The unfortunate nature of orchids

[Kassie]

It is sad to see all those beautiful orchids in a store and realize that most of them will be treated as though they were cut flowers. Your plants look healthy and well cared for. Good light does wonders. Slowly introduce them to your sunny room and you might be in for a surprise.

Matt is absolutely right, nothing is more rewarding than watching a spike develop. I figured out at least 10% of my collection is in spike or blooming at any given time now that I've gotten a little better at growing. That's enough flowers to keep me happy and it takes the pressure of expectation off the rest of my orchids.

If patience is not a feasible, the key is diversity. Get a multifloral paph which can bloom for more than a year and a cattleya hybrid that is a fast grower and frequently bloomer. I have a Rth. Ahchung Yoyo 'Little Goldfish' that is filling a sheath right now--it will be the 4th blooming since september 2010. Phals are beautiful, but they are slow--even when they do start spiking, the wait for flowers can be excruciating.

[orchidsal]

MY compliments to everyone who participated in these posts. Great thread. I enjoyed all these comments! AL

[opaline]

So without further ado, I give you my dreadfully boring plants with no flowers:



Attachment 47602

Hey Mike! As I have posted in your thread and drifted slightly, I thought it only common courtesy to address your initial post alittle more directly. Any photo of an orchid here on OT is one step closer to refining a reliable resource for the orchid hobbyist. We will save future younger generations a fortune lol. As daft as it sounds a picture speaks a thousand words and addresses questions not yet put forward, from culture to aesthetic value.
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Here your orchids will never be considered boring. What kind of product/ ingredient do you use to shine those leaves?

Most growers will always find that a colleague/ friend etc has little trouble and provides inadequate care to an orchid that seems to flourish. Apparently orchids thrive on neglect and those with a passion for orchids simply go over the top with attentive care. I considered using reverse physcology and treat the number of orchids in my collection as unwanted birthday/ get well soon gifts. It didnt work and just confused the hell out of me. If we can have 'organised chaos' then why not 'organised neglect'?

Although photos are known to fail at reflecting the true image we see and want others to see, your phals (low light lovers) have quite dark green leaves in response to shady position. Your Dendrobium phalaenopsis requires better light and will tend to refrain from treating you to future shows of blooms with low light levels.

[espranch]

I agree with Jason...ALL of them need more light. GRASS GREEN is what we're looking for in an orchid leaf. Step it up rather slowly, so that you do not burn the leaves. When small red dots start to show, the leaf is getting all the light it can take. Just my opinion...Betty :-)

[m9mike9]

Here your orchids will never be considered boring. What kind of product/ ingredient do you use to shine those leaves?

I used a cotton wool ball and full fat milk finally polishing with a dry cotton wool ball to get a good leaf shine.

After your kind advice I have placed the Dendrobium into the sunny window to get Winter sunshine and the phals are down by the window to get a bit more light in the same room. I think they should be happier like that:





Thanks for your replies. Very interesting to read!