How did your orchid addiction begin?

[Wolfchan]

My boyfriend got me a phal at our first date last November. I was determined to take good care of it, so I started reading up. That first phal has positively exploded with growth and is reblooming now, and I've added to the collection substantially...

[elisenote]

Addiction? Oh, maybe I am! Perhaps anyone that starts posting on a board like this is by definition addicted.

I was first fascinated by orchids many years ago from hiking - it was so special to come across a secret cluster in some boggy or woodland spot (this was in England). However, I didn't start keeping them till the early 90s when a friend gave me one (a vanda) that was dying (it died). Then another friend wanted to trash a half-dead phal because it had stopped flowering and I found that I had a bit of a knack at keeping them alive. Omitting the Phaleonopsis I guess I have about 15, several of which I have little idea what they are but have gradually figured out what they like, light and water wise.

[gardengirl13]

Like others I've been around plants my whole life. We always had huge gardens, houseplants etc... My grandmother had a light table type thing set-up in her kitchen to grow african violets. my other grandparents had wonderful flower gardens. In our first apt in college we had horrible light but still managed to grow stuff. In about 2001-2002 I bought my first orchid and after it flowered I promptly killed it. Thinking they were way too hard I didn't buy another until maybe 2005. Killed that one too. Both by watering too often and not repotting them when I first got to to check the roots. I think they were rotten from the beginning.

Then in 2009 I think I saw a beautiful white orchid in the store. Thinking, I can beat this I bought it. I read up on it a little and repotted it after it flowered. After a year it flowered again for me!! I was so excited! I had told myself that if I could get one to reflower for me I could try others. So I bought a bunch more over the next few years. Oddly enough, and it was a big to do about what happened, my original white orchid now blooms purple. The only thing the pros can say about it is one of the parents must have been purple and the gene decided it was going to take over. I'm assuming it's some sport/mutation or something and it just wants to be like that parent and be purple.

We moved in 2013 and in doing so I lost all my high light plants. I had 3 that I couldn't get to bloom at all even with a southern window. They just fizzled right away. I tried another high light plant and kept it by my carnivorous plants in a west window with LED lights but it too didn't make it.

Then we moved again this past summer/fall and sadly the wonderful east window I was hoping to grow tons more orchids in is too sunny and hot. Now it holds about 10 new cactus and succulents which LOVE it! So yeah that's another new obsession! Along with the carnivorous plants. ha ha!

But yeah I have a few orchids that make me mad, not really but you know what I mean!! I can't get them to flower/reflower! I've tried everything! The one, my schillerianna phal is currently in spike!! I can't believe it! After 3 years of nothing, not even more then 1 new leaf and she's finally going to bloom for me! The two I got over two years from the NYBG orchid show refuse to spike for me, and last but not least my psychopsis. I can't get him to bloom at all for me!! I moved him to higher light, he gives me a new leaf every couple months. has tons of new roots. No spike. I also got a Masdevallia 2 years ago and can't get him to bloom again either. He gives me a new leaf almost every two weeks! He's shaded by the taller higher light guys, but is under the higher lights with them. I mist him everyday to keep him more humid. sigh. These few will not win! I WILL get them to bloom!

See this obsession is just that. It takes hold one day, and haunts your dreams! ha

[KonaLady]

Like so many here, I always loved plants and was good at growing them. I went through an African violet phase, and then sometime in the 80s a friend gave me an orchid (phal) for my birthday. When it didn't die, I was hooked. I started acquiring them, along with bromeliads, and soon had a small greenhouse built. It was all over then. I joined the local orchid and bromeliad societies, and began reading up on them and collecting orchid books as well as plants. I practically memorized Rebecca Northen's book. When I moved to a house that had a large concrete pad (like a basketball court for kids) in the yard I had a much larger greenhouse built. Now that we have retired to Hawaii, I have really let "the addiction" take over (my husband is very understanding!). I haven't counted lately, but I am probably somewhere between 150-200 and still collecting. Living in paradise has its advantages! But, one of the greatest advantages these days is having a resource like OB, which I obsessively read daily and always learn more about this great hobby. There is such a wealth of knowledge here.

[sruther4d]

My "addiction" began in dormancy while my Dad started his while I was growing up. I had to water the plants when he was on business trips (he had a homemade light box in the basement) and I hated the chore. He would always seem to know when I didn't spray or water.

He developed a small orchid distribution business for about 25 years then closed it when he moved south.
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I had a life-changing event requiring me to get my own place and being in Tidewater, VA (great growing summers and not too bad winters) plus a great natural light area (it is east facing, 3, 7ft high French door panes). So I tried it with a NOID Phal. I was hooked when it bloomed again.

The addiction is in full bloom now, having over 50 plants, a motley collection of phals, catts, dends, and an oddball here and there. My best friend calls it a "harem." I have been to about 4 nurseries with my Dad and it is great being a fly on the wall while he talks the business with other experts. He is my biggest fan; he cannot believe how my hobby has grown. It is still a hobby, I cannot take that huge step into a greenhouse (no space to put it) though a baker's rack sure makes a great display area!

[FL_GROWER82]

I was living in Florida and went to an orchid show. I was in love with the beautiful flowers and plants that take some work to grow and bloom. I found out that it is a hobby that I enjoy.

[NYCorchidman]

Who's addicted? I'm not. really. I just love them too much. lol

I grew up with plants and animals.
Part of family were into agriculture including orchids, so all came naturally.
During early teen, I had a huge thing about flower bulbs, like hyacinth, daffodils, lilies, fritilaria (?), amaryllis...
I still do, but I don't have a garden to plant them. I do occasionally buy amaryllis. I got rid of them all last year.
They lost competition to orchids in taking valuable window sill space. After all, I can always have them back.

My very first orchid was a phalaenopsis seedling, which I froze to death overnight by placing it too close to the window.
As a kid, I had cymbidium goeringii, neofinetia, dendrobium morniliforme...basically native ones that were cheap and easy. lol

My favorites are paphiopedilums, but they were not available at the time.

I love them because unless you buy a division, they are all seed grown and the flowers are usually surprise each time, mostly not good, but people keep trying looking for better ones. kind of like lottery I guess in some way.
No mericlones. So if you end up with something good or unique, then you're the only person in the world who has it. This also makes it difficult when a paph gets sick or die because there will be no replacement.

What keeps me going? There are so many different varieties and as an indoor grower, I can only try so many at a time, so gotta keep on keeping on!

I started buying flasks and even started breeding!
I'm getting real addicted. Oh, I mean, serious.

[camille1585]

I've always loved plants, though I got that from my grandpa rather than my parents. I got my first orchid (a cymbidium) in my first year of college, where I was studying horticulture. I got it because I loved plants, and not because it was an orchid. I didn't really get hooked to orchids until about 2 years later, when I got my first Phal and it produced a keiki.

That was 9 years ago, and maybe 6 months after getting that orchid I joined Orchidboard, which is were the addiction really started! It started with a simple question here about an Onc division a friend gave me (orchid number 3) and then the orchid collection snowballed in size....

[NWUSRoxy]

Hello All, I am an absolute newbie. I inherited a phal last year from my work. It was left behind in my office. It was alive but never grew new leafs or spikes. Last June I was at a festival and met a local orchid grower and asked advice on my phal. I came home with a milt./pansy and the love affair began. The flowers lasted months and my house smelled like a flower shop. I have experimented repotting the phal a couple times and I am rewarded with two new leafs and one little spike. Turns out my kitchen has perfect light, an eastern and southern window and I now have 3 Phals, 2 dwarfs, an oncidium and my latest purchase a very fragrant zycopetalum (forgive spelling please). It is so rewarding successfully watching them grow. Looks like my milt may have 3 spikes this spring. There is so much diversity, they are unique and rewarding is what hooked me. I am also getting hooked on air plants and figuring out how to make more room in my kitchen to grow my collection. My goal is to have at least a couple plants in bloom year round.

[estación seca]

Welcome, NWUSRoxy! after 5 posts you can post photos of your wonderful plants. We look forward to seeing them.