On 11 May 2003 22:50:53 -0700, (solo_voyager)
wrote:

My in-home collection has grown to over 60 orchid plants, a major
responsibility requiring almost as much attention as 3 kids, two dogs, 4 cats,
a hampster and 2 horses. I used to travel quite a bit before my orchid
addiction got started. Now, all I do is care for, inspect for disease and water
plants and smell & look at the blossoms. Everytime I start to think about a
two week to a month trip all I envision is a pile of dead orchids when I
get back. It's too much to ask of someone to come in twice a week for
2 to 3 hrs let alone trust someone to do it right.

That pretty well sums up the plight of us orchidphiles.

In 2000 , I could transport the plants in a single carload, so a
plantsitter was still a reasonable option. Even if a few plants
suffered at the reduction in obsessive attention, it was still
possible to tour foreign lands for a few weeks, and return to find
minimal loss.

With several times that many now, I'm only able to slip out of town
for a few days at a time, and then the anxiety at the thought of my
mounted plants drying and shriveling provokes a premature return home.

What is it about these slow growing plants that we find fascinating to
the extent of changing our behavior and reducing our autonomy? Is it
their epiphytic independence from soil and the necessity of being
rooted in the garden that provides them with an air of mobility and
independence that robs us of ours? Or is it their marvelous flowers
and exotic scents that gradually seduce us into surrendering our
mobility? They are so beguiling, that we joyfully provide them with
their own house as we might a mate!

If I ever really want to spend a lot of time traveling again, I'm afraid I'll
have to get rid of my orchids. Not yet though.

Right. Not yet. :-)

But we shouldn't be forced to choose between orchids and travel.
Automated horticulture is the solution.

I can envision a future in which each plant is tended by a solar
powered computerized system capable of sensing environmental
conditions and adjusting them to remain within preset bounds.
Irrigation, temperature, illumination, humidity, air movement,
nutrition, all independently manipulated optimally for each plant by
simple off-the-shelf technology available today.

Then we will again be free to indulge a voyage to distant lands in
search of more orchids, of course.