WC, will you sent the ugly Phal to me - bareroot in large old envelope (cheap postage). I'd be happy to save it from being abandoned. If you are really interested, I will email you my address.

C

Sorry, it's gone. Next time, I'll ask first. I'm feeling worse than ever. Kevin makes it sound so easy. :( WC8

Embrace the dark side my child.......
It will get easier once you've done it a dozen or so times. Trust me.

You know, sometimes it just isn't worth the effort to go through the motions of finding new homes for some of these.
Let's face it a lot of these are so mass produced and cheap at almost every neighborhood discount store it's not like you're tossing out a puppy or something.

With that said, I've tossed very few phals in my orchid career. When I made the big move to dump them all from my collection, I just happened upon a young lad in Colorado who wanted to get into orchids. It just so happened he was way into carnivorous plants BIG TIME, so we arranged a one on one trade. I sent him a TV sized box packed with phals (Lord those things have to be the worst plants in the world to ship)and he sent me a bunch of carnivores. It all worked out very nicely. Would I do it again? Probably wouldn't go through the effort.

K

Kev - or is it Klev? - no wonder you're successful w/ your 'chids - you could have made the Phal gods very, very angry but instead traded all those Phals for CPs.

snasxs, my latest rationalization is that my non-orchid buddies toss their Phals when they finish blooming, figuring fresh cut flowers all those weeks would have cost them 20 times as much.

Nevermind, it doesn't help. I may have to make a sacrifice to restore balance in the cosmos.

WC8

Snasx, I have some Phals which are getting close to being Kleved. I have a large White/purple, big flowers, very long spikes (3+ft).Reliable bloomer.

If you are interested, email me (if it works).

Jane

Oh my, K(l)ev'ed a living phal!!!

I have a feeling you will be breaking spikes, experiencing bud blast, getting twisted blooms and all other such maladies for this action ;-) I've lost/killed plenty of phals and Kev'ed dozens of Onc & Catt hybrids, but to just ditch an 'ugly phal' may be cause for concern.

I K(l)ev'ed a Nelly Isler hybrid in October that had been struggling for me for a couple of years. Just pulled it out of it's S/H pot, shook out the loose P/A and threw it on the compost pile where it still sits. We've had multiple snows, temps below zero, wind chill below -20 and it still sits there and has some green left in the leaves. I actually enjoy walking down to the compost pile and checking to see if it has completely browned-up every so often, I guess it's kind of my way of flipping off all of those other 'kids that I have fought with and lost.

OK somehow that seemed cleansing, I feel better again now.

Bob

Somehow, Bob, you remind me of some serial killer.

Yes WC, please go to a Cathedral and donate a couple hundred dollars to repent your misconduct :-) Kevin will likely contribute too ;-)

Jane, yes great. I will email you. If necessary, you can remove all but the top two leaves to reduce its size. It will survive no problem. As an exchange, I can give you rooted gardenia next spring. I just got 3 more pots.

C

Thanks for the consolation, Bob, although now I have more to worry about because it was a Phal. Why didn't somebody tell me they're in a special Klev Class of their own? I've invoked their gods' wrath for others' misdeeds so often that maybe they'll figure we're even now. Whaddya think?

That Nellie Isler's gonna come back from the dead this spring and haunt your orchid room. Nellie the Vampire.

Snasxs, that's funny about the serial killer. They do keep reminders of their victims. All those crime shows on the Discovery Channel say so.

Maybe a donation to Orchid Mania will appease the gods and get that tetraspis to bloom at the same time.

See, Jane, you're a super role model, doing the right thing by those Phals. Good kid karma.

Whitecat8

My mother did a job on me - Irish Guilt. Actually, my OS is good because they always have a raffle table. Don't get any money for the plants, but at least I pawn them off on poor newbies who always buy tickets.

I have a few plants I have struggled with for years and wonder what is wrong with me to keep 'trying' with these losers. Then I blame myself for growing them wrong and decide to give them another year. Meanwhile, I have no space left for plants I like and do well.

Its a terrible disease, worse than drugs....

Jane

Jane, I would be interested to learn what orchids are not thriving under your care.

C

I'll email you.

When I first got into orchids in early 2002, I joined a monthly on-line orchid club for 6-7 months. I got a spiked orchid every month along with 7? seedlings. I really struggled with the seedlings for the first year and not all of the spikers were right for my conditions. Out of the 60 or so seedlings and spikers I received, I only have 15-20 of them left. Some turned in to very large plants and had to be given away, some never made it past the 1st month or so and some just struggled on for a few years. I beat myself up about not giving up on the strugglers for a couple of years, blamed myself (it was my fault) for their poor health, tried to modify conditions, etc, etc, etc...
Finally it just got to be a pain, I was feeling bad about them struggling and I was reminded of that every time I stepped into the grow room and saw them. Between the effort in caring for them and not being rewarded, I made the decision to start dumping ones that were really not doing well. I've probably Kev'ed a good 20 or so in the last 1.5 years, and truthfully it has helped me to enjoy things more. I don't belong to or attend a society, but I do try to give away the ones that have some hope. The ones that are doing really badly, I would not want to give my problem to someone else.

As far as killing orchids, I'm a pro... I have a 4" pot full of the 'dog tags' of the ones that 'croaked'. So there's the real serial killer coming out, the 50 or 60 tags in that pot that I keep as a reminder ;-)

Bob

Jane,I have received your email.

Bob, would you list the orchids that are not doing well for you? I am interested to know.

Also, do you live in an isolated and possibly dilapidated farm (like in SAW) all by yourself ;-)

snasxs,

Not sure why you keep referring to me in a negative way, but I really don't appreciate the responses.

Just because I don't feel a $7 plant is worth massive efforts to keep alive, doesn't mean I'm twisted. As far as that goes, I may think you are a bit twisted for putting so much effort into something that doesn't really matter. It's a hobby to me, I'll treat things accordingly.

I've Kev'ed most strugglers at this point. Now it's just trying to find homes for the really big'uns.

Bob

Jane, you said, "Its a terrible disease, worse than drugs...."

Well, that's the downside, then. Do you have an orchid buddy who could come over and take away the ones that aren't making it?

I know exactly what you mean. The Potinara got heat damage summer before last, along w/ most of my plants, and got spider mite damage last summer. This novice didn't recognize the spider mite symptoms - or damage, so it went on. Then, in the house this winter, it got mealy bugs several times. A couple of weeks ago, the bark started staying damp. Sure enough, no roots.

Rather than go to extraordinary measures to try to save it, I threw it away. But, but, I wanted to "prove" I could grow it. Maybe this summer outside would revive it....

Yours are struggling for non-newbie reasons, but it may be a similar process.

Bob, I haven't kept the dog tags (good term), but my Excel spread sheet tracks the fate of all the kids. The not-here-anymore section grows. It seems a 3D learning curve, w/ variables being our growing conditions, changes in our growing conditions, our increasing experience, and what grabs us. There may be more.

For example - My first Max tenuifolia struggled when I was brand new to orchids, and I gave it away. It's thriving in its new home. Last spring, I got another one, and it's growing well. Maybe it's on track to rebloom.

Bob, I cringe when I go in the orchid room and see plants that are struggling. The ones that are too far gone to pass along but might, might still make it... it's hard. When the Potinara went, I could enjoy plants in that growing space more, and 2 smaller plants that needed the light could go there.

Even though you don't belong to an OS, maybe your local one would let you donate those big plants for a raffle.

No answers, but it's good to hear from folks who have similar musings.

WC8

Bob, I actually think of you in a very positive way.

I'm sorry, I'm just too tickled, I have to comment... I find it really amusing to see how someone's NAME became a verb for getting rid of an unwanted/displeasing orchid. Does this only hold true for orchids? Or can it extend to any plant? Cuz if so, I kev'ed an entire collection of streptocarpus (streptocarpi?) that were taking up too much room and looking ratty. Actually, they took it upon themselves to tank, but I didn't try too hard to help them out of it. I felt kind of bad, but they would go between doing great and spreading out so much so that it was hard to fit them in, to wilting and looking trashy. Finally, when they all did it at once, I realized that overall, I didn't like them as much as other things, even though they were cute and had nice flowers. Sooo... kev'ed. If I can use that word.

And now that shelf is free for orchids. Who have obligingly taken their place.

Bob, Do not worry about it. I've killed untold numbers over the years and even the great growers try some Genera that they cannot grow.

This "Oh No it's dieing, I must save it" syndrome must be widespread.

One lady i know has a special section in her growing space called hospital corner. Most of the patients there are terminal.

quinnfyre - Shoot. I didn't save Howard's definition and am not finding the title in the archives. My recollection is that it covered only orchids, but maybe someone has a copy.

Glad you have room for more orchids. My houseplants are down to an absolute minimum for the same reason.

WC8

quinnfyre - You may have seen in another thread that indeed, you can "pull a Kevin" with streptocarpus/streptocarpi, if they were expensive:

"To become so disgusted with or otherwise lose favor with an expensive houseplant (especially orchid plants) that one hurls it into the trash."

Hope this helps. :)

WC8

Ha! I love it. So yes, that's what I did. Kev'ed my strep collection. And I don't think there are any strep gods to appease, unless it falls under the whole gesneriad bunch, in which case, I'm toast! Because I still have a bunch of African violets. Though I could wag a finger at them and tell them they could be kev'ed next. Actually, that is one way that people often get their non-blooming African violets to bloom... threaten to get rid of them. It's just nice to have another verb for it ; )

Whitecat, it gets easier with time. The first time I Kev'd an orchid I felt really guilty. It was a rescue too and I felt like I was abandoning a plant that had already had a hard life but after a couple more I no longer have those issues. I just wait till i'm so fed-up with an orchid that i get angry then I Kev and move on. it's real easy now. It makes so much room for me since by the time I reach that point the plant is usually quite large. I just can't waste space on a large Orchid that gives me nothing but problem with no real rewards.

(wildly waving hand in the air and very agitated)

I've Kev'ed a whole ton of streps and violets. I've even Kev'ed buckets of amaryllis. I've been through so many plant phases in my day, it's almost criminal. Oh almost forgot, I've even Kev'ed pots and pots of gloxinia. When I was way into all these plants, I raised lots and lots of them from seed and then grew them all to maturity. At first it was kind of cool having so many around, but after I while the clutter just got to me. Into the compost they all went. I ignored the screams.

Kevin the Terminator

I've Kev'ed some and they didn't Kev! Found them later in the compost growing roots. I Kev'ed 4 Plumerias this fall by 'forgetting' to bring them in when the temps went to 20 degrees. Then we got a 60 degree week in Dec. and I noticed green shoots. Dragged those suckers back in.

The wind blew 4 struggling, sick orchids off the deck and I thought that was it - gone! I was raking leaves and found them rooting in my flower bed. Four sick Catts which I struggled with for years - rooting in dirt! Brought them back in and they are still sick....

Jane

I Kev'ed a whole collection of tropical hibiscus. I could no longer stand dealing with the whiteflies/mites/aphids, and the fact that it would take them months every summer to recover from being indoors before they would make any flowers.

And now I have all that room to add to my very small orchid collection. Bonus - most orchids I grow are way smaller than hibiscus, so I can fit more in! And they bloom best in the winter when I need the flowers the most!

Jane, Jane, Jane. What we have here is a failure to communicate. :)

Here's the definition of "to pull a Kevin": "To become so disgusted with or otherwise lose favor with an expensive houseplant (especially orchid plants) that one HURLS IT INTO THE TRASH."

If you'd hurled all those into the trash, they'd be Kev'ed. Forget composting. Forget frying in the sun on the bare ground. Forget freezing. Put not your trust in nature but in the trash service. INTO THE TRASH!! As in OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!

Quinnfyre, you didn't know that of which you did when you did it. :) Orchid growers threaten recalcitrant orchids with the compost pile, too. Works some of the time.

Salvialvr, Kevin the T, and Watergal, thanks for your support. I'm still haunted but am feeling better, reading your posts. LOL

What tangled webs (of orchid roots) we weave.

Whitecat8

WC, you are so right. No more raking leaves, no more compost! I truly Kev'ed one today. You are giving me strength.

Jane

Jane - this is a good thing. One Kev at a time. :)

Acid test - when does your trash get picked up? WC8

Uh uh, Jane, is that the one I am trying to save?

I actually have many friends living in NY City. Most of them are young and from India. They come see me twice a week by Metro and bus. They are happy to go and pick up your trash.