anyone else with orchids?

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

just curious if anyone on TEG keeps or grows orchids. i bought a few months back a phalaenopsis for $4 at the local Home Depot and it has been doing fine but i don't expect it to rebloom till next spring, so i don't know what color it will be. this past week i ran to my local greenhouse and picked up 3 poor looking orchids that had just passed their flowers and were on the markdown table for $10 each. i got some pretty pots and replanted them but after reading up a little more on the 2 different varieties i got (Vuyl.-a Cambria type and Wils.-a hybrid of 3 types) i need to seat them a little deeper in the mix and remove some of the old mix from around their roots. all 3 of those plants were nicely packed into their pots but just a little over crowded when i pulled them out. this greenhouse is a good place for orchids. they do an orchid day once a year to teach newbies how to care for the many types they carry. i have yet to go to one but this winter/early spring i will check it out.

i did notice that the pseudobulbs looked a little wrinkled but there appear to be a lot of new growth on all 3 plants. my phalaenopsis i just noticed is sending out some new roots over the sphagnum that it was packed in. i'm deciding if i need to replant this one soon or if i should hold out a little longer. i also have 2 orchids i bought and waiting to be delivered next week. one is called Vanda Tessellata 'Black & Blue', the other is Angraecum Sesquipedale 'Darwin'.

i'm just curious now if i've replanted these at the wrong time of year. :/

 

[vfem]

I used to have one for years... it died from white flies! UGH!!!

 

[silkiechicken]

I only have one cheap phal... I've had it 3 years? Maybe four. It grows one new leaf a year, and in the winter after chiling, it makes a big flower stalk with pink flowers. This year though, my birds knocked it over and broke it's flowers off. It lives in a dish of water. LOL

 

[lesa]

I'm an expert on orchids- I've killed too many to count!! Actually, my mother had a perfect spot for them, in her last house. She really did very little with them, and they bloomed every year! After many years, she transplanted them, using a special bark material- no dirt. I am always tempted by them, but though my thumb is pretty green- it just doesn't have the right touch for orchids! I hope yours live for years, and give you glorious blooms!

 

[catjac1975]

I have a collection of orchids but I am not an expert. My experience with repotting is abysmal . If I leave them alone and fertilize I con keep a phal in bloom most of the year.Orchids like to have overcrowded roots.

just curious if anyone on TEG keeps or grows orchids. i bought a few months back a phalaenopsis for $4 at the local Home Depot and it has been doing fine but i don't expect it to rebloom till next spring, so i don't know what color it will be. this past week i ran to my local greenhouse and picked up 3 poor looking orchids that had just passed their flowers and were on the markdown table for $10 each. i got some pretty pots and replanted them but after reading up a little more on the 2 different varieties i got (Vuyl.-a Cambria type and Wils.-a hybrid of 3 types) i need to seat them a little deeper in the mix and remove some of the old mix from around their roots. all 3 of those plants were nicely packed into their pots but just a little over crowded when i pulled them out. this greenhouse is a good place for orchids. they do an orchid day once a year to teach newbies how to care for the many types they carry. i have yet to go to one but this winter/early spring i will check it out.

i did notice that the pseudobulbs looked a little wrinkled but there appear to be a lot of new growth on all 3 plants. my phalaenopsis i just noticed is sending out some new roots over the sphagnum that it was packed in. i'm deciding if i need to replant this one soon or if i should hold out a little longer. i also have 2 orchids i bought and waiting to be delivered next week. one is called Vanda Tessellata 'Black & Blue', the other is Angraecum Sesquipedale 'Darwin'.

i'm just curious now if i've replanted these at the wrong time of year. :/

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

I'm an expert on orchids- I've killed too many to count!! Actually, my mother had a perfect spot for them, in her last house. She really did very little with them, and they bloomed every year! After many years, she transplanted them, using a special bark material- no dirt. I am always tempted by them, but though my thumb is pretty green- it just doesn't have the right touch for orchids! I hope yours live for years, and give you glorious blooms!

i had one many years ago but didn't think to read up on it through the internet. so of course it looked nice when i bought it but then was lousy for some time before i thought it was dead. i realized now that i just didn't know a lot about them and it was just not getting enough water nor did i know they like to be replanted in new materials once or twice a year when they are young when the stuff has been decomposed too much. the past few nights i've been reading up about the different types and their care. i always joke that if it is a flowering houseplant that it will not grow in my house. i've since learned that i can get stuff that remains green most of the year to flower but just don't fuss over them like the other stuff.

btw, i wouldn't recommend buying the Miracle Grow orchid mix. the stuff is more for seedlings since it is too lightweight for more mature plants and it is also too fine and breaks down too quickly. get the stuff from a greenhouse that knows about orchid care. they should carry the bark/perlite/charcoal mix that most orchids like. or sphagnum moss in sheets or rolls. now i know why my phal. was packed in it's pot with the stuff. the 2 i have coming this week i think i will see if i can mount them on the wood slabs since they are tree loving types and should enjoy their roots more exposed than being in a pot.

i just found this site that seems to make it easy for those wanting to start growing orchids without all the mumbo jumbo i've seen on more elaborate sites for enthusiasts http://everything-orchids.com/

 

[Teka]

I have grown orchids for many yeard -- used to belong to a local orchid club, but got too busy and now just care for my own.

RE: Mix Buy a bag each of cocoa bark, real charcoal, and perlite or Pro mix. Mix these in roughly equal parts for potting most orchids.

Most importantly, as soon as your orchids from the store are finished blooming, re-pot them. They usually come in plastic pots inside the clay pot, and are often potted in spagnum, shredded cocoa or other materials that hold lots of water and decompose quickly. This is great if you are trying to keep the bloom spike growing until the customer gets it home, but very bad for long-term health of the plant. Pull the rotting materials out of the roots, trim lightly with a fresh razor blade (don't transfer viruses from plant to plant buy using scissors or unclean blades) and repot in the clay pot only. I soak the clay pots in water until the air bubbles are no longer fizzing out of them before potting. (And water in winter bu putting plants in the bottom of my bath tub, in warm water up to the near top of the pots until the fizzing stops, then drain the tub! Add a mild dose or orchid fertilizer to the water every 3-4 times you water.)

Spring/summer is the time to repot. Best to go through all of your plants and get rid of any plastic pots. Spagnum on top is a "trim" to make the plant more attractive in a home, as well as to keep roots damp until the consumer takes the plant home. It really isn't necessary, and can promote rot. Most orchids prefer a deep drenching then drying, not constant dampness, so spagnum works against you.

Also. orchids love it outside. Most books will advise you never to water from the top of the orchid, as this is supposed to cause stem rot. My hubbie rationalized that orchids get watered from the top in nature, and we put ours outside under a fruit tree for some shade, and they have never done better.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

thanks Teka! good advise about getting rid of the plastic pots! while i got the plants at the greenhouse i got some pretty clay pots for them (they were even cheaper than the big box store for the same pot designs!) i realized while at the store that plastic just didn't allow for the roots to breath like they should for orchids. sort of the opposite of what i think of when planting garden plants.

i'll get rid of that moss in the phal. too. though i was reading it was good to use if the orchid was being mounted on a piece of bark or wood. do you recommend doing that?

i'll have to remember to pick up some razors to use when i'm trimming roots. i like that idea too. i have a pair of surgical scissors i use for most things but i occasionally run them through my dishwasher. i have a Bosch that gets extremely HOT so i figured this tends to sterilize most things that go in it. at least with the blades i won't worry about possible contamination. just use and throw (wrap the blade many times in tape first!)

 

[RickF]

My mother is one of the leads that runs a local orchid society in Oregon.. She's got a 20' greenhouse filled with different varieties and has been growing them for years.. If you've got specific questions that nobody else here is able to address I can ask her.. I'm sure she'd be able to craft up a response..