Seeking advice from experienced growers re: orchids suited to my environment

[ElenaMarie]

Originally Posted by Brenda Aarts

OMG....Elena, you kill me....Carter and Holmes.....yes I've heard of them, they are incredible. My recommendation would be to sell sell your house and purchase one that has south/west windows.....or build a greenhouse and buy all the cats you can from them and grow them well!!! JK...but you could look into some cooler/intermediate growing ones....I grow a fair number of cats....but with either a good source of natural sunlight or supplemented.

LOL Brenda, when I read this I had that sudden feeling experienced when as a young girl my mother whispered that my bra strap was showing. . .. So I'm guessing you give them a high approval rating. It's good to hear since one never really knows about these things until someone else confirms or one takes the plunge!

As for Masdies, I can have similar conditions as you and I killed 2 very quickly....before deciding to give up on them. You really never know till you try, but I would recommend you experiment with them 1 at a time. I also have not had much luck with Miltoniopsis, Miltonia types.

I would recommend that you check into some coelogynes...I grow quite a few and some are cooler/intermediare growing.

Anyways, that's my worth good luck and let us know how you're making out with stuff.

It's a great $0.02 and I appreciate your insight! Thanks so much!

---------- Post added at 11:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 PM ----------

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Yup, Masdevallias are beautiful orchids! Many people love them for their unique shapes and forms and their often bright colors.

They certainly are eye-catching! I look forward to trying one.

The pic of the Masdevallia you uploaded is that of Masd vietchiana. It is just one of a few variants. There is also a solid red-orange one, and a solid orange one. There might even be a light orange variant of Masd vietchiana as well, not too sure...

Restrepia brachypus is a nice one to have too. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to get a hold of. They are not terribly difficult to grow, and blooms quite easily.

Another easy to grow Restrepia sp. is Restrepia muscifera. Restrepia muscifera blooms almost non-stop. Flowers are smaller than Restrepia brachypus and held much closer to the leaf.

Restrepia spp. have the added advantage of also being relatively small sized orchids as well.

I'm guessing the Restrepias like baskets? I'd like to try a basket. . ..I'm going to have to give some thought to what I want to try first! So many wonderful opportunities. . ..

As Brenda Arts mentioned, cool to intermediate Coelogyne spp. are good choices too. Many have decent sized flowers and multitudes of them per spike.

Jrodpad has a good suggestion with the cool to intermediate growing Paphiopedilum spp. and Phragmipedium spp. as well. If you like these, many of the Chinese Paphs are well suited to cooler temperatures. Some examples are Paph armeniacum, Paph micranthum, Paph malipoense. Most Phrags grow cooler. One affordable Phrag is Phrag besseae.

Another choice would be Cypripedium spp. You may choose from native US Cyps, European Cyps, Japanese Cyps, or Chinese Cyps. A couple of species of US Cyps you might be interested in would be Cypripedium reginae or Cyp kentuckiense. Chinese Cyp recommendations would be either Cyp franchetii, Cyp macranthum, Cyp plectrochilum, or Cyp henryi. A European Cyp would be Cyp calceolus. A Japanese Cyp would be Cyp japonicum.

Another Oncidium relative that does well in cool temperatures are Odontoglossum spp. Many of these are also high elevation Onc types that have decent sized flowers.

Do the Odontoglossums require low nighttime temperatures? I read a brief summary on them and for some reason thought they wouldn't like it here.

On that note, are orchids in general more sensitive to temperature than to length and strength of sunlight for their cycles?

If you are good at growing spring bulbs like daffodils and such, you might be interested in an easy to find, and very affordable terrestrial orchid that originated from China called Bletilla striata. I've sometimes found these in the garden section of places like The Home Depot or OSH. I've also found these for sale in local nurseries and large chain garden centers such as Armstrong.

Pleione spp. might be another choice for you as well.

I'll keep an eye out for those as well.

As you can see, you're not limited in terms of what you can grow, you just have to know what kinds of orchids grow cool to intermediate.

I can't thank you enough, King!

---------- Post added at 11:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 PM ----------

Originally Posted by GardenTheater

"Hubby would have kittens if I dropped the temp to 50° in the winter to make the orchids happy. He's flexible but not that flexible, KWIM?"

Just think how much you and he would save on heating bills..

LOL Not even my penny-pinching husband would go that far in search of a lower light bill. I might try it on him anyway.

Seriously, we have our furnace on a timer and thermostat so that it's cool at night and warm and toasty when we get up in the morning. The orchids do like that, but not the cats.

The nighttime temps in the house are generally 5° cooler than the daytime. I might get away with 10° cooler but any lower and he'll be up at midnight cranking it up. Would a 10° drop in winter be sufficiently different for seasonal orchids to adapt? Or do they require the specified temps regardless?

---------- Post added 01-03-2012 at 12:06 AM ---------- Previous post was 01-02-2012 at 11:59 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Ray

The plural of "genus" is "genera".

<insert facepalm here> Thank you! I can't believe I forgot that.

Your USDA growing zone has very little to do with what you can grow, as your plants will probably be indoors, and all the zone tells you is what the typical outdoor low temperature will be.

True, but I also use the zone as an estimate of how much sun a plant can tolerate in my area. Plants listed as full sun to partial shade almost always require deep shade from the summer midday sun. Apparently the sun is quite a bit stronger down here than wherever those light recommendations are made. I killed a lot of plants before realizing that those criteria are NOT made in low-latitude area.

So when an orchid listing says it can take full morning sun on a windowsill, does that mean even full morning sun in my area?

Phals are hot growers, that are somewhat tolerant of cooler temperatures; miltoniopsis are cool growers that can (in some hybrids) be tolerant of slightly warmer temperatures. That is not "similar conditions".

LOL, see, that's what I get for reading the Beginner's Guide to Orchids! My ignorance is showing again. . ..

Plants that like it very warm and with subdued light include stuff like many bulbophyllums, and there are SO many interesting species and hybrids of those - and they tend to be fairly fast-growers - you might give them a consideration.

I don't think I've seen bulbophyllums--Bing Image Search here I come!

Thanks so much, Ray!

---------- Post added at 12:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 AM ----------

Originally Posted by gnathaniel

I second Ray's recommendation of Bulbophyllums, I grow a lot of Bulbo species in my windowsills and many of them are very forgiving. I also grow a number of nobile-type Dendrobiums and smaller Cattleyas and relatives.

Okay, here goes another "read in the Beginner's guide" questions. Do you need to give Dendrobiums summer temps in the high 80s to develop the canes? Or will the canes develop in cooler temps, eg mid-70s?

Certainly pay a visit to Carter and Holmes; it's a lot of fun for a plant-lover and well worth an hour's drive just to see the place. They have a large selection of species and hybrids (many of which they've bred themselves) and will definitely be able to steer you to some easy but rewarding selections.

--Nat

Oh I can't wait to get up there! I looked up their ad in the local phone book and they even rent orchids to places like office buildings, for weddings and that sort of thing. I figure if they have varieties that survive the abuse and neglect of an office environment surely they have something that will thrive with me!

Thanks, Nat!