Dartmouth Orchids 1

[Piper]

I'm going to post these photos in their respective forums, so they're easy to find as photos. Then I'll link to these from the thread already started in the general discussion forum. That way, they're accessible either way.

First off, a cute little Pleurothallis ornata. A wee little mite of a guy! Then, a Masd. copperwing. Finally, a big, bushy Dendrochilum tenellum.

Julie

[ATester]

God I just loved that Dendrochillum! Great scent too, very delicate. It is so cool to see just how diverse orchids truly are. Not to mention all of the other non-orchid plants in thir collection. A really cool, squat Euphorbia obesa, ZZ plants...

[Diane]

Ooh! Ooh! I want the ORANGE one!!

[Hoa Tony Nguyen]

I know this question is redundant since I must read somewhere about the number of orchids in this collection, but may I ask how many orchids there are in this collection?
Cheers. Hoa.

[Piper]

Hoa, The alum who started the collection donated his 1,000 orchids some years ago.

Julie

[Piper]

Well, if the drawer of shame doesn't grow too quickly, you're hopefully building your collection over time.

It would be fun to spend someone else's money buying cool orchids, though.

Julie

[Hoa Tony Nguyen]

Only $2K? Oh dear ... so where is the money to pay for Lisa?
Actually, if you think of it, $2K/year for orchid purchase is not too bad, you just don't buy a lot of plants. Judicious purchase might be enough?
Cheers. Hoa.

[Piper]

Actually, any number of top growers clear bench space with phenominal sales if you buy in bulk. Lisa just got a bunch more phrags at about $5 a plant in this way. I saw the sale, I just can't take on 10 more!

She really inspired me to inspire my phrags. I just have to get them happier...

Julie

[Hoa Tony Nguyen]

The other problems with this strategy are that many choice plants and great clones command high prices and orchid sales at $5/plant do not come very often and within acquisitions through cheap sale, rarely you would get amazing plants! Unless you want to buy lot of seedlings, then you could wait 5-10 years for them to bloom. At the beginning, when I did not know much what I was doing except through what I read through books, I inclined to buy lot of bargains ($5-$7.50/plant and many seedlings). But as you built confidence and the orchids surprised you by staying alive and blooming, your interest grew and increasingly you had to look for much better plants (plants that very few people have!) besides cheap sources of orchid plants (plants that everyone has!).
Just my another 1 cent!
Cheers. Hoa.

[bench72]

I agree Hoa... as we develop our confidence with growing orchids (rightly or not as in my case...) we tend to start trying to acquire choice clones.. ie awarded plants... of course, it is always a good idea to get some seedlings as well... you may end up with one that becomes the FCC at the next judging... of course it does help to then choose carefully using parentage information...

and there's the other cent