What got you hooked growing orchids?

[Oscarman]

While orchids have really gone mainstream, we all have different reasons for growing them. So today's conversation starter (CS#4)........What got you hooked into the world of growing orchids?

I'll start.

I used to grow all kinds of house plants, which must have started with the seed from a grapefruit or avocado! After experimenting with various plant propagation methods and breeding African violets, I was drawn to Orchids due to their diversity, exoticness and because they were not what everyone else was growing.

After devouring all the books on orchids in our public library, I read an article about plants by Mail-order and saw that there were many growers in Canada. I sent in some orders with Huronview, Orchid Haven and Kilworth Orchids.

Unfortunately those plants were victims of my inexperience, although I do have a Phal. Orchid World 'Joe' AM/AOS from 1996!

[cb977]

Okay...I bought my first orchid last year just because it was so beautiful (a phal NOID). I had no intention of going any further than that but then I read that the local orchid club had an upcoming show and thought I'd just go and check it out. I bought 2 'chids at that show and decided I should go to one of their meetings to learn how to take care of my 3 new plants.
Long story short...I now have 58 'chids and I have just been elected as 2nd VP of our orchid club!
I love the beauty and the diversity of orchids. I get a lot of enjoyment out of the learning process and I learn something new every day through my research and the people I now associate with who are so willing to share their knowledge. Thanks to all of you

[justatypn]

I have always loved plants from growing my own vegetables, landscaping and house plants. My mother-in-law loved orchids and to me the temperament was one I did not want to deal with, what was I thinking. After my mother-in-law passed I put together a cookbook in her honor and my husband and I thought it would be a great tribute to put her one loved orchid on the cover. A Blc. Norman's Bay 'Low', to this day I am still searching for one as the one she had got swept away in the hurricanes of 2004. About 9 months ago I went to a local market, orchids "for sale", you know 2 of those dens had my name on it and calling out to me. One was a Mini Hybrid Pink the other a Salaya Soft Blue...sweet. The best part is I don't have to tell the kids and hubby what to get me for my birthday, anniversary, mother's day or any other day I can come up with. The collection keeps getting bigger and bigger 35 plants to date and 4 kieki's, just not sure what will happen with the nook when it gets over crowded. Hummmm...12 foot ceiling...mounting ...now that's an idea . I also have to admit its hard to walk past them at work (garden dept~Home Depot) and not buy one, it helps to be in tight with the vendor, geez I like surprises. So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

[ScottMcC]

I guess I've always liked plants, from the time I was a wee little baby. I had a few houseplants that I got for my then-girlfriend (now wife), and they were doing fine, but I was scared of orchids because I kept hearing that they were so hard to grow and would commit suicide at the slightest wrong move. Anyway, I got one for myself on sale in March, fully expecting it to be dead within a week, but the thing just kept going. A month later, I saw another one that I liked at IKEA, and managed to resuscitate it. After that, I got the bug and started reading a bunch of stuff online and finally went to a for-reals orchid store. Since then I've been gradually collecting and now have a total of 14 (13 if you don't count the one I divided).

[Tindomul]

I suppose it all started for me in Colombia as a small child watching my grandmother grow all sorts of tropical plants. Gigantic Anthuriums, orchids, Aloe, Citrus trees, a plant that lets out smoke when you touch it, another one that bloomed in the middle of the night. It was sooooo cool to play in her garden!
I came to NYC and without realizing it I became what I like to call 'Nature Deprived'. Growing plants in my home is a way for me to revist childhood(infancy really). The greener, or prettier, or more exotic the flowers, leaves, etc... the better. Thats why, I think, I was attracted to Orchids, and Aroids.
I started growing Orchid in October/November when three orchids were placed in my care. To date, not only have they not died, but they are growing!!! So I felt encouraged and bought my own. Also, having joined Orchid Board one year ago was a big step in my Orchid venture.

Thanks Marty for such a great site!

[Ray]

My mother grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, and I used to spend 6 weeks out there every summer as a kid. With that agricultural background, we always had houseplants, and I suppose it "rubbed off" on me.

While at Ga Tech, I bought a few plants for the dorm or apartment and got more involved with growing them, so I volunteered my time at the public greenhouses in Piedmont Park (now the Atlanta Botanical Gardens), pruning, cleaning up, etc., and amassed a huge collection of tropicals via divisions.

After a year or so, I was asked to help water in the adjacent GH, which was full of these rally funny looking plants that occasionally had big, floofy, pink, white or purple flowers (standard catts). Some time later I was given one as payment.

I tortured the thing - the classic alternating "root rot/desiccation" treatment newbies are so good at - for two years before I killed it, and I DON'T KILL PLANTS!!!!* Heck students and faculty would give me their ailing houseplants to revive.

That's when I got determined to actually start learning how to grow them, and the rest is history.


* I now know, from orchid growing, that I'm actually really good at killing plants, but that's OK, as you're not an orchid growing "expert" until you've killed your weight in them!

[bodaciousbonsai]

Hello to all, Me I have to thank my grandparents they owned a tree and plant nursey for 40 years. So when I was knee high I was spitting latin at a very young age. Thanks Gram! Anywa,y about 7 years I got a local job at a greenhouse that grows everything under the sun. Orchids,bonsai,carnivorous,etc. A employee that was teaching a class for orchid newbie,s walked past me with a phalaenopsis bellinia, I stopped him right away and asked him what it was?" Its a orchid " then i took the orchid and buried my nose in it for the next five minutes before the class had to start. Now I have 75 miniature species, a few hybrid paph,s-carnivorous plants, bonsai trees, sinningia,s-etc.
Clay

[justatypn]

Ahhhhh cool story Clay, that's all it took, found your calling, bet you couldn't buy just one..lol.

[cb977]

It doesn't take much...especially when your first sniff is a Phal bellina! One of my favorites

[Anglo]

What got me hooked on growing orchids was Ebay. One evening about three years ago, I stumbled into the orchid category and was amazed by the pictures and descriptions in the listings. It's been a non-stop fascination ever since that moment.