Hi all,

I'm a member of my local OS and we have been given quite a nifty offer. One of our city parks has a conservatory with, among many other plants, a fair sized orchid collection. They have recently come to the conclusion they do not have enough staff with knowledge, nor enough volunteers, to adequately maintain the collection. (This is sadly accurate--I've seen the collection and most of the plants are not in good condition.) At any rate, they have offered the vast majority of the collection to us.

There are many plants I'd be very leery of taking--the conservatory has mega scale & mealy bug populations--but there are a few exceptions. They have some Paphs & Phrags that are not too bad. I've been told by several growers that Phrags are reasonably immune to these pests, as well as to some of the diseases that plague some of the conservatory plants. (Although I will still isolate any & treat them with pesticides before I let them anywhere near my collection.)

Among the Phrags are Eric Young & Sedenii. Both have flowers I find quite attractive, based on illustrations I've seen. I'm seriously thinking of putting in my name for them. (The plants will be dispersed by a committee, based on what we ask for and their perceptions of how likely we are to succeed with them.) So, my question to those with some experience with Phrags, are these ones I might have a hope of growing well? I grow under flourescent lights in a fairly warm basement. Are they too big to go under lights? (I can, and would, take them out when in spike to put them in my display area.)

All thoughts & opinions are welcome!

Cheers,

Rob