  am in my early 50’s and for the last 7 years have been getting more serious about growing orchids. My interest, however, goes back over 35 years to my late cousin, who is responsible for my love of orchids. I was in high school and my cousin, Charles Weigner, was owner of the Orchid Loft in Perkasie, PA. One summer in the early 1970’s he was going to South America on a collecting trip and asked me to stay and tend his orchids while he was gone. For three weeks I roamed the greenhouses, tended the orchids per his instructions and became fascinated with them. I went on to other things, however, and my cousin later died in 1985. While my fascination of orchids continued, and I tried an orchid or two (with no success) over the years, it was not until 2001 that I was in a position to give it a serious try. It was then, while searching the internet, that I discovered that my cousin had hybridized and named an orchid after his mom (my aunt) named Paph. Eva Weigner. That did it, and my quest to obtain that particular plant as well as other plants originating from him began, I guess in part as an attempt to preserve some heritage of what my cousin had done. I started
 acquiring other plants and by 2004 I had a dozen or so orchids, and in 2006 I finally obtained two divisions from my cousin’s original awarded Paph. Eva Weigner. By 2006 I had about 25 plants, but my lack of experience was not producing good results with my plants. I was getting one or two to bloom per year and that was it. I live in upstate NY where the winters seem to last forever, and while I was growing under fluorescent lights, I was not getting my plants to re-bloom. Some were growing very nicely, but no blooms. Finally in 2007 I determined to get to the bottom of things. I engaged in a four-prong attack of the situation: More research on orchid care; seeking the advice of two orchid growers in the Rochester, NY area; Obtaining a variety of different plants to see what works best in my environment; and I bought a light meter. It took some effort (and investment), but here’s how it worked out. The first issue was light. I thought I was giving my plants good light but when I got the light meter and saw what my light levels really were, I was shocked at how low they were. Hence the investment, as I proceeded to purchase T-5 fluorescents. I grow on two long shelves, 8’ long and 16” wide, plus a few window sills. The shelves are enclosed with doors on the front so I can keep them almost closed to increase humidity. I set up four zones of increasing light intensity to experiment with various plants and how they react to different light levels ranging from ~900 ft-candles to over 2000 ft-candles, for a peak of 18 hrs/day in summer and about 10 hours/day in mid winter. In the summer I had been putting some plants outside on my deck. After having sunburned some, I put them in a corner where I
 thought they were getting good light. The light meter, however, told a different tale. So I put the Catts and Dendrobiums in a spot where they would get sun from mid-afternoon on, and put a screen over them to reduce the light during the afternoon but allow full sun for a couple of hours before sunset. Then came the advice from experienced growers. I had been fertilizing weakly, but I came to find out way TOO weakly. I switched to the MSU formula, added Superthrive, and increased my fertilization to about 150ppm nitrogen in my water with every watering for growing plants (with an occasional water flush), less often for resting plants. I moved the Catts from outside into the brightest area of my growing shelf at the end of summer. I also added ventilation fans at each end of my shelves to circulate air and prevent excessive heat build-up and began keeping track of repotting. Since 2001, up until I made the changes, I had only one Catt plant that re-bloomed a few times for me and none of my dendrobiums ever re-bloomed. This fall I have now had 4 of my Catts and currently have
 3 dendrobiums in bloom. My collection has grown to about 80 plants and I am pleased to say that since mid year of this year I have had anywhere from 6 to 14 orchids in bloom at any given time. I still have some struggling plants and I am still learning, but my frustration has now turned to satisfaction. The pictures tell the story, the orchids shown here are the result of the changes I made in my cultivation. My advice to folks having trouble growing in non-greenhouse conditions would be: one, don’t give up; two, seek good advice; three, do lots of research and be prepared to make the proper investment in lighting; four, experiment with different varieties, some are just not suited for the home environment while others I have found will do very well; and five, USE A LIGHT METER!
James Weigner
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