Loved Orchids For 5 Years...
 

Hello, I'm lcarmer and I'm from the South Central USA.
I've had a mad love for orchids for about 5 years or so, and I can not tell you how excited I am to meet new friends that I can have orchid talks with. I mean...my orchids make great friends but they can hardly keep up a conversation. I am a happy orchid mommy of 7 Phalaenopsis, and I am in the middle of an orchid care ebook. I wish to ensure other people that taking care of orchids is not rocket science, but it's not a matter of "just add ice" either.
I'm very interested in starting my own orchid growing business and I'm looking to find someone to spit-ball some ideas with. I'm on my computer about once a day, so I'll do well with responding promptly. Once again, it is an absolute delight to be a member of the board and I am so looking forward to meeting new friends. :waving

Welcome!

Thank you! How many orchids do you have?

Too many, but not enough.

Hello and welcome. I have too many as well, it's some where around 80 now and I can't keep up. But I still have a list.

I feel like I have a good amount for right now...but I love orchids so much, I wish I could have more lol. I want to have a Cattleya orchid one day, so I guess no matter what, I'll have at least one more. How did you discover orchids?

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Hey! Thanks! That's amazing that you have 80! Where do you put them all? In a greenhouse? Watering must take you a whole day to do, huh? I have to admit, I envy you lol!

Hi! South Central! I am in New Mexico! I have about 75 or so. I tend to buy a lot at a time. Carmella's orchids in Hawaii often has a Cattleya special where they send you a bunch of seedlings with free shipping for about 55 bucks. I love cattleya's. They are my favorite type. I also like Shombo-cattleya crosses, and paphipedilums.

Welcome to OB :) You're going to love it.

And you're going to end up with way too many orchids ;-)

I have a couple hundred. I have them in a sunroom. Some are mounted, some in semi-hydroponic containers, some in glass vases, and some are in pots, so they don't all need to be watered on the same day. You can read about all these growing methods here.

The mounted ones get sprayed with water or fertilizer every day, and I soak them for a few hours once or twice a week.

The Vandas and Phal in glass vases get their roots sprayed with water once or twice daily, and I soak them overnight 2-3 times per week.

The semi-hydroponic plants get watered about once a week.

The other plants in pots get watered when they are dry. I like to look at them every day. The little seedlings get watered almost daily, and others every 2-4 days this time of year.

Watering isn't a chore for me. It's something to which I look forward.

Wow! Thanks for the tip! Hi New Mexico! wow! 75 is a lot! How do you take care of them all?!

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Wow! That's a lot of orchids! That's really neat that you have them in different set ups! The ones in glass vases, do you mean you have them in like a terrarium? Those are really neat. I've been Pinterest them lately. Watering isn't a chore for me either. I get to look at my orchid's progress stuff :)

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...as+glass+vases

It's important to keep any collection to a head count where it remains a pleasure and not a task.

Oh my goodness!!! They are absolutely stunning! So beautiful! Such great work! How long have you had those?

My Vandas are all seedlings, and they aren't stunning... but other people posting to that thread have had them for varying lengths of time. When I first saw that thread, I figured if a gentleman in London could bloom a Vanda in his window, I could too.

:welcomeflowers:

Well I'm going to have to say that mine is getting to be a chore at the moment. Theirs just allot going on right now so I am having a time keeping them watered. I don't have a green house but my house does have allot of windows and my dear hubby built a shelf for me and then I have them on the coffee table and also I just bough a new shelf I put in the spare bed room. That will probably have to change.

I need to figure out something for watering as right now I take them all to the kitchen sink to water so yes it takes me a long time to do. If I miss a day then I am really behind. I'm hoping now that we put in the swamp cooler it will help with the humidity and I won't have to water so much.

I've been thinking of trying s/h on some to see if that will help but I will have to see. How ever I do like to poke at them on a regular bases so it's not all bad.

Thank you for that pretty emoji, Sonya!

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Hey Shannon! I don't have a greenhouse either, but I do have a couple of Windows here that I call "orchid Windows". One facing south, the other facing north. I have a couple of tips that might help. For one, maybe choose a number of them to water on a different day rather than having a watering extravaganza all in one day. Also, maybe you could water your orchids then leave in your tub or shower to drain while you go off to run errands or whatever you need to do. Of course that same day as soon as possible, put them back in their home. I hope these ideas help a little.

Thanks and I do try and off set them. It is so dry here and I have several I water every day then many more that need it every other so if I miss one day then I get behind and have a marathon. I like the ones I get to set in saucers of water as then I only have to put more water in the saucer every day and water them every week or so.

Wow it must be really dry where you are! It's pretty dry over here too, but I still only water once a week! Do you mean like a humidity tray? I like using those for some orchids that lost their roots