My son's gf gave me my first orchid, a paph, over 2 1/2 years ago. She
works in a nursery and had been giving me all kinds of plants. I should
explain, I'm not much of a plant guy. I've had plants over the years,
killed more than I've kep alive. Just don't give them the attention
they need to flourish.
The paph was in bloom, and I fell in love with it. Was deathly afraid
I'd kill it, knowing that orchids are considered difficult to grow. I
bought a couple of beginner books and did some research. She gave me
more orchids as time passed. At one point, I had 12, since then, 2 have
died.
But over the 2.5 years, none had blossomed. Searched for ideas in
different places, for some reason never thought about a ng.
Finally, after changing the food, watering different ways, moving them
to get less light and then to get more, my first paph is spiking! I
noticed it on Jan 1! It had been spiking for a while, I just was so
busy I hadn't even noticed. I started jumping around the kitchen, I was
so excited. I had stopped feeding and watering it and 2 others a few
months ago, having read that this would make it bloom. It worked. Have
been watching it spike nearly every day since. It's really amazing!
I've never gotten this attached or excited by a plant in my life.
I've stopped feeding 2 others, in addition to the 2 I haven't been
feeding for a while, hoping to get some more to spike and flower. Now
that I've finally had one success after 2.5 years, I'm really hooked.
These damn orchids are like kids! Ok, so they don't talk back at least!