What to buy next?

[RandomGemini]

So... I'm ready to buy a couple more plants for my collection and I think I will be donating some of my large phals to the OS when I manage to get to the next meeting, because they are great, but I am finding I prefer mini phals to the full sized guys. I have three full sized ones that I will keep, but the others are gonna get donated to make room for plants that I like better in my collection.

I really love miniature plants. I purchased a dendrobium cuthbertsonii back in October and I LOVE it. It's putting up new canes like crazy now, and if what I was told about it was correct, I should see blooms in February or March, at least, I hope I've done everything right for that. I would love to keep more miniature dendrobiums, if such a thing exists, but I would need them to be good indoor growers. They would need to be tolerant of a variety of humidity conditions, because I am not sure what humidity I will be able to provide this summer. Right now, 40-50% humidity is what I have and temps around 70-80 degrees, because my house stays at around those temps year round. I'm afraid the cuthbertsonii may have to move to the basement this summer if it gets too warm for it, but that's ok. I have plenty of space down there for plants.

So, plants that stay relatively small. Good, indoor growers that will be happy between 68 and 80 degrees and can handle varying humidity. Phal light or less (though I have a couple of oncidiums that are happy too). Watering requirements can vary.

I would prefer to start with a hybrid for trying out a new genus, then I can get into a species later, hybrids seem to work better for me. Also, I like weird flowers, paphs, masdies, dracula, oncidiums, I love neofinetia falcata and its hybrids and I want to try one, but I'm not sure my conditions will be right for it. I really like flowers that don't look like picture book flowers though and I want the foliage to be pretty to look at when the plant isn't in bloom. I'm not an all flowers all the time sort of gal.

I don't know if stink will matter to me or not yet, I have one bulbo, I haven't killed it yet, but I don't think it's happy. I'd be willing to try another one though if someone could recommend one to me that will grow in the conditions I can provide.

So what should I go with next? Any thoughts?

[Paul]

Surprised the cuth. is doing well for you. I have avoided trying it because of its cool - cold temp requirements. Your success gives me hope. Perhaps if I were to come across a really inexpensive one or one in trade to experiement with ...

Well as far as mini's, you probably have seen my Den. peguanum, and Psygmorchis pusilla.

Den-wise:
Den rigidum is a mini and seems to be a trooper.
Den oligophyllum is pretty tolerant as well in my intermediate to warm conditions.

There are minicatts which are quite mini. The Slc Dream Catcher and Slc Dream Weaver lines are all under 6" tall.

Scaphocepalums are one of my favorite genera ... and there are ones for cool or intermediate or warm conditions. Andy's usually has several of these.

Haraella odorata is a cutie.

Phal Lovely Kid -- a primary hybrid of P. lobbii x parishii is a true mini ... far smaller than mini phals one sees at the BBSs.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I don't know which Bulbo you have, but you might try B. lobbii. Mine seems to be an easy grower (intermediate; mix of bark, charcoal, and about 10% chopped sphagnum, never completely dry).

[RandomGemini]

I have been lucky so far. It was an impulse purchase, I had a chance to get one, I thought I'd read enough about them and then I got it home and panicked. It was recommended by the grower as being suitable for my growing conditions though, he knew that I was new to orchid growing and wanted something that would always give me something to do and it turns out, that this orchid is exactly what I asked for. As far as my orchids go, it keeps me busy. It gets no fertilizer. I water it only with bottled water that has a TDS of less than 100. The only minerals it gets are from this water. I flush the pot monthly with distilled water, to prevent any possible accumulation of salts in the pot. I grow it off to the side of an east facing window, it gets some direct sun in the early morning, but since it's a foot away from the window I haven't seen this to be a problem for it. Some people say that these can take more light than what is advised by the culture sheets, and the more light they get, the better they can handle being fertilized, but they need to be acclimated to it. I know that Ron from OB here has success with these that way and I believe he said he grows his in catt light, right up under his t5s, but you'd have to verify that with him. That route might work for you.

I was looking at the other miniature dens and I want to try them, but I want to be sure they're not as fussy as the cuthbertsonii. I'm afraid to move it or water it off schedule, or even to change the brand of bottled water I use, but I love it because it seems to always be doing something. If it blooms, I will be in heaven. I'm terrified of what might happen to it if I take a vacation though. LOL!

Thank you so much for your suggestions! I'll look into them now... in fact, Andy's may be getting an order from me very soon! Scaphocepalum peruvianum has my complete attention! What a diminutive beauty!

Orchid Whisperer: I have Bulbophyllum carunculatum var sulawesi. I'm pretty sure that I'm doing something wrong for it because it's not thriving. I think it may want more light than I'm giving it and am going to try moving it closer to my lights to see if that will help it. I have seen b. lobbii and I would like to try it. There's so much variety in bulbos too!

[katrina]

Compact dens...these are some of my favs that I have...

Den laevifolium
Den dichaeoides
Den tannii
Den hymenanthum

All require more light than phals but they are all fairly fuss free. They stay compact and w/the exception of the hymenanthum...they bloom for a long time. The hymenanthum blooms only last a day or two but it gives several big flushes a year and the fragrance is outstanding.

My tannii has been in bloom since Sept or Oct and it's now pushing out another round of little flowers. As a matter of fact, I like tannii so much I recently purchased an alba form. I'd say tannii is my #1 of the bunch but all are nice.

[AnonYMouse]

D. subuliferum! I love them but I gave up trying to grow them here (I think). If you can grow the cuthbertsonii, you should be able to grow the subuliferum. It shows up on ebay occasionally.

[RandomGemini]

Oh my gosh! These are lovely!!! D. Tannii just went on my wish list and d. Subuliferum is just stunning!! Am I reading this right that it blooms through the winter months? I'll have to do some more reading, but I definitely want to try both of these!

[Paul]

The dens I mentioned above have proven very easy & fuss-free for me. The oligo and rigidum I have in terrs. Same for the Phal Lovely Kid.

Oh, and in case you didn't know, you can get RO water from Meijers. They have a Culligan RO machine there so you can fill your own jug. Winds up being about 40cents/gal that way. I use that water for my terrs as well as my chids and cps.

[Cym Ladye]

Why do you not really study the conditions you have and then find genera that will be happy with those conditions? hmmmmm? You and your plants will be far happier in the long run.

[RandomGemini]

Our grocery store has one too, the problem is, you don't know how often they change the filters. They don't have a label or anything letting you know when the machines were last serviced.

Most of my plants do fine with our tap water, but the cuthbertsonii I was warned repeatedly about not watering it with anything less than pure water and my Dracula Lotax is sensitive to something in my tap water, so it gets bottled water as well. For these two tiny plants, I'm fine with buying them bottled. They are small enough that one gallon lasts a long time.