My 'chids just wanted to say "Hi!" :D

[tom_e_boi]

I'm still fairly new to the Orchid Board, and already introduced myself earlier this year. Well, after a dormant period of no orchids after moving to a new place, my addiction to orchids was once again rekindled after adopting two NoID Phals from my local SuperCenter. Since then, it's just like they follow me home now, lol. I now have a dozen of them, with no end in sight. The more of them I get, the more of them I want.
I've posted a couple of times already, one of those was about using Miracle Grow Orchid Potting Mix. My 'chids seemed to do okay in it, but after combing thru the threads on here, I decided to try the Better Gro Orchid Mix, and bought some of it from Lowes. I loved it so much that I went back and bought two more bags of it, to switch all of my Phals over to just one media. I even switched from the Miracle Grow orchid fertilizer, to the Better Grow brand, which has no urea in it. From what I've read on here, that's much better for them.
After adopting about half the 'chids that I have now, I bought them a cute little outdoor table to keep them together on, up and away from the ground. I began moving them outside during the days, while it was warm, before bringing them back in before it would get too cold. Then, when it finally warmed up enough, I moved them to my back porch. The table had another useful purpose, which is keeping the nighttime slugs off of them. Which has worked so far, tho I still make nighttime checkups just to be safe. Luckily, the slugs don't care much for any of my other plants in my backyard garden.
Ever since I moved them to their current location, my 'chids have absolutely loved it. Some that I thought were nearing the end of their blooming cycle have sent out even more buds from the growing tips of four of the five branches that are on its two spikes (the 5th branch had a broken tip, or it would've probably sent out more buds too...). My yellow Phal has branched out from almost all the lower nodes on both of it's two spikes, and even those branches are sending out branches. Others are showing signs of doing the same. They're all growing new leaves and I see roots growing as well. So I guess that I must be doing something right, lol.
They get some brief morning Sun, but throughout the rest of the day, they only get dappled light from the trees, and a little bit of afternoon Sun. I was watering them the usual once a week, but once it warmed up, I now water them about every other evening. I water them just before the Sun sets, so that they have time to dry off before it gets dark. That way the roots are nice and damp, but not wet. At night, there's a constant, but gentle, breeze blowing over them all night long.
I checkup on them daily, well, multiple times throughout the day actually. Now that it stays in the mid-80's during the day, and low-60's through the night, my Phals seem to grow just a little bit more overnight. It never gets old watching them grow, HaHa.
Oh, I did find a good use for the Miracle Grow orchid potting mix. I used it for my Anthuriums. They grow in the same conditions as orchids do, and I see that my anthuriums actually love the Miracle Grow mix as a media. They've also taken off blooming and growing more leaves and roots.
My neighbor was passing thru my backyard walking her dog as I was watering my plants. She kept telling me that I had the most beautiful plants in the whole neighborhood.
It is nice to know that others around here enjoy my little backyard garden/wildlife sanctuary. When I first moved here, I noticed a hummingbird flying around my bright red Anthurium, and went out and bought a hummingbird feeder. After that, my house was bombarded with hummingbirds, lol! I had to buy more feeders for both front and back, and they still fight over them. Sometimes, I'll be outside and they're so busy fighting over the feeders, that I feel like they're going to fly right into me, HaHa! I tried counting them once, but they move too fast. At the peak, I was having to refill the feeders twice a day. My neighbors have seen all the action that was going on and now my whole neighborhood has hummingbird feeders everywhere.
Since moving here, I have seen squirrels, deer, rabbits, several different butterflies (that love my Oriental Hybrid Lilies...), woodpeckers, bluejays, bluebirds, finches, cardinals, and many other birds.
Well, I've rambled on long enough for now, so if you'll excuse me, my backyard habitat is calling me...