The Orchid Trail, first time order

[SaraJean]

This place has been on my radar for the past year and I finally got a chance to order a few things from them. I had been looking for a decent sized S. fragrans to add to my growing little collection of Schoenorchis when someone recommended this place. They have a huge selection of species with some of them being pretty rare. The rupicolous Laelia section is particularly good

What I got:
Schoenorchis fragrans
Laelia kettieana
Laelia ghillanyi
Neomoorea wallisii (one of my dream orchids for several years that I have been saving room for)

The transaction was easy, Orchid Trail was responsive, everything shipped on a Monday, arrived Wednesday, and was well packed. Shipping cost was very reasonable given the size of the Neomoorea.

Condition: Great! Everything looks very good. The little rupicolous Laelias have new growths and tons of healthy roots. The Schoenorchis fragrans is a nice ‘large’ size (it’s a super mini, but you know what I mean). The Neomoorea was the biggest surprise. It’s huge. It is in a 7” bulb pan, near blooming size, just the leaves are about 21”-23” long and the pseudobulbs are the size of a goose egg. There is also a new growth that’s about 12” tall. AND it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

Overall I’m extremely happy with my new orchids and I wouldn’t hesitate to order from them again

[MrHappyRotter]

Awesome. Until recently, for the past decade or so I lived close enough to them that I could make casual trips on a fairly regular basis. It's always a fun trip, and they do have a very eclectic inventory from really common clones down to very rare and hard to find stuff. The prices are fairly competitive for most things, especially if you're local and don't have to pay shipping.

If you ever find yourself in the area, even if you're a couple hours away, it's well worth the trip. It's a criminally under rated place. There are two giant sales greenhouses and you can peruse the owners' personal collection in a third greenhouse. So, you'll be there for awhile if you stop to check everything out.

The online list of plants they offer is only a fraction of what they actually have in stock, to be honest. They have tons of one-off stuff and things that aren't listed on the website.

[SundayGardener]

I've ordered from them twice, and everything I have received from them has been in EXCELLENT condition and well labelled. Most everything also bloomed within 6 months, which is a bonus...I don't take credit for the blooms, the plants they ship are so healthy and primed to bloom.

I don't think online or mail order is their main focus, but their plants are fantastic!

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by MrHappyRotter

The prices are fairly competitive for most things, especially if you're local and don't have to pay shipping.

Definitely reasonable. They recently added the price list next to the names of the currently listed orchids and they seam pretty fair with most stuff being in the $25-$45 range.

I would really love to be able to see their greenhouse. I am trying to get up to my sisters place in West Virginia this fall and I might have to make a little side trip to NC for an overnight

[DeaC]

SaraJean, I'm especially interested in the Neomoorea. Got mine at our OS auction some 2 yrs ago. May be slightly larger than yours and has put out 2 new pbulbs that have leafed out but no blooms. Probably needs repotting. But having seen pix of flower reminds me of a butterfly and the color knocks me out! Good growing.

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by DeaC

SaraJean, I'm especially interested in the Neomoorea. Got mine at our OS auction some 2 yrs ago. May be slightly larger than yours and has put out 2 new pbulbs that have leafed out but no blooms. Probably needs repotting. But having seen pix of flower reminds me of a butterfly and the color knocks me out! Good growing.

I’m glad to hear that someone else is growing this thing! The Neomoorea caught my eye a few years ago when I was just starting out with orchids. The flower shape is striking and I’m a sucker for orange blooms. The pumpkin color is killer. However, the only one I could find back then was super expensive, culture information is sparse, at best, and what little info I could find was some what contradictory. I’ve gotten better at observing and responding with my orchids so I feel slightly more confident that I can keep this one alive. Would you mind sharing how you have been growing yours?

[DeaC]

Originally Posted by SaraJean

I’m glad to hear that someone else is growing this thing! The Neomoorea caught my eye a few years ago when I was just starting out with orchids. The flower shape is striking and I’m a sucker for orange blooms. The pumpkin color is killer. However, the only one I could find back then was super expensive, culture information is sparse, at best, and what little info I could find was some what contradictory. I’ve gotten better at observing and responding with my orchids so I feel slightly more confident that I can keep this one alive. Would you mind sharing how you have been growing yours?

I haven't been ignoring you and hope you're not po'ed that I did not respond sooner. I repotted it in June-mostly s/m and a bit of lg.bark. Keeping it outside under umbrella and our temps have been 90-100+. Water sev.times/wk and whatever fert. I've made-usually MSU or Dynagro(applied weakly-weekly). Pbulbs are plump and leaves long and good color(tips a bit browny but nothing I or it can't seem to cope with). Yes,not much info out there but I think all is well. Good luck with yours!

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by DeaC

I haven't been ignoring you and hope you're not po'ed that I did not respond sooner. I repotted it in June-mostly s/m and a bit of lg.bark. Keeping it outside under umbrella and our temps have been 90-100+. Water sev.times/wk and whatever fert. I've made-usually MSU or Dynagro(applied weakly-weekly). Pbulbs are plump and leaves long and good color(tips a bit browny but nothing I or it can't seem to cope with). Yes,not much info out there but I think all is well. Good luck with yours!

Haha, no worries. That sounds close to what I have been doing so far and the temp range is pretty similar. I gave it a pinch too much light at one point and had to cut part of a leaf off but that has been the only screw up so far

[wisdomseeker]

Those are some very nice acquisitions!

L. kettieana has been on my wish list (and flying under the radar) for awhile. I've been hesitant, mainly because my growing conditions lean more toward the warm/hot side.

How are you growing this one (any tips)?

I've had trouble keeping up with the current scientific 'name-game' changes. So, on that note: is this still considered a Laelia or has the name been changed to Cattleya? Also (out of curiosity), how did your area fare with hurricane Barry? Hopefully you did not have any damage.

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by wisdomseeker

Those are some very nice acquisitions!

L. kettieana has been on my wish list (and flying under the radar) for awhile. I've been hesitant, mainly because my growing conditions lean more toward the warm/hot side.

How are you growing this one (any tips)?

I've had trouble keeping up with the current scientific 'name-game' changes. So, on that note: is this still considered a Laelia or has the name been changed to Cattleya? Also (out of curiosity), how did your area fare with hurricane Barry? Hopefully you did not have any damage.

The L. kettieana might actually be one of the more suitable ones for the warm/hot temps. It still needs a nice, bright cool down in the winter but it does get hot humid summers in situ. Actually, even my rupicolous Laelias that are firmly in the cool growing category are doing wonderful outside (90-100F) as long as they are hydrated. These two newest ones are staying in the bark and cork chunk mix for now (the rest of mine, I’m trying out growing in a clay pot with a tight collar of sphag), they all get watered daily, all in normal-to-bright Cattleya light, I’ll lightly fertilize if I remember, and all are growing like weeds. I plan on leaving these two new ones outside for the winter like I did for my others last year, keeping them dry, only a bit of water on some warmer days, and increasing the light levels with a good bit of direct sun. So far that seems to be working. I didn’t lose any of my Brazilian imports last year and I have sheaths on the L. lucasiana, L. milleri, and L. gloedeniana.

And yeah, these are technically Cattleyas. I just can’t seem to bring myself to refer to them as such and I know I’m not the only one

Thankfully, Barry was one big non event for us. We had flooding on one day but nothing terrible. Only thing that got damaged orchid-wise was the much anticipated spike on my Polystachya paniculata. That spike toast