How much of an expert are you?

I have killed two - or, they have died while in my care. Well, lack of it. A semi-noid which must have been a mini-catt that I let go because [mini-catt lovers might like to skip this] i thought it was boring. I'm no floof fan. I want weird. And I fried a cymbidium to a crisp in direct sun.

I have to admit, I think the reasons there haven't been a lot more fatalities are that I haven't been growing long enough, and you all are here.


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Who's counting??? I killed quite a few; I'm thinking maybe 10-15, mostly noid phals, but I did kill a couple of pricey meristem clone phals early on, which were particularly painful for me. However, once I figured out that they were dying because they weren't getting enough light, I fixed that, and (knocks on wood) I haven't lost another one since. (Not even the one little ratty oncidium I've been purposely ignoring; it's had one root in the grave for months but just won't die.)

Liz

It's funny, as demanding as orchids can be, I've come to see them as the energizer bunnies of the plant world. I've attempted murder many more times than I've actually accomplished it and I can only say I wish was I was that resilent!

Dead plants that I haven't gotten around to pitching suddenly throw off new roots, keikis or leaves and I can only shake my head and wonder where that last gasp came from. Give them light and the right amount of water and they pretend the past never happened! (Note - I will never win any culture awards...)

What other plants are so forgiving as to say, "I know you ignored, neglected, dehydrated, froze, burned, asphixiated, and mutilated me. But that's all behind us. You seem to be doing better now, so I forgive you."

That being said, Louis, your 'expertise' seems a bit over the top. One question - do you practice vivisection on your cat?

Julie

My losses are miniscule compared to those of some large commercial growers. One firm I know of had to burn literally thousands of plants due to cross-contamination resulting in virus; losing entire greenhousefulls totalling tens of thousands of square feet because heating systems went out happens more often than is ever admitted, and over the past few years, with the economy in the state it's been, the stock at many large nurseries has gone steadily downhill due to neglect and the inability to afford help. I'm actually very thankful my losses haven't been greater, and that I've learned from them. They haven't shaped me into an 'expert' by any stretch, but I can say with confidence that, because of those losses, I now happen to know a thing or two, as do we all. I just wish I could have learned what I know without having had to endure the losses, but, I suppose that wasn't in the stars for me.

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Louis J. Aszod

Louis, I wasn't commenting on the number of corpses in your wake, but more the grim delight with which you retold some of the more colorful deaths. The orchids I recently bought from you are in beautiful condition, so there's no question about your expertise!

Your post begged for a reply along the lines of:

'Well gee, Louis, I remember the time I backed over my cymbidium in the pickup truck'...or 'Gosh that scale is tough to get rid of! Ten minutes in the microwave on HIGH and it still clung to my laelia.'

(Neither of which I've done...yet.)

Julie

I'm no "expert", but I am learning. I've drowned several phals before I decided I should not water that much. When I watered, I didn't dig deep into the soil to check if it was *really* dry enough. I must have watered when half the mix was sopping wet. So guess what? The roots unfortunately turned to mush and the leaves got dessicated and wrinkled; I was faced with the horrible operation of digging them out and seeing truly rootless phals, doomed and hopeless. Nightmares...

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~~~Lily~~~

LOL! Julie, you're absolutely right: I was fishing for stories that led to disaster through ignorance, and mocking my own naivete at the same time. I just didn't think it was fair to ask for those stories without first making fun of my own--I mean, who would have put out, otherwise? That was the reason for the tone of grim delight.

In an environment like this that invokes and applauds each success story, I think it's important every once in a while to inject a few "tales of woe" just to even out the field, especially for newcomers to the hobby. It's necessary and comforting for people to learn that, quite often, behind the glamour-shots, there lays not "the path not taken," but rather "the path not advertized."

That's all I was going for--no biggee!

(Thank you though for the praise...)

And about that pickup truck, there was the one time I had just gotten done packing up this gorgeous phal and I lay the box down on the tailgate--

Never mind....

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Louis J. Aszod

I've had a lot of trouble getting the watering thing down. Seems as soon as I figure it out, the season changes and I have to start anew. At any rate, I'm please to say I've not killed anything so far, but I have "floppified" at least three plants due to I think, a lack of water. They've recovered and are doing well now. I had one or two nasty sunburn accidents aslo, but nothing too traumatic.

I remember my very first plant had some funny brown spots on it and for three months I kept snipping leaves off! Amazing - when it started growing a ton of new roots and growths, I stopped worrying about those damn spots! The plant's fine, in bloom again, and now I know the spots were just age spots.

So that's whats growing on my leg...age spots!

Julie

To make a long story short, I have done all you have mentioned and then some. I have come a LONG way in the past year. That comes with the knowledge of the board here, and of the dozens of books I have immersed myself in.

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OrchidTraci