natural Eastern light. Boom - the obsession began.

I am not smart enough to provide guidance, but I would suggest that for any orchids you purchase from a grocery store or big box store, check the roots first. If an orchid does not have good roots it will not thrive.

Ok,
So first, thanks for the advice so far. Second. I pulled the trigger and bought a young cattleya today from lowes. it was pretty root bound in the tiny pot it came in and hasn't any flower on it yet. under some advice i was given I put it in a clear see through pot and used the miracle grow orchid potting soil. I then put water in it just to the level where the roots were just into the water. there arent any drainage holes in this clear container. from the advice I was given its ok and the roots prefer that much water. is this ok? any advice is good at this point.

CC ----- not sure what 'potting soil' is. But cattleya type orchids are generally not grown in soil.

Each grower has their own growing strategies and methods for their growing area, climate/conditions.

The following details could come in handy for you at any time: Click Here and Click Here and Click Here and Click Here and Click Here and Click Here

Southpark,

the stuff I bought is the miraclegro "orchid fast draining coarse grain mix" its primarily bark and large pieces of matter. right now I planted it in a plastic dish and since realized it needs drainage so I poked about 6 holes in the bottom of the container and set in in a decorative pot. the plastic cup the orchid is planted in is suspended about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the decorative pot so any extra water can drain out the bottom and not actually collect in the bottom of the medium with the roots.

That mix is fine

Welcome

The best way to approach this hobby is with a budget.

I am not kidding. You will slide into $$$ so fast if you don’t have a plan

You are smart to come and ask

Do you want to make a growing area with a light and a shelf or are you going to just use windowsill and natural light? Do you know how cold it gets near the windows? In wonder I imagine quite but I am guessing.

I am in zone 5b. we keep most of the house around 65 during the day with one EXCEPTION. My office, where I spend the majority of the day attending classes for college. with that said currently my barometric set says its 71 degrees in here, with 47% humidity and I tend to keep an essential oils diffusser running during the day which adds a bit more moisture to the air. I dont know exactly where the temp dips to nearest the window, but I do have a book shelf not far from the window I could set it on to move it slightly away from the window. Its a North facing window. My only other light source is a west facing window-in the office that is.

If you bought a Cattleya from Lowe's its what we call a "bag babie." It should be repotted into a larger pot with drainage holes. It should never sit in water. The bark you used is probably okay.

I live south of you. A cattleya would never bloom on my south or west window sill. The Midwest isn't sunny enough. It will need lots of light. That plant probably isn't the best choice for your area. However, water it well. Be sure it's draining. Lift it, notice how heavy it is. When it feels light again, water.

If I were you, I'd go to Meijer (the store, not the garden) and buy a Phalaenopsis (a moth orchid). That can go into your north window.

Just because something is easy, doesn't man your conditions are right for it. From experience.

Thanks I will look in into a moth orchid soon. watched a couple of the videos links and another video on youtube. I noticed the people on youtube seem to have theirs in planters with holes drilled all the way up the sides and bottoms of their containers. i only have holes in the bottom of mine. Also, I have some UV grow lights my wife uses for her succulants. its on a timer, would it work to put my orchid near that at night to get it some more light. thats when the thing kicks on is at night?

---------- Post added at 03:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------

Thanks I will look in into a moth orchid soon. watched a couple of the videos links and another video on youtube. I noticed the people on youtube seem to have theirs in planters with holes drilled all the way up the sides and bottoms of their containers. i only have holes in the bottom of mine. Also, I have some UV grow lights my wife uses for her succulants. its on a timer, would it work to put my orchid near that at night to get it some more light. thats when the thing kicks on is at night?

Send us a picture of your wife's lights. You may be able to put your Cattleya under them and be fine. DON'T take too much advise from the internet. Better to ask us. You don't need holes all the way up your pots. Its just some people's preference for growing. We each have a different method due to our conditions.

Don't water your orchids with ice cubes; don't put hydrogen peroxide on the roots. Now that we have that out of the way...carry on.

A consideration with your wife's light... if it is on at night, for how many hours? Orchids do need it dark at night for a "natural" number of hours. I have used supplemental lighting to extend the number of hours of good light during the day - my Phalaenopsis bloomed much better with about 12 hours of light per day, since what came in the window was adequate for only about 4 hours and then the house shaded things too much. But 12-14 hours per day of light should be the most they get. Some are more sensitive than others... there are some in the Cattleya group that can have blooming inhibited by a street light or night light. Others aren't so picky, but still do need nighttime.

Welcome to the board, caseycheath! I live in Michigan, also in Zone 5b. I've been growing orchids in my home for about five years, so I'm still a novice. In the beginning, I tried a few different types that I was attracted to but did not have the right conditions for some of them (light, temps, humidity). I'm now down to growing only Phalaenopsis because they do very well for me, but I know many people in Michigan who are successful with many different types of orchids.

I did end up providing supplemental lighting, enough to make sure the orchids got light 12 - 13 hours a day. As Roberta mentioned, they are in the dark during actual nighttime hours. The lights definitely helped with blooming.

The American Orchid Society (aos.org) is a great resource. You can learn a lot just by browsing around their site. There, you can also find a list of affiliated orchid societies, including quite a number in Michigan, if you think you would ever be interested in belonging to one. (I tried to provide a link directly to the Michigan list but couldn't get it to work.) These days, we are all meeting via Zoom, but we are still having guest speakers.

Mountaineer370 thanks for the input on the grow lights. do you use the ones that are full spectrum white light or the ones that are purple and ultra violet? I tried uploading a photo of what my wife has for her succulents but it wasn't working for some reason. The cattleya I bought hasn't even started a stake yet so I have plenty of time to establish proper lighting. I just want to try to set good habits now so I can hopefully get more orchids and be successful with them lol

If you are going to buy more, buy them to suit your conditions, not by impulse. It will have a lot of hassel, heartache and dollars. This is the lesson we nearly all wish we'd learned. You might start with phals, if you're successful, try oncidiums, then as you gain experience, higher light plants such as catts.

Until you post 5 times you can't post pictures. Reply to other posts until you get five, then show us your lights.

To answer your question, I use 27W full-spectrum fluorescent lights, not LED. They are regular floor lamps, reading/task lamps, I guess you could call them, not specifically made for plants. But they work just fine for me. Verilux, the manufacturer, doesn't seem to make them anymore; all of their offerings are now LED.

I agree with Dolly above and a couple others who posted here. Start with just a few plants. Phalaenopsis are great for beginners. Give yourself six months or so and see how they do. Then branch out and try other genera, but do your research on the needs of the plant to determine if it will do well in the specific conditions that you can offer.

Thanks for the advice all, Yeah I bout this one not so much on impulse per se, more so that it was literally the only orchid in the store that wasn't insanely expensive. so it came down to price. like they had a couple others that were already in bloom. but they were about 3x as expensive. so my train of thought was $8 for a discounted orchid to see if I can keep it alive and get a bloom out of it or spend closer to $30 on one that I might kill because I am soo new. But yes, now after taking all the advice into consideration I might contact one of the local greenhouses and see about a species like the moth orchid that might fit my needs better. I just wanted to see if I can actually keep one alive before I dive head long into this.

I don't want to discourage you from patronizing a greenhouse if you wish, but since you mentioned cost as a factor, remember that most retail stores like Meijer, Kroger, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Lowe's, Home Depot, and on and on, sell orchids. They are overwhelmingly Phalaenopsis hybrids, which are the exact type we are suggesting as easy orchids for beginners.

We used to have a couple of very well-regarded orchid greenhouses in our state that have, sadly, gone out of business in the last few years. The more general type of greenhouses I have visited in my area do not carry orchids, but you may have better luck in your part of the state.

Whatever you end up with, have fun! Orchids are an enjoyable hobby. (And as others have mentioned, it's easy to get addicted!)