Effects Of Orchid/Plant Addiction
 

What effects of your orchid/plant addiction have you experienced? Share as many as you can :biggrin:
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Someone: You're ugly
Me:...
Someone: You have no friends
Me:...
Someone: Plants are boring and for girls
Me: WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!?!
(I slapped someone because of the above in real life, but the "trigger" was not the same)
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So I was wondering how big the Corybas' pot is going to be when it arrives (The vendor always includes potting/mounts except specified) and I found a photo of him/her holding the pot and asked my parents to hold out their hand so I know how much space to make.
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I'm not interested in the fruit of the trees I have... Just space for mounting...
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What about yours?

Hahaha, this should be fun!

- The typical "Plants are for sissies" (and a big discussion about how caring for living things is not a just a girly hobby). I think this is a recurring theme in "macho" countries.

- Hours trying to convince people about how orchids are not hard to care/overrated, they're just different.

- Trying to convince all of my friends to at least give orchids a try, to see if they get the orchid bug (and end up caring for their orchids too whenever I visit them)

- My parents worrying about my spending, whenever I save some money I try to improve my setup and end up buying more plants.

- I don't have a grow room/green house/space outdoors, so my home office doubles as my grow room and I love being near them, but I had to get used to the sound of the humidifier/fan and the extra heat from the lamps.

The effects of a plant addiction upon my life:

When I grew in the windows, people would walk into our home, immediately stare, then say, “It looks like a jungle in here!” I now keep them under lights in a bedroom to avoid the scrutiny.
When my spouse accidentally fell asleep in the room with the passionfruit vine, he would have nightmares that it was going to get him.
I bought a home purposely with many windows that faced the sun (South-facing windows) but now I regret not buying one with a sun room facing in that direction.
I love having my plants where I can see and truly enjoy them.
Where I live, I was known as 'The Plant Lady' for many years until I did quite a bit of volunteering for my children and people associated me more with them than the plants.
What I really want as gifts are plants but my family thinks I have enough.
There is often a frantic journey to buy pots and potting soil, sand, perlite or some other potting medium during the autumn and winter when it is difficult to find because a favorite place had a plant sale that offered a plant I needed to buy.
If we go to a store that has a plant section, I always need to see all the plants as one never knows what might be new.
I had to take a guide aside at a conservatory and quietly tell her that she had misidentified the papaya tree as a mango (we live where they do not naturally grow so it is an understandable mistake).
When going on a vacation, I always look for a nursery of either orchids or exotic plants along the way that I can visit.
I feel aghast when I visit a home with a south-facing sun room and they do not have any plants. When watching my children compete in swimming and there were windows, I always thought about what types of plants I would put in those windows if I worked at the place.
I remember buying plants for my plant collection when I was five years in age. Every vacation I took as a child included bringing home more plants.
I have more photos of my plants than of my children (after they became teenagers and did not want to be photographed).
At nineteen, while my college friends were going to the beach or lazing around by a pool, I spent an entire summer working for room and board in a wholesale nursery in a country known for their agricultural expertise because it was an educational program...even though it had nothing to do with my college degree. The greenhouse where I spent most of my time, despite the latest technology at the time, was very hot but the greenhouse where the cuttings took root was hotter. I worked 5 ½ days a week, long hours, visited other nurseries during the weekends and had nearly no time to explore the country. I never regretted it. :)
I spend quite a bit of time reading about plants and plant-related subjects.
I know quite a bit about pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, rooting hormones, and how to prepare soil for proper pH and drainage.
While at the university, I bonded with a professor over plants. The physical chemistry professor did research related to solar energy and admired the efficiency of plants for converting the sun's rays to solar energy.
I often have a difficult time finding information about some of the plants I grow, especially information on growing the plants under lights.
When plants become too large and I can no longer manage them in the home, I often give them away...but, if they are a favorite, not before making a cutting. :)
I do not go to the conservatory any more because I get plant envy. :|
Even after all of these years, I still find plants fascinating and wonderful; I still have many questions and find that I am always learning. And...worse, I still keep finding plants that I must have!

I like(d) your post very much!

The 12 Steps of Anonymous Orchid Addicted
Because recovery is a lifelong process, there’s no wrong way to approach the 12 Steps as the participant tries to figure out what works best for their individual needs. In fact, most participants find that they will need to revisit some steps or even tackle more than one of the steps at a time.

Here are the 12 Steps as defined by Anonymous Orchid Addicted:

1. We admitted we were powerless over orchid addiction–that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other orchid addicts and to practice these principles in all our affairs.


I am not an addict!:angry:

Thanks. I know I am in pretty deep but it is too late for me now. Save yourself while you can. :)

---------- Post added at 01:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 PM ----------


Nope. I know I am an addict but I am not going to be reformed. :)

Wow! I'd like to be like you! Sounds like a life well-lived

Thanks! I am quite glad that we are all plant people here. Many people think it is a bit nuts to collect plants. :)

Great posts, everybody :biggrin:
Leafmite, what a life!!

rbarta, are you not addicted??

Nah....orchid keeping isn't a girl thing. I mean....you would assume orchids are for girls but most of the women have no clues how to keep them alive...LOL LOL....

I like the challenge since keeping orchids alive let alone thriving is considered a tough task. I found it too easy...considering that I have grow them in my grow tent with enough humidity and controlled lighting. I have to make sure I don't overgrow my orchids with too much and too long lighting cycle. I air mounted my collection and so I never have orchids dying on me because of root rotting.