Xref: news7 rec.gardens.orchids:43376

Welcome Janeen,

Join the rest of the orchidaholics . You sound just like I do when it
comes to orchids.
My husband can't deal with my addiction any longer so he just doesn't look
at the credit card bills anymore .
The distributor for Physan for Texas is Fountains, Etc. 1725 Highway 6
South, Houston, TX 77077
Phone: 281-531-8950
Fax: 281-531-8950
Contact: Patricia or Chad Folger

Call them up and see if they can refer you to store near you maybe?.
I recently purchased a product that I was told is a good for dealing with
fungus, it's called Phyton and for 8oz I think I paid $8.00 or so.
I still haven't used it because I don't really need to, but first I have to
figure out how to, and I suspect that soon I'll need to, one of the spent
cattleyas is displaying signs of rot. The pseudobulb? was a nice
beautiful green, and as of late this black color started creeping in on the
bulb and steadily moved up to the leaves. I thought that I took care of it
when I repotted the plant and got rid of the rotten roots, but apprently I
was wrong. The dark spreading spot though initially subsided is again
growing black and this time it is softening up.

My husband and I recently returned from Honolulu, a wonderful place for
orchid "hunting" .

Again, welcome,

Mariana
Brooklyn, NYC 6b under 5" of snow


"mamathang" wrote in message
om...
My name is Janeen H. and I am an orchidaholic...

Newbie asks husband for orchid and book for birthday (February).
Husband complies, newbie gets addicted. It is now April and newbie
has 10 plants, 2 small greenhouses indoors, humidity guages, lights,
fans and all matter of contraptions to ensure healthy orchid
development. I bought 3 of the plants from the "almost dead" bin at
Loew's and made friends with the plant guy there who used to be an
orchid grower. He calls me when something cool comes in (like this
really nifty Vanda that I am doing my darnedest not to kill). Start
to have problems with original Paph. (dessication due to root rot) and
come to this group looking for help. Start to freak as I discover
that 1 plant has crown rot, 3 have root rot and these diseases could
be spreading to my other seemingly healthy plants due to my ignorance.
I've even bought 3 tiny little orchids from a guy off of Ebay, but I
think I got a good deal on them all even though I was clueless when I
bought them. GAAACK!

Read, read, read, take notes, check plants, stock up on cinnamon, new
potting medium, hydrogen peroxide, buy 5 different books on orchids
and look for physan (which no one has but I run across an old high
school friend who father grows orchids and is willing to let me have
some of his - they don't sell it because it is so expensive?!?!?!?!).
Buy gravel, set up drywells, toss infected plant that is obviously too
far gone and place sick plants in isolation to limit spread of
disease. Husband begins to worry about mindset of newbie. Newbie
tells him that orchids are an addiction and I don't care to be helped.
:-)

Believe it or not my once sick looking dendrobium is no longer
dropping leaves and seems to be growing a new leaf. My paph is
sending new flowers out on the spike I cut back after ignorantly
repotting it for no reason other than I didn't like the pot it came
in. My Colm. wildcat oncidium has an 16" spike that just may flower
any day now and is also putting out a new pseudobulb(?). My mini
Catt. stopped yellowing and losing leaves. None of the others look
sick or sad or wilty so I am counting myself lucky that I haven't
killed them all. They like me! They really like me!! And I don't
think any of them would be doing so well if I hadn't come here to lurk
and learn for the past few weeks.

I live in Mesquite, TX (suburb NE of Dallas) and have all of these
different orchids growing in my living room under nearly identical
conditions. I am sure that come summer time I will need to move some
to shadier spots. My living room window faces W/SW and I try to keep
the humidity at around 60%, but it is often higher just because this
is Texas. They drywells are dry this morning and yet the humidity in
the greenhouses is about 71% due to the rain we got over the weekend.
I've opened up my little greenhouses and turned on the fans to get the
air circulating. Gave them all their morning misting and opened up
the miniblinds for today's sunning.

Husband and I are planning 10th annivesary trip to Hawaii (2005) and
the date now revolves around the orchid shows. Husband is amazed at
the monster he created but is impressed with the recent results after
newbie's original freak out (especially the new flowering on the spike
I cut back). Thank you everyone - including the other newbies who
asked the questions I needed to ask. I seem to be having unusual luck
with my little collection and I hope that this posting doesn't jinx
me. The hardest part of all of this was tossing out that one rotted
plant.

Admittedly addicted,
Janeen