Who are you, and what do you grow?
 

With so many new members, I thought it might be nice to get to know people by having a thread in one place about what we all grow (and how!)

I'm Heather. I have been growing 2 years. I grow Paphs and Phrags exclusively - in particular, multi-floral Paph. species and hybrids, Phrag. besseae species and hybrids, and long petaled Phrag. species.

I have recently moved my Paphs to semi-hydro and grow my Phrags in a seedling bark mix.

I'm windowsill/lights grower who lusts for a dedicated sunroom. Oh, and I'm 34 and live in Boston, MA.

Who's next??

I'm Dave W. Mostly I grow Catts, Phal, Paphs, some Den and odds and ends, lots of flasks.

Growing under flourescents, windowsill and outside in the summer. Soon to be HID in the basement.

Potting media of choice: bark, my bark mixes, NZ moss and a bit of coco husk.

I am in Edmonton, Alberta and have 1 wife and 1.3 children.

I have such serious greenhouse envy, that I am completely overhauling my yard to accomodate a hobby greenhouse (season extender only, but nice summer home for orchs)

I'm Caesar, I have three Phals, one Oncidium 'Sharrry Baby', One Dend., and four miniatures. The four are growing under flourescents in a terrarium. They are Masdevallia rolfiana, Angraecum diderii, Haraella odorata, and Cischwenfia pusillia. Hope to try my hand at short growing Pahps or Phrags, and Catts.
Im in NYC, USA.

my name is stan and i am a good looking guy that grows mostly paphs. i grow under a 400 watt metal halide i have somewhere in the area of 150-200 orchids

Stan, if you are single then that might be an opening line - here it is just creepy!:lol:

My name is John, age 29 and I am growing Japanese orchids like Neofinetia falcata, Sedirea japonica, Thrixspermum japonicum and Gastrochillus japonicus. I have a few assorted Neof. hybrids now too.

I also grow Phragmipedium besseae species and a dozen or so besseae hybrids. Total I have about 35 phrags.

Added to that I am now deep into a Phalaenopsis habit which at last count included about 20 different species and hybrids.

In between I have a few odds-n-ends.

been married for 4 years:lol:

littlefrog
 

Hi, I'm Rob, and I'm an orchidoholic...

Things are spiffier since I visited this forum last...

Rob is here! I am liking this board more by the day.

It's like walking into Cheers... 'NORM!!!'.

*grin*

Nice to see some familiar 'faces' (or is that avatars?)

Hi I'm Marty, I've been a dendroholic for the last 15+ years. I have many side addictions, one being growing orchids, another insect collecting, another being IT/Computers, cooking. I no longer have time for any more hobbies to add to my life. By dendroholism I mean full time addiction to a family of dendrobatidae frogs, not dendrobiums, although I dig those too. I"ve been sucked into insect collecting by my buddy, who was actually my Bio/Chem teacher in HS. I've done few amazing insect trips to the Amazon, namely in French Guyana, Brazil, Northern Peru, also did a couple trips to Costa Rica, some stuff in Asia and Australia. Every time I was in South or Latin America, I'd be like a kid in a candy store... Catching bugs, looking down every bromeliad looking for frogs and eying those amazing wild Orchids that seemed to bloom and thrive in the crappiest of places. Orchids grew out of the other two hobbies, sort of by association... Going through the rain forest and climbing trees I came across some unbelievable plants. Since my frogs are tropical and I tend to re-create their natural habitats as closely as possible, Orchids fit very well into my frog hobby. I grow my plants pesticide and fertilizer free under compact fluorescent lights in terrariums. The only fert they get is frog crap, which works great :)

Oh, ya I also fly RC planes, but no longer have any time for going to the field and having fun that way. Oh well, something has to give.

Other then that, married to a 7mt pregnant wife... My hobbies and travels are about to take a massive hit, but a little re-prioritization 'never hurt nobody' :). I know once the little guy grows up a little we will be all over the Amazon flying RC planes with frogs, bugs and orchids strapped to them... hehe

I also run this joint, which is a great hobby in its own :)

So, are you saying you are going to have a private army of mini-planes piloted by cockroaches and dart frogs? Now that's what I call a goal!

Thanks for building such a great forum. I hope you have time to enjoy it once the little one comes. No sleep for you. Are you having a boy or girl?

It is all in Marty's master plan of world domination......the BEST orchid forum, the most OUTSTANDING dart rack, and his own army of Kamikaze RC planes with poison dart frog pilots.

Don't even deny it - I have seen through your deception!

Marty,
I thats a great idea of the planes with frogs and bugs. :biggrin: Maybe you can fly them all the way to Canada from Peru. :blushing: Just kidding/:evil: .

Peru huh, whats it like, there is a slight, possible, tiny tiny tiny chance, that maybe, if all the planets align correctly with the sun and their respective moons that I might take a class trip in January to Peru (the Amazons) or Easter Island. Anyway, I heard it was muddy, but worth it.

Oh and all you need is a good case of Dendrophobia to complete the dendro trio. Though that one is not a hobby. At least not usually.

new member
 

Hi Heather - My name is Cheryl and I live in sunny Sunrise, FL. today it's 81 degrees. I grow mostly dendrobium, cattleya and vanda orchids. I won a beautiful Phaius at an orchid show last weekend. It's Krptonite and has the most extraordinary maroon flowers. I grow all of my orchids in a screen enclosure around my pool. I am blessed that myorchids love the weather. I have a small problem with scale that I got when a friend gave me an orchid and I did not separate it from my other orchids. Any hints on scale removal?:hello:scratchhead:

My name is Danielle and I started growing orchids 2.5 to 3 years ago. I'm 27 years old, live in the San Francisco bay area and now have a wide orchid variety of over sixty and luckily a very loving, supportive and tolerant boyfriend. Many of my orchids are phals, some are oncidiums, 6 or so are cymb., a couple of them are cat's, some are brassio-laelia-cattleya mixes, a couple are laelias, a few are dendrobiums, one sedirea japonica, one ciswana rostrata, a gastrocillus caleolaris, a harella ordorata, a couple of paphs, one sophrontis catttleya mix, a neofineta falcata, a couple of zygopetalums, a newly added brassia nodosa, a coel. mix of cristata and flaccida, a bl. sea urchin and blc. greenwich and a few others sprinkled in I'm sure I'm forgetting. I love orchids, I love reading about them, watching them grow and seeing them bloom. I think they are amazing complex little plants with big personalities that take alot of patience but when you find their "sweet spot" they suddenly become very rewarding and relatively easy to grow and maintain. I'm sure I misspelled many of these proper names so please excuse. The orchid board has been very helpful in my orchid research and success. Thanks to all!

My name is Nick, and like Dave W (Oscarman) am from Edmonton Alberta. Married but no kids. I grow all my chids under T5 fluorescent lights in my basement, but am expanding the garden this weekend to also include a 400W Metal Halide so I can accomodate some larger growing species which do not fit very well under the fluorescents. I have 75 chids now, everything from Paphs, phals, cyms, bulbo's, catts, laelias, dends, Stanhopea, Psychopsis, Zygos, Masd, Brassias, Brassavolas, Oncidium, Odontoglossum, Ada's, Prosthechea, and well it keeps going. I have been growing for about 6 years now with various degrees of success. Since I have moved to t5 fluorescents about 8 months ago I have noticed huge improvements in growth and flower production. Will take until next spring to really start to appreciate how much these new lights are helping.

I'm Anthony, and I'm 25, hailing from Edison, NJ. I do mostly miniature orchids and carnivorous plants, but I have some other stuff thrown in there. Should I post my grow list? Sure! Why not!?

ORCHIDS:
Ascocentrum miniatum
Bulbophyllum brevistylidium
Cadetia taylori
Cirrhopetalum tingabarinum
Dendrobium dichaeoides
Dendrobium lanyaiae
Dendrobium lichenastrum
Dendrobium prenticeii
Dendrobium wassellii
Epidendrum longirepens
Lepanthes fiskei
Masdevallia "Copper Cherub"
Masdevallia minuta
Maxillaria arbuscula
Oncidium pumilum (needs some TLC)
Platystele ximenae
Pleurothallis grobyi
Pleurothallis microphylla
Pleurothallis stricta
Podochilus cultratus
Schoenorchis fragrans
Tolumnia velutina (just hanging on)
Trichosalpinx pergrata
Tristella cordeliae
Zootrophion serpentinum

CARNIVORES:
Cephalotus follicularis
Drosera aliciae
Heliamphora minor
Nepenthes ampullaria "speckled"
Nepenthes argentii
Nepenthes bellii
Nepenthes bicalcarata "orange"
Nepenthes bicalcarata "red"
Nepenthes ephippiata
Nepenthes eymae
Nepenthes lowii
Nepenthes rajah
Nepenthes sanguineae "orange"
Nepenthes villosa
Nepenthes (unknown)
Nepenthes (unknown hybrid)
Pinguicula cyclosecta

OTHERS:
Amorphophallus titanum
Biophytum sensitivum
Hydnophytum formicarum
Microsorum thailandicum
Microsorum sp. (unknown)
Stapelia gigantea

There's plenty miscellaneous things, especially bromeliads, I didn't list. All of the orchids and most of the carnivores are grown in a 75 gallon terrarium. In addition to plants, I have a ton of other hobbies, including drawing, fish (and other aquatic life), reptiles, insects, fossils, and minerals. I have several reptiles currently, and just set up my first personal fish tank in quite a while. I've worked in retail pet stores for the past several years, so I usually get my fill of fish there. I also have collections of fossils, minerals, and spread insects as well.

Wow Anthony, an Amorphophallus titanum!!! I am super envious! Has she bloomed yet?

No way...still a little guy, only about 4 feet. I'm not fertilizing as heavily as I should with it, to try to keep it on the small side for a little while anyway. AND it hates the low ambient humidity in this place, so it came out of dormancy malformed. Now I'm just waiting for it to go back into dormancy so I can pick up a couple humidifiers for the living room, so it won't happen again.

Hi I'm Curtis. I had 2 orchids for the last 2 years and recently bought a grow stand and bought a collection of phals, phaps, catts, phrags, vanda, etc. I currently have 25 plants and 3 keikis. I put the bloomers upstair where I can enjoy and put the growers under the light, heater and humidifier in my grow room downstairs in my bar as I am a orchidholic not alcoholic. :)

Hi! I'm Megan, I'm 32 from central Jersey (and dreaming of moving to Florida). I've been mostly a lurker on this site since I joined but now that I'm sort of laid up at home and not working I'm posting a lot more. I also had the pleasure of meeting a couple of board members at the NYBG show a few weeks ago :)

I've only been into orchids for a few years now, I must have close to 60 but I haven't counted in a while. I grow them all with the exception of one huge paph under T5's on shelves. My main passion are paphs, but I also have phals, neofinetia, and some masdevallia, and a few other miscellaneous species. Oh yeah, I'm mostly a species buff when it comes to plants.. with a few hybrids thrown in for good measure :D

I'm in the process of setting up a terrarium for my masdies and other high humidity-loving plants (a pleurothallis and a dracula). I need something to do while I'm off from work for a couple of months ;)

I do love this board, the people here are very kind and helpful and it's a wealth of information!

Hi Heather!! Welcome to the best place on earth!
My name is Jackie. I have a couple to few hundred chids. (I lost count) :lol:
I keep them all outdoors. Some on my pool patio, Mostly in my chid hotel, some in my green house.
I only use 'Mother Nature' for light. Try to use her for wind, rain, sun, everything.
I have phals, paphs, catts, dens, vanda's, onci's and lots of species.
I've only been growing for about 3 yrs, when I bought my 1st chid :biggrin:
I am sooooo addicted to chids!! :blushing:

This is a fun thread, I never saw it before!

I'm Becky, Im 27 and I live in Chicago Illinois. I have about 60 orchids and most of them are minicatts. I do have a few standards but they are so big, I try to stick with the smaller varieties. I live in an apartment north of the city with big south windows, so the catts thrive here the best. I also have a couple nobile dends, oncids, and these crazy species cattleya aclandies that I keep buying but they are tiny!!!

I work in advertising and no one in my office understands orchids, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, since when I'm posting on the board, no one knows that I'm not working :) JK LOL!!!

That's because it was buried under three years of posts - Heather started it in 2006! :rofl::rofl:

Deane from the Wild West Coast of Vancouver Island here. We actually have sun today so will make this quick!:waving

Just started with orchids after many years absence caused by a cat (no longer with me) who shredded 45 Phals while I was out one weekend.

Right now I have several Phals, a Lockhartia oerstedii, huge Brassavola Little Star, 1 Paph and 1 Masdevallia Dragon Fire. All are in bloom and growing in various locations of this little house. We are building two greenhouses - 1 as the nursery and one for veggies and orchids in summer/fall. Must have space to grow:lol:

Hi Heather, I'm a Heather too but you can call me Hedge, to avoid confusion! :) I'm 49 , English, living in North Lincolnshire, and I've been growing orchids for about three and a half or four years.

The majority are Phal hybrid NoID's,(about 10) I also have three cymbs, two paphs, two Dendrobiums, a Colmanara "Masai Red", an Odontoglossum "Anna Claire" and a Dgrma Winter Wonderland White Fairy. I grow on windowsills and outdoors in the summer. I must be doing something right cos I am managing to rebloom them :D

O and I'm married with two teenage children and a dog. And I also have small collections of cacti and succulents, and a few Pelargoniums that I cherish.

Hi,
I bought my first orchids on a trip to Hawaii around 10 years ago. I bought 3 and 2 perished rather quickly from my ignorance. Somehow the dend (id lost long ago) survived and continued to grow new canes and flower. Eventually I got a phal from Costco or somewhere and finally decided to read up on how to treat the orchids properly. I love species-anything mini and hm, well I have representative orchids from most of the lower light requirement alliances phals, paphs, etc. I grow strictly indoors on any window space I can find.
I also have 2 spoiled dogs. They do their fair share though as therapy dogs and READ (reading eduacation assistance dogs) volunteers.
I also like to garden outside.

I'm John. More than anything else, I grow dumber by the day.

Orchid-wise, I started growing in about 1979. I was quickly addicted, but in a piecemeal way. I'd get a plant because it looked interesting, not because I had the right place for it to thrive. After several years, however, I focused in more on plants I can keep in the conditions I have to grow. That's remained a constant since about 1985. However, in 1990 I went back to school, and had to let go of most of my plants, many of which moved to the greenhouse at my undergraduate college. Several moves kept the numbers down. I began to get a nice collection going again, but a spiteful ex-wife took care of that for me.

My children, parents, and friends put a few orchids in my hands to go with the few survivors, and for about a decade I got along fine with maybe a dozen or so Phalaenopsis. A couple of years ago, though, as I looked at the plants that somehow survived along with me, the fever struck again.

I grow in what I call a modified windowsill environment, using artificial lighting to supplement the natural. My living room is the main growing room, and houses about 80-85 plants, mostly Phalaenopsis, and of those most are species rather than hybrids; there is also a dendrobrium, some Catts, and a few other oddities. In a cooler back room, though, I have about 15-20 Paphs which seem to do fine with just natural light and the cooler temperatures.

I'm just reading this now, sorry for the late response. Did you get rid of the scale problem? I think the most common scale killer is Safer's 3 in 1 by Bayer. I believe that is what it's called. I've run out of it so trying to think off the top of my head. :)

LOLOL :rofl::rofl::rofl: Im sure that isn't true!!

Hi everyone, I'm Rosie.

I was given a Phal by my Mum for my Birthday in 2006 and while I thought it looked like an orchid the label said Phalenopsis, so I thought I was wrong and it was NOT an Orchid :rofl:

Several months later my Mum confirmed it was and Orchid and showed me that there are several types (she showed me a cym and said that was also an orchid).

This time last year I bought 2 more NOID Phals because I was so pleased I had managed to rebloom the first one several times :cheer: but at the same time I repotted the first and got some bad advice, which unforunately put it into the ICU (where it still is) :evil:

But as usual there was a bright side to this failure, I searched the web for help and came here... and you guys got me really interested in 'chids. :clap: I finally realised where the name Phalenopsis came in to the scheme of things and realised just how diverse the orchid family is.

I bought a Den in the summer and a Paph this spring and I have my eye on several more and plan to at least double my small collection this year if not even more. I have some Birthday money to spend which I've already allocated to go on new 'chids :cheer:

Way to go, Rosie, you'll soon be in double figures and throwing out "ordinary"plants in all your growing spaces to make room:rofl:

Regards
Hedge

Yeah, I've already been looking at the "ordinary" plants and the space they take up and thinking hmm...:rofl:

Curtis is my name. I live in Chicago suburbs.
Grow under lights in my grow room.
I have about 30 orchids.
Phals, phrags, paphs, catts, and few others.
Most recent aquisition was a encyclia.

My name's Kaori,

I'm pretty new to orchids, but I've been into plants for a long time. Even before I got into orchids, people would comment on how many plants I have in my room.

I'm in school in Colorado, where I have half of our window sill plus some space behind my desk covered in plants.

I spend the rest of my year in New Orleans where most of my orchids get to hang out outside.

As for what I grow, I've got a few NOID oncidiums, catts, and phals that I've picked up from discount racks, plus a few micros that I ordered online from Andy's. I've also got a couple small dendrobiums and a brassavola nodosa that I picked up about a month ago with five spikes on it... Still waiting on those to open up!

Hi, my name is Aria and I am growing a Lepanthes Telipogoniflora in my shower (my plant is weird and likes living in my shower). It has grown a lot since I got it on Dec. 30, 2016 (three spikes and at least five new leaves).

Can we see it?

I haven't gotten a picture of it yet, unfortunately.
But it does have a bud that will open soon.

Can't wait.