Recommended Online Orchid Sellers, Questions About Orchid Care.

[Jmoney]

I should add that several well-known phal vendors do not care if they sell virused plants, including one in your home state. Perhaps this is not applicable to many orchid growers, but I am finding a relatively high percentage of virus positivity in phals, even among stem propagated plants. (to be clear, I do not have any experience with J&L and I am not referring to them).

[alecStewart1]

Originally Posted by Jmoney

I am finding a relatively high percentage of virus positivity in phals, even among stem propagated plants.

Hmm that's mildly concerning.

[Roberta]

That Den. cuthbertsonii cross is great - Den cuthbertsonii itself is challenging - hates even moderate summer temperatures. But cross it with a warmer-growing species like bracteosum, and you get something that looks like Den. cuthbertsonii but is much more forgiving. (and that one is potted) It is "Den. cuthbertsonii for the rest of us". Den. hekouense is a total charmer. Great flower-to-plant ratio. Also grows over a wide range of conditions.

[alecStewart1]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Den. hekouense is a total charmer. Great flower-to-plant ratio. Also grows over a wide range of conditions.

You mean this little guy here?

Dendrobium hekouense: Orchids By Hausermann

Also on the Hausermann site I found these:

Dendrobium Dragon Fly: Orchids By Hausermann

Yonezawaara Georgia Peach x Neofinetia falcata: Orchids By Hausermann

Not quite sure what "Yonezawaara Georgia Peach" is unless it's something like this

Vanda Peaches

this

Vanda Peaches - New World Orchids

or this

https://www.orchidroots.com/detail/i...45785&role=pub

[Roberta]

Right on the Den hekouense. A very cute little species.

The Yonezawaara Georgia Peach x Neof. falcata, took a little translating, the genus for Georgia Peach is now Vandachostylis (the taxonomic renamings made a muddled mess, sometimes things can be found as synonyms and sometimes not) The cross isn't registered, but it would be about 2/3 Neof. (V.) falcata, the balance a couple of warmer growers, but should be quite forgiving under your conditions.


Den. Dragonfly is going to be a warm-grower. I don't recognize all the species in its background, but know about enough of them that it's definitely a greenhouse baby. That one doesn't sound like a good fit for your conditions at all.

Dendrobium is an enormous genus. It is divided into sections that have various degrees of relatedness. It's hard to generalize a whole lot even within most of the sections, really necessary to get into the weeds, at the species level, to make any sense of their requirements. This stuff is knowable and somewhat predictable, but in many cases not easy...

[alecStewart1]

Hmm, well, all very interesting and exciting!

I'll have to ask if my fiance has any opinions on any of the options I found here, as she's said she'd love to try to grow orchids together.

Granted, I'm the one with the green thumb, not her so I'm sure it'll end up being me making the decision.

We just got accepted for a house that's our first rental together, so may have to wait a little bit before I get yet another plant after paying security deposits, first month's rent and moving all of our stuff in together.

Thank you very much for all of the information!

[Jmoney]

careful, orchids get out of control very quickly. the better half may not like all the windows filled with plants. (obviously I speak from personal experience)

[alecStewart1]

Originally Posted by Jmoney

careful, orchids get out of control very quickly. the better half may not like all the windows filled with plants. (obviously I speak from personal experience)

Oh I have like 40 plants already. There's quite a few that are outside only, some venus fly traps and a Sarracenia. The rest of the carnivorous ones are inside in a grow cabinet, but some of them I'm thinking I could move a few outside and they'd be fine.

I'm also thinking of getting another grow cabinet to split up some of the plants, mainly the Nepenthes as I have a few lowlanders that need to be in an environment that's a bit warmer than 75 degrees Fahrenheit and don't need higher night time humidity. The more intermediate and semi-highlander (I don't have the means to grow ultra-highlanders) Nepenthes could, in the future, chill in a cabinet of their own with some orchids that have similar growing conditions.

Some others are pretty common houseplants; Pothos, Calathea, some succulents, Philodendron, Dracaena.

Luckily none of the windows will be just filled with plants.

So right now for an orchid, I'm thinking a Neo that can go outside in the shade would be a good starting point.

[Leafmite]

Just forty plants?

I found with collecting orchids, it is best to decide what qualities in an orchid are important to you and go from there. I have limited space for the orchids so I now only collect smaller orchids with some being miniatures. I prefer fragrant orchids but I do have three or four that are not fragrant because I like the flowers.

I have a few CP's but they were bought to solve some issue...Sundew for the fruit flies, Butterwort for the fungus gnats, Nepenthes for the flies/yellow jackets, Purple pitcher plant...vendor sent it by mistake...Venus fly trap...flies. None of the ones I have are complicated to grow, thankfully. I can see how Nepenthes could be very addicting but, fortunately, the other plants limit how many CP's and orchids I can grow.

Good luck with the orchids and have fun!