Gary,
You are right of course that the more you grow and the more you experiment,
the more you risk and the more you learn.
For now I am in a phase when I am still reluctant to experiment for the most
part -- in part I am victim to my own track record, it has become a matter
of pride to me that I have not killed an orchid, so I am reluctant to
experiment too much because if I experiment I know I will loose some.
However I am experimenting a bit: for example, I have an Lc that's in lava
rock and strangely enough even though it is my first orchid in the cattleya
alliance and my first one in lava rock, it is doing just peachy, so I will
definitely need to get more mini-catts. One of my Paphs is in this medium
that looks like dirt, but I think is mostly peat moss, and it's happy. But
yeah, overall I am a cautious person, not experimenting too much with
orchids, because I am still in the stage where I care too much about how an
individual one is doing. It is strange that I don't care too deeply about
either of my african violets or my few non-flowering houseplants, but the
orchids are something else -- I still remember how I cried the first time I
broke a Phal spike (now I am just slightly irritated with myself when I do
that, but still).
Good growing to you too,
Joanna
"V_coerulea" wrote in message
...
Sorry for the implication, Joanna. Only 10% of your orchids are in
trouble.
And, if you loose that 1, you will have lost only 2.3% of your collection.
Over the passed 2 years (the only ones I have these records for) I lost 22
plants out of 2100 or about 1.0% including seedlings. Now I'm not
bragging,
but ...
My points a 1) the more you grow, the more chance of error and loss; 2)
the more you branch out and take risks, the greater your chance of loss.
Several years ago, I purchased some Burr, Vuyl, Oda, Odm, Masd and a few
others along these lines after having experienced great success with
cymbidiums in a water-cooled, unheated greenhouse here in SC. Well a few
have died and a few others might as well, but some are doing very well. If
I
hadn't tried I wouldn't know if I could grow them or not regardless of
what
others say of heat tolerance. Some Paphs and Phrags remain a challenge
during our sweltry summers. But with the right place, the right shade, the
right air movement, the right watering and fertilizing and with the right
mix, they'll not just make it but thrive.
Sorry Joanna, don't be afraid to exxperiment. Good growing.
Gary
"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:IjfGe.15717$uy3.719@trnddc05...
"V_coerulea" wrote in message
. ..
snip
Everyone on this list, if being truthful, would admit to
killing plants from over or under watering at least until they mastered
their mix. Then you kill fewer.
Gary
Gary,
Hurumph! I resent the implication that I am not being truthful. I
honestly
have not killed a single orchid yet in four years of growing them.
Now I will admit that I have come close: one of my orchids has only one
leaf
left (but it seems to have stabilized, and it has been growing lots of
healthy roots, so there is hope for it), another two orchids were down
to
two leaves or so (but now both have grown a couple of new leaves and are
recovering), and the only Oncidium-like orchid (Burgerea Nelly Isler
'Swiss
Beauty") that I have is getting worse and I suspect that it's due to the
heat in the apartment (in the interest of full disclosure, if it
continues
down the path that it has been going down on, it may well become my
first
orchid-kill someday).
But none of these orchids are dead yet, and several others have
recovered
nicely. Since I have a total of 43 orchids, having only 4 that are in
any
danger of dying is quite good I would think.
Sorry, I had to brag ... err ... I had to defend myself in face of the
accusation that I am not truthful. I am.
Joanna
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