Need pictures showing whole plant or leaves

[MamaLiberty]

I've had several orchids for more than 20 years, but never got into much of the technical stuff. I bought most of them as "orphans" in home improvement centers and many took years to recover and grow. I've tried many different things over the years, and understand what most of mine prefer, but it's been very difficult to discover even their general family names so I could improve on the care I give them.

I've looked at literally thousands of orchid pictures and bought many book, but there are almost never any photographs that include the leaves or the whole plant. That would make identifying these things so much easier.

I have now identified the "Lady Slipper" as an Paphiopedilum, and have a dozen different Phalaenopsis. One Dendrobium has been with me the longest, and one oncidium which has only bloomed twice in the last ten years. There are several others I can't quite figure out. If I knew what they were... I could take better care of them and maybe enjoy some more blooms.

For now, the Phalaenopsis are doing wonderfully, so that is my yardstick.

Does anyone know where I might find a better guide to identification that includes pictures of the whole plants and detailed photos of leaves as well as the flowers?

I'm enjoying looking through the threads and posts here, and look forward to participating more... once I know better what the heck I'm talking about.

[AnonYMouse]

Here is a link to get you started.

[JDT]

Anon,
Great link!!! I have been to their website before but never knew they had this much information.

MamaLiberty this link from Anon will help you a lot! You might also try AOS Culture Sheets the pictures are not as good but has good descriptions of the orchid.
JDT

[Leafmite]

The re-pot me link was the one I first used when I bought some noID orchids long ago. It is really the best one I have found.

[MamaLiberty]

Thank you, and I will definitely look at the link, but I would much prefer a paper book that I could carry into the solarium to compare with the plants. Running back and forth would have some health benefits, possibly, but the room is upstairs and I'm almost 70, so it would soon be a chore.

I'm rather confused here... I left the "quote" of your response here at first and the forum software said my post was refused because it contained a URL. But it was yours! I'm not familiar with this type forum software, so I don't know the "rules" yet. How do I post links?

[MamaLiberty]

Looked at the links here and still don't see the plant I have, or anything that looks like it. There is actually a label in the pot, but I've never been able to discover what it means.

I tried the search feature here, but it comes up with no matches to the whole thing or any individual part.

Here is the label:

BLC. ((Oconee X Helen Miyamoto)
X
CHia Lin "New City"

CK 114
Purple

The plant has thick single leaves on pseudobulbs that erupt from a short stem growing out from a previous stem. The leaves are dark green with a slightly purple cast to the stems. It has never bloomed in nearly 15 years, but grows slowly and has never lost any old growth. The oldest pseudobulbs are slightly wrinkled, but the leaves look fine. The newest bulb/leaf to form is much larger than any previous and looks as if it MIGHT possibly be forming a spike where the leaf and bulb join. If it blooms, I may swoon.

I'd post a picture of the plant, but I don't see any way to do that...

[JDT]

BLC. stands for Brassolaeliocattleya which is a hybrid Catttleya and you will have a difficult time of finding pictures of all the hybrids unless someone has posted a picture of their own on the internet.

[MamaLiberty]

Originally Posted by JDT

BLC. stands for Brassolaeliocattleya

Thanks! I would suggest that these abriviations should be added to the glossary, or made a separate list. Would help so much.

I suspect that the tag tells exactly what the hybrid is there, but I could never decypher it, and it gives me no information about how best to care for that plant.

I'll look up both Brassolae and Cattleya and see if I can arrive at an idea, but would love to discover someone else who had something similar. How does one post a picture?

I've always been enchanted with this plant, even though it has never bloomed. I just knew I was not providing what it needs, though I've tried many things. The large new growth came after I began to fertilize all the orchids more. Was always afraid to give them too much, but have been very pleased so far with the results of feeding more, and more regularly.

[JDT]

The link I sent on my first post gave you the link for AOS culture sheets, click on that link and when the site comes up click on Cattleya and that will give you all the information you need on that orchid and most other species.

As you just joined you can not post pictures for awhile, keep posting replies and eventually you will be able to post pictures, the more you use this site you will be able to do more things on this site.

I sent you a private message.

[MamaLiberty]

Thanks so much, JDT. I do appreciate your help. Just one more plant to identify, more or less. LOL I'll be happy to get close enough to understand what they need to bloom.