Pick my next orchid!
 

Yippee! The wife has decided that it is within our budget for me to get another new baby or three (depending on price, obviously) and I have "scooched" a few plants closer together in the shade hut to make some room. I've been poking around online and looking at a few little hotties, but I would love some input from fellow orchid enthusiasts on what my next plant should be. Please do not be offended if I don't go run right out and buy the plant you suggest, or even any of the plants that are suggested in this post, but I will definitely be doing some research and keeping in mind any and all suggestions for the future. Below are my criteria, and an abbreviated list of plants that have/ have not done well for me.

I would rate my skill level of care at "intermediate to advanced": I have the know-how and time on my hands to keep some slightly tricky 'chids, but I will not be measuring out nitrogen and trace minerals into reverse-osmosis water at the correct level of ppm under an exact range of foot-candles. i live in FL and grow outdoors under shadecloth or hanging in trees. therefore, cool growers and humidity-dependent plants will suffer when it gets baking hot and all drought-y.

i tend to like some of the "weirder" plants rather than showy/poofy/extravagant. no flashy phal, fluffy cattleya, or home depot dendrobium has ever so much as turned my head. scruffy is good, opulent not so much. also, i MUCH prefer species as Nature created them over hybrids that man has muddled together. but i will admit, our meddling and muddling has created some incredible plants, and i will not rule them out entirely.

my current favs/ best performers have been "true" encyclias, prosthechea, tolumnia, brassavola, and a few modest catts and variations on phal violacea. my vandaceous babies definitely perform on schedule, but i can tell that they need more water than i have time to give. the exception to this would be my neofinetia, which is doing awesome. i have heard of a blue form- if anyone knows where to get this, i would love to get one as long as it is kept the same as my white one.

things i have loved to look at and failed to grow well include mini phals, an aerangis, and a few bulbophyllums. they are all still alive, but flower sporadically if at all, and all obviously suffer from a lack of ambient humidity. i can water daily, but all my plants are bone-dry within hours.

a few types i have been eyeballing whilst wiping away a spot of drool include various coelogyne, psychopsis/"butterfly oncidiums", epidendrum type dendros (that's what i call them, at least- i'm thinking of my pierardii and its long, pendant cousins), etc.

SO!!! If I haven't scared you away with my exacting criteria for selection, I would love to hear your suggestions! I truly wish that I could just walk into a greenhouse, sweep my arm toward every plant, and boldly shout, "I'll take them all!" But this is not realistic under my financial and space restrictions, so I have to be one choosy son of a gun. Please help. Or don't, and I'll just keep doing my research and hope that I find something I can keep well and enjoy. Either way, I GET NEW ORCHIDS SOON!!!:biggrin:

Personally I would go for a Coelogyne cristata. They can bit a bit harder to bloom but definitely worth the trouble. A member of my local society has a huge specimen of it, and when I saw it a the show in Feb, it must have had upwards of 100 - 200 flowers. Quite a site to behold!!
Or barring a Coelogyne, how about a Stanhopea? They are very kool plants, I have a Stan tigrina and cannot wait for it to bloom!

Oeceoclades maculata.

Actually any Oeceoclades.

Oeceoclades calcarata has a flower spike that is 9 foot tall!

species: C. bicolor or L. purpurata

hybrids: Bc. Binosa or Bl Morning Glory

The C. bicolor and Bc Binosa are more on the weird and wild side. The L. purpurata and Bl. Morning glory are more on the "Wow, that's gorgeous" category. Just my two cents.

You know what, also try...

Eulophia petersii, any of the rupicolous Laelias, or Pleurothallis teres.

All succulent types. Harsh climate and blazing sun no problem. Super wierd, hard to find.

Maybe Grammangis or Grammatophyllum. These are giants.

brasavola great hardy plant wonderfull white wacky flowers, awsum smell and thrives in florida sun

i have Coelogyne cristata and it onle a little plant but the sent it gave off was something off a fairytail and it lasted for about 2 months and it only had two small flower spicks with 5/6 flowers on each and you could smell through the entire house!!!

maybe you can but something not living, such as humidity tray / mister / auto-watering system to improve the conditions of your shade hut. next time you'll have a wider choice..

for weird chid, i have a paraphalaenopsis or terete phalaenopsis. also know locally as snake orchid or rat-tail phalaenopsis. the flowers are arranged differently than the usual phals. mine also smell very good. i bought it because of the weirdness of the foliage.

I just bought a cymbidium little black sambo from a local auction in Southern California. I live by the beach, so I get a lot of sun and a lot of humidity. Its an orchid that was originally from Australia, so it is use to drought tolerant areas and lots of sun. Supposedly you only need to water it every eight months, though I am a little hesitant about testing that theory. I am a newbie to the orchid world, but I heard this is not a tough guy to take care of, and it smells AMAZING throughout the day.... It is a hanger though, or a good ground cover, as the leaves get really long and the flowers grow in long stems with small flowers. I believe it only comes in a reddish black color, but maybe there are more...there are definitely a lot of good cymbidiums, but this is proving to be one of my favorites.

Im super excited for you. If i had extra cash I would be buying more orchids too!!! One day a green house...muahahahah

Good luck in your selection!!!

I'd recommend any of the Psychopsis. Easy to care for, unusual and if you get one with more than one spike you'll have a flower almost all the time.
Al