Here we go....

1. How many do you have?
At least 1000

2. How old is your oldest? (years you've had it)
30+ years Den. speciosum given to my son by his grandpa.
Divided and divided many many times.

3. How many have you lost, over or under 100?
Zillions

4. What was your first?
Standard Cattleya from Hardware store

5. Biggest? ( plant not flower)
Dendrobium xdelicatum out in the garden.

6. Smallest? (blooming size)
Do not know. Perhaps Stenoglottis woodii. A little gem. Many tiny white flowers. Terrestrial plant.

7. What are you looking to get this year?
Laeliinae species and not many of those.

8. Why do you do it?
Do not know.

9. Other comment.
Down to 6 Phalaenopsis. Might be zero soon. They are a pain in Cymbidium Heaven.

10. Struggling with.
    Vandas and Hardcane Dendrobiums. Also pains in Cymbidium Heaven.

11. Main Genera Grown.
    Laeliinae species
    Laeliinae hybrids
    Equitant Oncidiinae Hybrids
    Australian Native Dendrobiums

I have around 150.

My first was a vanda 18 years ago. Still have it.

I've lost many. An old wise grower told me that if you don't kill some you are not trying hard enough. Meaning it is time to go beyond easy.

This year I'm hoping to get blooms for the first time on my den. speciosum. And create more growing space. Maybe double.

I had a vanilla go 25' in my avocado tree. Hurricane ate it.

I just bought a dendrobium carronii. It is small.

I do it for the pleasure of the blooms. And I like the challenge. I like the learning too.

For me, growing orchids is food for my head...

And this board and the kind people on it.

Happy New Year!

Arthur, surprised to see hardcane dendrobiums on your struggle list, I saw you as the go to guy on dendros.

Shavedmonkey, While i enjoy the blooms, sometimes I find that I loose interest a bit after a plant flowers. I like getting the flowers more than having the flowers.

In the beginning I would buy one of everything I could get my hands on if the price was right. I lost a lot in that period but it helped me figure out what worked for me. I found many of the so called easy plants weren't and some of the so called difficult ones did fine.

lumpy, the anticipation can grab me. The longer I grow orchids the more it takes. But I want to see some speciosum blooms. So I frequently am inspecting a few early beginnings of an inflorescence. It does not help it any faster. And I have never seen one in bloom ever. So more to anticipate.

I know what you mean, I picked up a speciosum var. pedunculatum last year. The canes are about the size of my thumb so I think I have a few years to wait for flowers.

What is the problem?
{{gwi:2118605}}
Seriously, what is easy here and in parts of California might be extremely difficult elsewhere. A letterbox somewhere in Sydney.

I don't think there is a problem. I hope not. It is just new and different and such a show. What an amazing plant Arthur! Mine seem to be happy and growing. My pedunculatum has never bloomed but my hillii and curvi. have bloomed the previous season and both have started to show. All have new growth and lots of roots. I've kept them unheated outside. They get bright sun. They are potted in terra cotta pots filled with lava rock.

I'm thinking it is going to bloom soon. How long from first sign of the spike to full bloom? We are having our judged show in early March....

I have 11. Ten phals and one dendrobium.

First phal was from Walmart, and it is the only one I killed (hey it had root rot when I got it :-P)

I started growing 8 months ago...and my smallest is my phal schilleriana. This is its first bloom.

For reference, the flower stalk is the size of an uncooked spaghetti noodle...and the buds are half the size of a tic tac.

This post was edited by Lauraeli on Sun, Jan 4, 15 at 19:43

1. I have but one.
2. Its 5 years old (about to bloom for the third time).
3. Killed 3 before this one.
4. All have been Phals.
5. Phal
6. Phal
7. Since I finally kept one alive for a third bloom, I may do more.
8. Why do we grow any houseplants? To see if we can...to start, at least.

tj

1. How many do you have?
About 230 or so. Would love to decrease by 20-30 in 2015. Including adding a few, of course.

2. How old is your oldest? (years you've had it)
7 years. Maxillaria tenuifolia. It was my first non-Phal. I completely under watered it and it almost died. It is thriving now.

3. How many have you lost, over or under 100?
Less than 100, but there is still a lot of time

4. What was your first?
Dark purple Phal from a big box store

5. Biggest? ( plant not flower)
Probably Cymbidium Cherry Cola

6. Smallest? (blooming size)
Holcoglossum flavescens

7. What are you looking to get this year?
Digging deeper into Paphs

8. Why do you do it?
The flowers, the challenge, and the opportunity to learn

9. Other comment.
I am also trying to grow some of the Australian orchids. I am looking for cultural notes for the midwest US.Any takers...

10. Struggling with.
    Bud blasting on Dendrobiums and growing vandaceous orchids

11. Main Genera Grown.
    Paphs, bulbos, and Dendrobium (the blooming ones :)

I have about 20
2-3 years
Lost about 4
Started with Phals from big box stores
Biggest is my newish Vanda
Smallest is a mini phal ( big box stores rarely have labels/names)
Next one will be which ever one jumps into my shopping cart first
I do it for the challenge of getting a spike/bloom. I also think my weekly watering and constant inspecting is relaxing to me.
My dendrobium that was getting tossed and I saved it is my biggest concern. I did get it to set a spike and the blooms have lasted for months. But, I'm thinking come spring I need to repot and I'm deathly afraid I'm going to do it wrong and kill this beautiful plant. I also worry I won't get it to ever rebloom as some other posters say they have had them for years with no blooms. Was my re blooming sheer luck? Or did I have her in the right spot and treat her well?
As for my Vanda, I doubt with my growing conditions she will ever rebloom but time will tell. If she dies, she dies.

I'm probably proudest of my Dendrobium, as never thought she'd do so well. She set her spike in a very warm and sunny window in late summer. I never gave her cool night temps, yet she set a beautiful spike with at least 10 or more flowrs.

1. How many do you have?
4

2. How old is your oldest? (years you've had it)
2 years

3. How many have you lost, over or under 100?
2

4. What was your first?
Housewarming gift, I knew nothing (used ice!) - it died.

8. Why do you do it?
I like the challenge of making them happy, getting them to root, leaf, flower. They make me happy, too...I enjoy doting on them. It's also like a science experiment (albeit with no control). There's more than one way to skin a cat and I enjoy figuring out what works.

1. How many do you have?
25
2. How old is your oldest? (years you've had it)
First mini phal on April 2013

3. How many have you lost, over or under 100?
3 phals Gifts from friends before I intended to grow them

4. What was your first?
Mini phal from Safeway

5. Biggest? ( plant not flower)
Brassidium Kenneth Bivan (or something like that!!)

6. Smallest? (blooming size)
My first mini phal

7. What are you looking to get this year?
Go to orchid show and see what flowers are pretty and would fit to grow in my environment. (for my purse too!)

8. Why do you do it?
They give me joy of seeing they do well and especially when they give me spikes and flowers.

Tanie

1. 130 dendrobium Australian native hybrids, 31 speciosums,21 dockrillias and 31 sarcochilus

2. Oldest plant is a Speciosum Speciosum Grandiflorum about 40 years old.

3. Lost 21 and counting. It hurts.

4. Plant mentioned in 2.

5.Plant mentioned in 2

6.Have just deflasked some dendrobium hybrids which I am defending against catterpillars.

7. Not looking for anything in particular and am "pulling my horns in."

8.Love gardening and have a very small back yard, so growing orchids on wire mesh on garden/house walls solves a problem.

9. Been a bad year for speciosums. They are like that. But when a good year comes I am told they are incredible.

Here we go....
1. How many do you have?

29. One onc, 1 cymb, 2 dends a few cats, the rest phals. The cymb has never bloomed because I have neglected to give it the temp drop consistently. Actually I wouldn't buy a cymb but a kind person gave it to me. His reasoning was "well you grow orchids don't you?" Lol. So now the challenge is flowers.

2. How old is your oldest? (years you've had it)
5 yrs. the onc.

3. How many have you lost, over or under 100?
Three

4. What was your first?
The onc. From a nursery.

5. Biggest? ( plant not flower)
The onc.

6. Smallest? (blooming size)
A mini NOID phal that is trying really hard to die.

7. What are you looking to get this year?
Oooo! Who knows! Jax show is in March. The greenhouse{{gwi:807}} will be done by then. I am going armed with my credit{{gwi:9241}} card. Plan to ask locals what they grow. Would like to try paphs. My collection might be doubled by the end of the day. Hehe!

8. Why do you do it?
The challenge I guess. Been a gardner for over 30 years mostly ferns and carnivorous plants. And no Arthur, the ferns are not getting shoved aside. There is plenty of room for all. Back then I wanted to do orchids but couldn't afford the plants or to set them up correctly in an in-door only situation (lived in zone 6 then).

9. Struggling with
To keep that NOID phal alive and grow. It looks like crap. It'll probably die. But it's fun to try.

This post was edited by bea2014 on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 15:04

"And no Arthur, the ferns are not getting shoved aside. There is plenty of room for all."
Lol.
I always thought Florida was in the tropics where Phals.
grow like weeds. Guess not!

I think it is the summer heat that gets the phals in Fla.

Interesting lists everyone,

Lauraeli, shilleriana is a nice plant, love the mottled leaves. The flowers should get bigger and more abundant as it matures. I dont know why but species phals never workout for me.

Greencurls, Iv'e been enjoying your posts in the gallery, you have a nice assortment of plants. Did you do anything aside for increasing water to turn around the tenuifolia? I think I have similar growing conditions to yours and have been struggling with one for a while.

Ocker, are your speciosums and sarcochilus different varieties? I like both of them but I don't have space for the speciocums and you don't see sarcochilus around here.

Bea, I've been looking at carnivorous plants a lot lately, I may need to pick your brain at some point.

Arthurm, This is what mailboxes look like around here this time of year.

Arthur, all my phals except for that mini NOID are doing great. All have spikes! My husband works at Lowes and that mini was being thrown out so he brought it home to me. Poor thing was packed so tightly in dripping wet spagnum that it couldn't breathe and all its roots were mushy. It just isn't recovering.

Shavedmonkey I too am concerned about the heat because June-Aug we get to 90-95 daily. My phals have been indoors their entire lives in a controlled environment and unless locals tell me they grow phals well in this temp their butts are coming inside from the greenhouse during those three months. That's why I'm keeping the plantroom setup.

Lumpy, anytime. You can just email me privately if you want. But in the meantime you might want to visit this website: www.californiacarnivores.com. It is the largest CP nursery in the US and everyone there is very knowledgeable. Lots of good info on the site. I bought almost all my CPs there. Are you just starting out?

1. How many do you have?
@130, more phals (@40-45) than anything else.

2. How old is your oldest? (years you've had it)
@10 years

3. How many have you lost, over or under 100?
Way over!

4. What was your first?
Hybrid Phal, a gift from boss's wife

5. Biggest? ( plant not flower)
Space-wise a couple of Phrag kovachii hybrids, or a C gaskelliana alba as far as pbulbs (40-50).

6. Smallest? (blooming size)
A Neo hybrid or laelia lucasiana, both @ 2-3" tall and blooming

7. What are you looking to get this year?
A few warmth tolerant Masdies, a princeps hopefully.

8. Why do you do it?
It beats drinking and smoking heavily.

Bob

Lumpy,
Speciosums are also known as the Rock Lilly and have thick leathery leaves and thick psuedobulbs. Flowering from year to year is not consistent. Colours range from white, to yellow and in rare cases orange. Long foxtails of flowers. Very hardy.

Sarcochilus are smaller compact orchids, very pretty and many different colours. They have fleshy short leaves that are the water storage for the plant and they require more regular watering. I am not having much luck with these and have just moved them to a more sheltered location. The leaves were marked (by rain & weather I assume). The leaves are extremely attractive to slugs and snails and also catterpillars.

Lumpy,

There are 9 varieties of speciosum: hilli, pedunculatum, grandiflorum, capricornicum, blackdownense, carnicarnense, curvicaule, and boreale. Of the 33 I have they are mostly intervarietal crosses plus a couple of straight species. I don't have hilli or capricornium crosses though.

There are, I believe, 25 different sarcochillus species throughout Australia and New Guinea. Mine are basically all hybrid crosses and that struggle in the outdoors. I don't have a passion for them but a well grown sarc is a sight to behold.

I have two happy mini Dendrobiums. A bunch of questionable little Tolumnias- should have left them in one clump.

Lost most of my Phals but the roots didn't look right to start with.

#8- As a kid there were a few wild ones that I wasn't supposed to mess with then one day I just realized you could buy one.

OK, I will play this game too....

1. Have more than 100 but have not done an exact head count lately ( I sent some on to new homes and donated one big c. traceyanum to the orchid society for auction)

2. Oldest plant: I think it's Catt "Land of Enchantment" -I've had it over 12 years, but it's way older than that. Given to me by a co-worker who insisted 5 times that I take it before I agreed. I had no orchids before that!

3. Lost - not a 100, but I have not counted either

4. First orchid - tricky question - I was sent a catt from Hawaii many many years ago before I got into orchids. My Mom promptly helped me overwater and it died because we did not understand the requirements.
but I also had a native cyp in my backyard that flowered well until the trees it lived under came down : -(

then 3rd "first" orchid would be above Land of Enchantment - #5- She's also the biggest at nearly four feet span - but a reliable bloomer so she is allowed to stay

6. Smallest- Shoenorchis fragrans - but I also have other tiny ones :-)

7. Looking for cold tolerant, mini to smallish, hopefully fragrant species and primary hybrids

8. Why - I have always been into plants and orchids are just part of the picture. Really into growing food...
But orchids are a skill challenge, get you into a club of nice people (at least the ones I've met!) and shows where you can participate in planning, setting up, writing, etc.

I realize the quiz does not ask for your favorite or least favorite. Your most bomb-proof or most finicky orchid.
I'm filling in Laelia anceps as my favorite because she is such a bomb - heat and cold-proof reliable bloomer, and is fragrant to boot.

Cheers from frigid Massachusetts
Maryanne

Hi everyone!
I spend a lot of time lurking here, but I don't think I've ever posted in this particular forum. Usually, I post in the house plant forum and the trade forums.

I'm a newbie to orchid growing, but I've always loved them.

1. How many do you have?
Three: a ludisia discolor and two catt alliance hybrids.

2. How old is your oldest? (years you've had it)
about seven months :-)

3. How many have you lost, over or under 100?
Two so far. I'm sure that number will go up.

4. What was your first?
Phal that my hubby bought me for Valentine's Day before we got married. It was dead by Christmas (stupid 'Just Add Ice' directions).

5. Biggest? ( plant not flower)
Honestly, mine are all pretty small right now.

6. Smallest? (blooming size)
See above

7. What are you looking to get this year?
I really like the 'slipper' orchids. and would like to try one. I also have a soft spot for tiny plants and would love to try some miniature orchids. My ludisia is wonderful and I would like to try some other terrestrial orchids. Honestly, I'm open to anything at this point, but I'm trying not to go overboard. I'm always looking for suggestions ;)

8. Why do you do it?
I have always loved orchids. When I got married, my only rules for the flowers was that I wanted orchids in my bouquet and no carnations in anything.