The Catharsis of Getting Rid of Orchids
 

For a long time, I couldn't bear to get rid of a living thing that I had committed to taking care of, even if an orchid was just not doing well in my climate and stressed me out every time I looked at it. (The humidity all summer where I live has been in the teens. One time the hygrometer didn't even give me a reading because it was so low.)

But then I decided to just throw one out. I had done everything I could think of, and it was not really growing. It was hanging on, but after over a year it wasn't recovering from its initial repot. So, I impulsively threw it in the trash. And immediately felt better.

Over the next few weeks, I did the same with other orchids that were ailing. I rationalized that my climate is so extreme, humidity-wise, that some orchids just won't do very well. Most of the ones I threw out were oncidiums that simply needed higher humidity than I could provide, even with a humidifier. I went from maybe 48 orchids to 37 or so (but then promptly acquired two more).

Now I'm left with healthy (though not perfect), growing, happy plants, some of which have spikes or blooms that I coaxed out of them. It makes me happy to see them and care for them, and I don't stress about my failures. Most of my plants are cattleyas and dendrobiums, though I do have four healthy phals and several tough oncidiums that don't seem to mind the weather all that much. And a few others.

It's not that I don't want to nurse an orchid back to health, but if I try and try for a long time with no success, I realized that I'm sometimes happier if I just acknowledge the failure and move on.

Am I a bad person? Just kidding. But I am wondering about the rest of you. Do you nurse an orchid indefinitely, or do you prefer to get rid of it if nothing changes?

You are so right. By all means persist where there is a reasonable chance of success, but after that point, bin it.

Do it in front of all the other orchids 'Pour encourager les autres.'

Lol!

No, you're not a bad person. But as we've read so many times in these forums, those orchids will come bacj just to haunt you... You know, one day you,ll notice they are growing nicely in the trash can.😀

You laugh, but I find threats work better than all the kind words ever.

I have read that on this forum before (the many people who say they threatened to throw an orchid out, only to have it suddenly start growing). I've tried this method, but with no success.

I suppose you'd be a better person if you passed the plants on to someone who could do better by them but couldn't obtain them otherwise, but throwing away a plant does not a bad person make.

I am the type to nurse it, or even just let it die on its own.

If I may, perhaps next time before tossing it donate it to your local orchid society? Or even orchid addict?

Nice to hear you've found some relief, it can be rather stressful to struggle and struggle with a plant only to continue to witness its demise.

Is all in the tone of voice, you really have to mean it, and if the time comes and no changes you got to follow trough, the rest of the collection will soon start to show growth.:rofl: It is funny, but it has worked for me. I have send some to the trash and point to another and say you are next! Next thing I know new growth or blooms.:biggrin:

But remember, this technique should never be used if you have orchids in a garden... mowing the lawn could be counterproductive.;)

I considered this, but these were sickly. I didn't know if maybe they had viruses or other problems, and I figured people wouldn't want plants that looked that bad (although based on some of the stuff that gets sold on ebay, I probably could have dubbed them "rescue orchids" and made some money).

I used to be that orchid person who never gives up or gives in.
I felt much better after tossing a couple of orchids that always were the ones that got everything that went around, like mealybugs or spider-mite.....or fungal infections. Included were a couple that perpetually 'sulked' and seemed too tired to get up in the morning, despite 'siblings' knocking it out the park.
Life is too short to be constantly worrying about a few inherently miserable orchids :D

I don't know other orchid addicts in real life, but the orchid society probably could have used them somehow. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a drive and my car is unreliable. I suppose I could have rented a car or something.

I'm in the same boat. :( I need to clear some space, but it's really hard for me to get to a OS meeting to trade/sell my babies. But I need space... to start an angraecum collection! Decisions... decisions...

I'm more like Lotis 146. I treat weak, barely alive orchids like a science project and do my best to keep them alive. I think it teaches me a lot about orchids. I have several triumphs: orchids that are growing roots and thriving when really, they were down to a dessicated nub. I have one phal that was only roots, but now is growing leaves. Sure, I could bin them, and there may come a time when I simply have no room left for Emergency Rooms, but until then, I switch locations, media, sphag and bag, and try every trick I hear of to save what I have.
Now, if I had an orchid that wasn't dying exactly, but wasn't thriving and I really thought my conditions were just never going to be right (for example, I mistakenly got a cold loving orchid that just cooks in my greenhouse), I'd offer it to the folks at my local orchid society.

Plants have never listened to me. Yet, they still expect me to provide them with nice things.

The Angraecum bug has struck once again! There was a time when I was a little obsessed with collecting them but, fortunately, that has passed. Now I am quite content with the few that I have. :)

I usually find homes for the unwanted orchids but, this fall, I tossed a few that had never quite recovered from the first year of growing under lights. Maybe that was a mistake but what is done is done.
When they are healthy and I do not want them, I do give them to friends/family who admire them or take them to the OS.

I have a wheeled trash can in the basement. Sometimes I just roll it out to the greenhouse, and let it sit outside.

I'm not sure if it has any impact on the plants, but the hassle of just getting it there steels my nerves to take no prisoners.

Ah, the sound of the tumbrils weakens even the strongest nerve!
I carry out the victims saying in a loud voice "Wouldn't grow for me eh? It's compost time for you, my lad!"

Well, just to show that we all have a go at lost causes. I made an order for a couple of orchids, and when they arrived, they were eaten alive, this one with so much black mould that I had to remove every single leaf, all bar half of one leaf. I even had to remove a couple of pbulbs.

I was livid, and demanded my money back, which I got, bbut the firm said they would ever send orchids to me again, which frankly isn't a loss.

This was a Chia Lin, red fragrant catt, which I really wanted, so, with no great hope, I planted it up, part in hope, part as a learning experience. To my surprise, after a couple of weeks a bud started to move in a last desperate effort to survive. Today I can see that it has also thrown a root, so who knows, it might survive after all.

Maybe I keep trying because I was a teacher for 40 years. Even if my students wouldn't grow for me, I had to keep trying right up to the last day of school!

I had a friend who was a teacher. When people asked him what he did for a living, he used to say "I'm a lion tamer. I used to be a teacher, but I lost my nerve."

I retired when I lost my sense of humor. But I also understand the lion tamer analogy...I taught middle school! And teaching taught me persistence and patience, so maybe it trained me to be an orchid enthusiast!

My experiences with teachers taught me that while it is a profession that deserves more respect, some teachers deserve none at all.

I have known brilliant, inspirational teachers, and those who frankly should have been shot or put out to grass long ago.

My kids would agree with you there.
I went to a school as a child that had no money (books were outdated nearly thirty years, everything done on the blackboards, etc.) but the teachers worked really hard. They always knew when there was a new science discovery that pertained to what we were learning, they went the extra mile to help students and they turned their back on higher paying positions because they knew that the students needed them. They would work with local hospitals, labs and a college to borrow equipment, films and other materials. That school churned out quite a few doctors and other professionals.

I worked my butt off, and most of my colleagues did too. There are always poor teachers...like there are poor almost everything else. I corrected every single paper that a student turned in, and then corrected the ones I made them do over to show me they finally understood. Paper grading went from 7-9 Monday through Thursday, and from about 10-9 one day of the weekend. But I expected to be paid for my 40 years of experience and two MAs. Sorry. That doesn't make me a bad teacher.
I think lots of folks seem to think we should all be school marms that lived in the school and got paid in chickens, apples, and firewood. Or be like the television teacher heroes who had heart attacks and/or divorces because of their total dedication to their students. If that is the criterion you use to judge "good", then I'm most certainly not! We have spouses and children and lives like everyone else. If I had wanted to be Mother Teresa, I'd have joined a convent.

Not saying that the teachers that get paid well are bad teachers, not at all. I mentioned this because, when you have a good teacher or a group of good teachers, you never forget all that they have done or whatever sacrifices that they have made. (Same goes for crummy teachers.) It doesn't matter if the teachers are highly paid or paid nearly nothing (I do believe, though, that it is wrong not to regard teaching more highly as a profession as an education determines a person's entire life). My kids went to a school that pays teachers well and they can tell you the teacher that made them love science or the teacher that inspired them to choose which college degree to pursue. They also can tell you about the teachers that were always busy on their cell phones, talking in the hall with other teachers, or planted in front of the computer, writing email. As one who was dedicated to your students, you should be very proud of the difference you have made in the lives of those you taught. :)

The idea of throwing orchids out still strikes a raw chord in me. I love to "save" things. All my pets were rescues, and many of my plants are too. I'll hang on to a rootless orchid until it literally falls to pieces.

The same goes for my other plants. I have a beautiful Ficus benjamina tree that I regularly prune. But, I can't bring myself to throw the cuttings away, because I know they'll root. So now I have 12 new ficus, which will need pruning soon.

And once, while at my local nursery, I saw that one of the "mother of thousands" succulents had dropped a lot of its tiny baby plantlets, so I snuck some of them into my pocket and took them home. Boy did I get Divine retribution!! Every one of those plantlets grew up, and dropped pups into all my other potted plants. Before I knew it, I had a thousand 'Mother of thousands'. And you can't kill them no matter how hard you try.

I sold most of them at a garage sale (yes, now I'll get Divine retribution for foisting them off on some poor unsuspecting souls). When the sale was over, I found some of their pups lying on the garage floor, so I scooped them up...

... and put them into pots again.

Sigh. I just can't bring myself to throw something away that wants to live!

I did actually sell every plant I put into my garage sale, though, including several ficus! This could turn into a lucrative obsession. :evil:

thecompulsiveplantrescuelady.com

You could supplement your income.

Is there such thing as an SPCA for plants?
...Yikes, don't encourage this train of thought!

The mother-of-thousands (a Kalanchoe sp.) has a really nice bloom if it gets big enough. Most people don't let them get big enough. The one that's a weed in succulents (Kalanchoe tubiflora) has a 4' tall spike with hanging orange bells. It blooms in the winter. It won't bloom in a small pot.

Since I am a retired nurse, I tend to hover over my orchids making sure they are ok. I make "rounds" at least every hour. No orchid has died under my care and I have at least 70. I did let a lucky bamboo get sickly and I gladly threw that nasty thing out, does that make me unlucky?

I have a couple of different Kalanchoe species, and really do find them fascinating. All my succulents struggle through my care, though, because I have a hard time providing enough light, especially during the winter. Until I step up my game, I doubt I'll ever see any blooms.

Not as unlucky as the bamboo!

What a track record, never losing a single orchid. Major kudos to you!

"Lucky" "Bamboo" is not an aquatic plant. Keeping it in water is a lot like keeping a blooming Phal in a plastic bag full of wet sphagnum. It is a Dracaena, relative of other common house plants. If you want it to live once it starts turning yellow, put it in some potting soil and give it good light plus fertilizer.

I did not want or like the lucky bamboo, it was given to me :( It was just one of those tiny 1 stalk ones. It did feel good to throw it out.

Here a lot of succulent enthusiasts sneak extra plants into public landscapes. It's known as guerrilla gardening. Wouldn't work so well for house plants in Indiana, though.

Lol I have 27 acres so I don't need to guerrilla garden :)

Don't they have to worry about introducing something invasive?

It sure tarts up boring street medians and shopping center planters!

Teaching is a vital and praiseworthy profession.. Teachers have a profound effect on children, sadly, not always a good one.
I had a lot of problems at school, - there were some inspirational teachers that I will always remember with great fondness, even now, 5 decades on. A lot of them were pretty indifferent, who blamed the students for everything, never realising that it was their job to light the flame. As for the really bad ones, and I have known way more of those than a child ever should, well.. you know that phrase "I'd like to meet him in a dark alley with a baseball bat?"
Nope. Reason being, I'd be having so much fun, I wouldn't stop till the only way they could identify them was from the fog of DNA settling out on the buildings.

School days the happiest of your life?

No. Were that the case I would have killed myself long ago.