Orchid Patience

[max]

I'm a horticulturist and have so much of every thing and I enjoy watching plants grow the don't mind the waiting game but I will get a plant at any stage if it's cheap.

[mauraec]

Hi George -

I am mighty impressed with your perseverance and willingness to try new, patience-trying orchids! Funny - it doesn't take much experience to be wowed by a blooming supermarket phal, but it seems that the more experience one has, the more one decides that nothing will do but seedlings and decades of waiting! (Only my observation - not enough experience on board yet to find flasks an appealing prospect - but I've dozens of seedling paphs and phrags now, so I suppose I'm on my way.)

What a glorious dendrobium!

[EquestrisFan]

I would say that it depends on the circumstances. I'm not an experienced orchid buyer, so this whole seedling thing is new to me. Despite that I've ordered some plants as seedlings due to economic reasons (they're MUCH cheaper) from vendors, but if I'm to buy it in a store, I want to see what the flowers look like before I purchase anything. As long as I know what the flowers look like I'm okay with buying it in any size really.

[coeruleo]

i go for mostly NBS, as in-bloom orchids are much more expensive and drop flowers and buds easily. i am getting more confident now, and trying some seedlings. i have been attempting to grow orchids outside, and have created some tree-trunk like plantings out of treefern pots staked together (actually replaced the supports for my dragon fruit cacti with these) and the smaller orchids and seedlings look more natural as they grow in their new home, so seedlings do have some uses for this purpose. the older plants that were grown in pots don't look as natural and have to adjust to their placement. so, depending on where they will live, it makes a difference. but i'd still rather get something i know should bloom in the next year.

[stateless]

I like to grow mostly near blooming size. Coeruleo I'd like to see a photo of the treefern pots staked together, sounds like a fun idea, to save space with some design

[Alice]

My choice would be blooming size plants. I would buy some smaller size plants also, if the "grown-ups" are not available. The price is lower for those, but sometimes here you can buy mature plants for a reasonable price.

[fbashplant]

I received a couple of hybrid catts from a local area grower back in Jan. or Feb. Since then I have been impatiently waiting for something to happen. All my catts were making wonderful new growth and roots but no blossoms and I was begining to wonder if it was ever going to happen. I made a pest of myself with other growers to see if I was doing something wrong or what. Finally!!! a Blc. Robert Ferguson 'Florida Sunset' happened. And several others are now coming into bud. I guess I'm just getting a lesson in patience. Cheers !

[cakedaddy]

I received a couple of hybrid catts from a local area grower back in Jan. or Feb. Since then I have been impatiently waiting for something to happen. All my catts were making wonderful new growth and roots but no blossoms and I was begining to wonder if it was ever going to happen. I made a pest of myself with other growers to see if I was doing something wrong or what. Finally!!! a Blc. Robert Ferguson 'Florida Sunset' happened. And several others are now coming into bud. I guess I'm just getting a lesson in patience. Cheers !

Unrelated to the thread in general, but that's a beautiful Catt!Posted via Mobile Device

[coeruleo]

this is the first one i did, and i should take a new picture, as i have added to it and replaced the base pot with a wider one to catch the splattering water. these are staked straight up, and i cut notches in the sides to stick the phals in sideways , like in nature. they are starting to root into the pots. the top will be a selenicereus chrysocardium (fernleaf cactus) to make it look like a treefern. the water mostly trickles down the inside, wetting each pot's jumble of sphag and bark mix. i only water in the AM to make sure it dries enough incase water splashes into the phals so they don't rot on me. the ones outside i have not staked straight up, they are offset so each plant can sit like in a pot (not sideways). i am still in the process of building them and planting them though. so far i have stuck a 'dancing lady' oncidium i bough from a local person listing divisions on the internet. she was a little old russian lady in west hollywood. i bought her last 2 divisions and will use one at each end of my balcony. they were in potting soil with moss on top, and all the roots were dead, but each has a new growth, so i am hoping they will come back. the tree in more sun will also feature some epiphyte cacti. this winter i will mostly stick the plants in the pots with their normal plastic 4" pots so i can move them if they get too little/too much light to another spot.

[Katherine]

I said near blooming, but i have then from compotes to blooming. Waiting 5-6 years in hopes of a bud is just brutal!