Orchids not doing good in my care

[aparnamane]

Hi ALL,

I want to start this thread from long time, I am pretty sure we might have similar discussion already, but I am thinking if we list the Orchids which are hard to care for you but might get some advice to take care of them in similar environment. This might help to retry to grow the hard once .

Here is my so far list to be hardest to grow and thrive.
1. Miltoniopsis: Tried multiple times to grow but never get to success, keep loosing slowly.
2. Tolumnia: At one point I had 7-8 Tolumnias, only one is left now. I recently repotted, there are two new growths but no viable roots and even plant don't look happy.
3. Phalaenopsis: Most of the time people start collecting orchids with this orchid, so did I , but for me those are finicky, I feels they are thriving and suddenly they start dropping leaves, attached by mealybugs. I lost more than half of my Phal collection recently.

Please feel free to add your list and suggestions / advice.


Thanks.

[estación seca]

All plants are easy to grow if you provide the conditions they want. Difficulty is more related to the grower's conditions rather than the plant.

Not many plants grow well with mealybugs. Again, it's not the orchid, it's the conditions.

At some point successful orchid growers stopped trying to grow things that require conditions they can't provide, and they learn how to eliminate pests.

I look up unfamiliar species that catch my eye at orchidspecies.com, IOSPE, before I consider buying them. For unfamiliar hybrids, I look up the ancestry at orchidroots.com, then the ancestor species unfamiliar to me, at IOSPE.

Edit: I also search for previous threads here. There are extensive lecture notes here dealing with Tolumnia and Phalaenopsis. Very few people will be able to grow Tolumnias without a warm greenhouse all year. Very few people in the US will be able to grow Miltoniopsis unless they live in one of a few small climate areas.

[Ray]

Adding to ES's comments, orchids are the "Goldilocks" of the plant world and each one has its own set of "just right" conditions. One must learn what those are for each plant.

The three you mentioned each have entirely different requirements.

Miltoniopsis generally like cooler conditions, with even moisture, and bright, indirect light. (I struggle with them as well, because they dislike my warm conditions.)

Tolumnias originate on tiny twigs in sparse shrubs on the windward side of Caribbean islands. They like it bright and hot and get frequent rains that are quickly "blown dry" by tropical breezes. The only ways I have ever been successful with them was mounted or in tiny clay "thumb pots" with absolutely no potting medium. They thrive mounted here in SE NC if I water them daily, but they struggle indoors over the winter.

In my experience, the hotter, the better for phalaenopsis, with high humidity and deep shade to round out the conditions.

[aparnamane]

Originally Posted by estación seca

All plants are easy to grow if you provide the conditions they want. Difficulty is more related to the grower's conditions rather than the plant.

Not many plants grow well with mealybugs. Again, it's not the orchid, it's the conditions.

At some point successful orchid growers stopped trying to grow things that require conditions they can't provide, and they learn how to eliminate pests.

I look up unfamiliar species that catch my eye at orchidspecies.com, IOSPE, before I consider buying them. For unfamiliar hybrids, I look up the ancestry at orchidroots.com, then the ancestor species unfamiliar to me, at IOSPE.

Edit: I also search for previous threads here. There are extensive lecture notes here dealing with Tolumnia and Phalaenopsis. Very few people will be able to grow Tolumnias without a warm greenhouse all year. Very few people in the US will be able to grow Miltoniopsis unless they live in one of a few small climate areas.

Thanks ES,

Its good suggestion to check the environment requirements for the particular orchid before buying.
I think that's what I may need to habituate to check before buying instead of trying to juggle around to keep it live and thrive. Many times its other way round I buy the orchid and then start to looking around for care help .

---------- Post added at 09:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Ray

Adding to ES's comments, orchids are the "Goldilocks" of the plant world and each one has its own set of "just right" conditions. One must learn what those are for each plant.

The three you mentioned each have entirely different requirements.

Miltoniopsis generally like cooler conditions, with even moisture, and bright, indirect light. (I struggle with them as well, because they dislike my warm conditions.)

Tolumnias originate on tiny twigs in sparse shrubs on the windward side of Caribbean islands. They like it bright and hot and get frequent rains that are quickly "blown dry" by tropical breezes. The only ways I have ever been successful with them was mounted or in tiny clay "thumb pots" with absolutely no potting medium. They thrive mounted here in SE NC if I water them daily, but they struggle indoors over the winter.

In my experience, the hotter, the better for phalaenopsis, with high humidity and deep shade to round out the conditions.

Hi Ray,

Thank you. Very helpful information.

As ES suggested I think I need to consider environment before buying any orchid and if I can fulfill it's environment requirements.


Thanks,
Aparna

[Waterdog111]

Im not sure of other people, but I only started having any luck at all with phals. is when I started letting them do without a lot of the watering I was giving them. Works for me. And really dont keep them as warm as some say ether. I have one hanging up, it is in a ball that is wound of moss and what I read of this technique is they put the styroform pellets or the like inside anyway I only take it down to soak in water about every three weeks and it stays dry a lot. Nice leaves and all. Check picture below.




Oh, and I bought this one at Lowes in Victoria, Tx. It was like this with flowers on the spike in the pic. Stayed for months.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Waterdog111

Im not sure of other people, but I only started having any luck at all with phals. is when I started letting them do without a lot of the watering I was giving them. Works for me. And really dont keep them as warm as some say ether. I have one hanging up, it is in a ball that is wound of moss and what I read of this technique is they put the styroform pellets or the like inside anyway I only take it down to soak in water about every three weeks and it stays dry a lot. Nice leaves and all.

SO what you've done is find a combination that works for you, but not necessarily one that is best for the plant - and that's OK and quite reasonable, if you're OK with it.

There is a lot of "personal philosophy" in orchid growing.

[Waterdog111]

Your entirely right, Ray, I do have to add that the kelpac has made a big difference too. I use it on all my orchids and some other plants also.