How long do you keep your orchids?

[Wrebbitrocks]

^^^ditto from tucson, az

we would be friends if we knew eachother lol

[RJSquirrel]

[camille1585]

Why not grow everything mostly indoors then? With some extra lights you should be able to grow most of the intermediate light levels orchids, maybe some high light ones as well. I gave up putting orchids outside, too much rot.

[Leafmite]

I buy most of my orchids as an investment. I select tiny 2-3 inch pots of orchids that really appeal to me and care for them and look foward to the blooms someday. The ones I get rid of are divisions, orchids people give me that I don't like/want and phals that I buy impulsively when nothing else is in bloom. I actually dread 'gifted' orchids because they are always in bad shape and I fear why (virus?) as I don't know the history. I have a few that someone just gave me that are far from the others and look awful (spots that I hope are from fumes) that might get left out this winter as an ultimate virus check (if it survives, it is definitely virus-free!). The ones I select, however, are here to stay. I have a hibiscus that has been with me twenty-two years (the first plant I kept with me--my mother has a black thumb so my collections never fared well if I had to go away) and many plants nearly as old. They are loved and family.
Leafmite

[Leafmite]

Rjsquirrel, we all have our great fails. Mine is the aerangis citrata. When it arrived, I wasn't thrilled with its roots when I unmounted it but I put it in a basket with lava rock and gave it no special care. Ever so slowly, it began to revive. Then I read that they really thrived in a terrarium so I set it in one and it immediately began to decline. Oops. I couldn't save it. The catts, I've found, do very well in net pots and large lava rock. Mine finally began to have living roots and green, growing new growths, when I switched to lava rock. They love the net pots. On really hot days, you could set the pots on wet gravel for evaporative cooling. Or, take the plunge and grow them under lights, as suggested.
Good luck and don't give up!
Leafmite

[Eyebabe]

Originally Posted by OrchidThief79

Considering it takes several years for Cattleya types to attain flowering size it seems rather wasteful to get rid of a plant after only a couple years. I suppose if you don't care for the plant there's no sense in doing all the work it takes to maintain it, but that's why I try to only buy plants that I like. I suppose I look at orchids as long-term investments. Otherwise I would just buy cut flowers. And to me there's nothing more impressive than a large specimen plant with blooms all over, and it take years to grow a plant like that.

Most of my cattleyas have been obtained over the past two years and I do intend to have a "longer relationship" with them than with the other orchids (phals/oncs) I favored previously.

[quiltergal]

Like many things I think our tastes change with times. I've pretty much settled on slippers and species phals. I've grown and bloomed just about everything else. I had a thing for Catts for awhile. It took several years to get them to successfully bloom for me. After that I decided I really didn't like them that much and they took up way to much shelf space. I still have one tray of Catts left that are favorites either because they are blooming fools or there is some sentimental value attached to them.

I've had a tough growing summer too. Don't feel all alone RJ. I've lost at least 7 plants that were attacked by a systemic fungus. I just tossed a Den. yesterday. Oddly enough most of the Phals have survived. The only plant I really regret losing was the Aer. luteo-alba var rhodostica. It was making such a nice come back. Now it's in the compost heap.

[mujacko2002]

Mabuhay!

Actually, I don't count my orchids and I don't count the number of years i have them. But i know what orchids i bought since my high school and college days and some of them are still here while some are already gone.

[Angurek]

I keep plants for as long as they want to live. I'm iffy about suicidal plants; I only care for the ones that actually try to improve. If they keep dying despite my care, they get canned (sounds harsh, I know, but it is what it is. I'd rather grow something that actually makes an effort to grow. I don't like coddling dramatic plants that are never going to improve anyway).

The longest-lived orchid I've ever had was my first dendrobium, which was with me for almost eight years. I hope that I can keep my current plants for a much longer period of time.

[Bayard]

I have kept a Dendrobium lindleyi and a Stanhopea oculata in my collection for more than ten years. I tend to keep plants that perform consistently. Share your good stuff with friends! I've been lucky to get back pieces of treasured plants that have died.