David’s Monthly
Orchid Tips
David Off is a 3rd generation
member of the highly respected
WALDOR ORCHIDS family.

Holiday Flowers for Years to Come
During the Holiday Seasons, we are all
so busy, that it becomes just another thing
we have to do, if we have to go out and buy
decorations for the Holidays. While
Phaleanopsis, Cymbidiums and some
Dendrobiums flower when cold induced and

• Forum thread
• Read more

• Forum thread
• Read more

David Off is a 3rd generation
member of the highly respected
WALDOR ORCHIDS family.

RELAAXX!
There is no doubt growing orchids is good
for your health. Some 15-30% of heart
attacks are caused by high levels of stress.
So many of us, after a long day of going and
going, just want to take a few minutes (or
longer) with our plants. Tending to or just

• Forum thread
• Read more

David’s Monthly Orchid Tips
David Off is a 3rd generation
member of the highly respected
WALDOR ORCHIDS family.

Commitment

• Forum thread
• Read more

David’s Monthly
Orchid Tips

David Off is a 3rd generation
member of the highly respected
WALDOR ORCHIDS family.

A Word on Fertilizer

Always remember N-P-K. Nitrogen,
Phosphorous and Potassium (or Potash). These
three macro nutrients represent the three
numbers, 20-20-20, 30-10-10, 7-9-5 etc, along
with other micro nutrients, that are found in

• Forum thread
• Read more

Hi, I just had given to me a Phalaenopsis Everspring King for my birthday... I have always admired orchids and am scared to death to kill it

I was reading that placing your orchid in East facing light is preferable, however, in my apartment there are no East facing windows.

Is there a next best?

• Forum thread

There is hardly a day goes by that there isn’t a question regarding some facet of repotting. There are a number of orchids that reliably make good specimen plants. I like to repot these in 7 to 12 inch pots.

• Forum thread
• Read more

Orchidboard is a wonderful community...lots of information about orchids, friendly and generous orchid-lovers willing to share what they've learned over time.
If you are new to forums, please check out our informational thread on getting around:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community/about-board/15195-new-forums-some-tips-get-you-started.html and read through this article for more tips...

• Forum thread
• Read more

The genus Cochleanthes is a small group of orchids which they seem like pescatorea because they haven't pseudobulb and the inflorescence is pendulous or erect.
About the colture, they want high humidity ,warm-intermiedate temperatures , and the keep the plant moist but not too wet, to avoid rotten roots.
The flowers may appear in every period, but mostly in autumn or summer.

• Forum thread
• Read more

Here you are a wonderful species that it'a ideal for beginner because of its temperature tollerant and his showy flowering.
The flowers may be female or male and it depends by the quantity of light and humidity.

Few light+high humudity: male
Lot of light+low humidity: female

• Forum thread
• Read more

I've been keeping a few orchids for about five years. Recently, as my interest has shifted toward the smaller, humidity loving varieties, windowsill culture has become less suitable. In my climate (northern MN) it gets cold (it's -20 today) and extremely dry. In these growing conditions, a haven for my plants became necessary, so I built one.

• Forum thread
• Read more

I live in an apartment condominium in Northern Virginia. When I got interested in orchids I realized I had a desirable true east exposure from the windows. I fortunately also had 6 inch deep window sills. The apartment also has a whole house humidifier that runs at about 40+% humidity full-time during the heating season. Direct downdraft from the heater/air conditioning vents has been diverted so as not to strike the orchids. The few orchids with which I began seemed to thrive. Then one day my wife and I were at the National Capital Orchid Society show and she was captivated by a large, dark blue flower that we discovered was called a Vanda. On further research it seemed these orchids were particularly fussy in their cultural requirements. I read that most are grown bare root in hanging baskets, often outdoors in places like southern Florida. That the roots required frequent watering or misting. That they would not tolerate being too wet, nor too dry but demanded relatively high humidity. The also preferred bright indirect light but preferred only short periods of direct sunlight. These did not seem to be conditions easily met in a relatively small condominium where the growing spaces also doubled as bedrooms.
Being at a stage in life where I can afford to experiment, I decided to try to adjust the plants purported fussiness to the realities of my environment.
The first thing that had to go was the idea of a hanging basket. It had to grow in a pot and that had to be of modest dimensions.
Next it could not require too frequent watering. Orchids are my joy not my masters. I decided it probably would not like usual bark mixtures since they held too much moisture. Being willing to be avant-garde I decided to try EpiWeb imported by First Rays Orchids (www.firstrays.com) from Scandinavia. It is a firm foam-like plastic material made from recycled milk containers. It holds no water except what might get trapped in the tiny spaces in the foam. It is available in sheets for mounting but also in 1 inch cubes which was what I used. This material seemed adequate to support the roots and plant but I needed something to retain some moisture to fulfill the criteria of not requiring daily attendance. Again from Rays I decided to add in PrimeAgra which is a Light Expanded Clay Aggregate (LECA) of which there are several similar on the market. This product remains moist after soaking and is often used in semi-hydroponics culture. I mixed this about 3 to 1 of EpiWeb to PrimeAgra.
The lucky plant was a Pakchong Blue purchased mail order from Hausserman’s outside Chicago. It arrived in excellent condition on 11 July 2008. It was much larger than I was expecting being 16 inches tall. It was in a 6 inch clear plastic pot with a bark mixture that appeared rather old. On unpotting I found a 2 inch plastic basket with the original plant placed whole in the outer pot and then surrounded with the bark mix.

• Forum thread
• Read more

am in my early 50’s and for the last 7 years have been getting more serious about growing orchids. My interest, however, goes back over 35 years to my late cousin, who is responsible for my love of orchids. I was in high school and my cousin, Charles Weigner, was owner of the Orchid Loft in Perkasie, PA. One summer in the early 1970’s he was going to South America on a collecting trip and asked me to stay and tend his orchids while he was gone. For three weeks I roamed the greenhouses, tended the orchids per his instructions and became fascinated with them. I went on to other things, however, and my cousin later died in 1985. While my fascination of orchids continued, and I tried an orchid or two (with no success) over the years, it was not until 2001 that I was in a position to give it a serious try. It was then, while searching the internet, that I discovered that my cousin had hybridized and named an orchid after his mom (my aunt) named Paph. Eva Weigner. That did it, and my quest to obtain that particular plant as well as other plants originating from him began, I guess in part as an attempt to preserve some heritage of what my cousin had done. I started

• Forum thread
• Read more

hile many people discover their love for orchids when they received their very first phal as a gift, I got hooked to orchids after discovering some of the native beauties of my region. I was lucky enough to do the first two years of horticultural studies in a small college in the alpine town of Chambéry. One of my courses involved a series of hikes in the Alps around Chambéry to discover the local flora. Hike after hike, I became more and more attracted to these small orchids that survive the harsh alpine winters.

• Forum thread
• Read more

am not an orchid expert by any stretch of the imagination. I can honestly say that I am passionate about growing them, but not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I am good enough to get someone who is a complete neophyte started, and that is about it. But part of that mad orchid passion involves getting folks started. Let me explain.

I have several possibly eccentric behaviors attached to my orchid fascination. The first one is, I love to rescue orchids from the clearance sections of Home Depot, Lowes, and Wal-mart. Perhaps you have seen them there, lonely and pathetic. This stems from a Charley Brown-esque compassion for the underdog plant, (And the fact that I am limited by my pocketbook). There are good and bad facets to this, as I am thrilled when I finally get to see what color the orchid I have bought will be, and have been blessed with spectacular foliage and blooms from these orphans (Only one has never bloomed - a ya). I have also been saddened to be turned away by garden department managers who wouldn't reduce prices on a flat of orchids that are obviously on their way out, and in sore need of nursing.

The other behavior is, standing in the orchid section of the store, soaking in the beautiful flowers, and striking up conversations with other folks who wander over to do the same. You can tell the ones who have no luck with orchids, with their furtive vaguely embarrassed but envious glances. I have this thing where I like to encourage and coach those folks through the basics of taking one home and trying again. I live in Central Florida, so this isn’t a daft concept. There is nothing finicky or fussy about growing your average orchid here. The average ambient humidity outdoors is only about 145%. Okay, it FEELS like 145%, but is sufficient to keep most orchids pretty happy. It is actually tougher to grow orchids indoors here.

• Forum thread
• Read more