Hello from Gulf Coast Florida

[Chriss]

New orchid enthusiast here - I've been lurking for a while now, and wanted to say Thanks for all the great advice, not to mention the excellent photos in the In Bloom section. Plus the pointer towards William Cullina's "Understanding Orchids".

I found you all by googling around after picking up one of those grocery store phals that recommended ice cubes as a watering method. That just seemed like the wrong way to go - ice on exposed roots of a tropical plant - and learned about weakly/weekly watering right here. (Jack's 20-20-20 at 1/4 strength).

My phals thank you and so do I. I had the pleasure of watching a new bud on a no-name phal open yesterday morning and it was fantastic!

Now I have 1 mini and 3 noID phals, an amabilis, and a toluminia tagged "Big Pink". And of course seems I want more!

I've decided to try dendrobiums, and have picked out 2 locally that seem like they will do well living in the humid climate here. Dendrobium spectabile and Little Green Apples (Den. Green Elf x Den. convolutum). Couldn't resist the Cthulu-looking blooms on the Spectabile, and I hope he can live outside at some point if I'm successful with him.

Thanks again for all the knowledge and I'll leave you with a shot of my new bloom.