I picked up 4 phals from a box store (made friends with one of the guys
who works in the garden department who would rather sell me the orchids
for $5 than see them thrown away) I know that most of them are throw
aways from the flask grown for mass market, but.....

oh, and does anyone have the orchid math down yet?
how does 1+1+1+4=35 and no more room put more orchids?

Jack

Jack: Unless these Phals are _very_ distinctive clones, you don't have much
of a prayer of finding proper IDs/parentage. There are so many similar
crosses, and so much variation within each ...

But that may not necessarily be important. If all you want to do is enjoy
the flowers, you don't really need that. Proper IDS and parentage come into
play if you want to exhibit your plants in AOS event, or to breed with them.
For your own personal purposes, such as record-keeping, you can call them
anything you want. Might be good to put an * on the name to remind
yourself, years from now, that it's not actually a proper name ... G.

But if you are already running out of space at 35 orchids, YOU NEED MORE
SPACE G. And to remember that "throw-aways" take up just as much room as
quality plants. Kenni

"Jack" wrote in message
oups.com...
I picked up 4 phals from a box store (made friends with one of the guys
who works in the garden department who would rather sell me the orchids
for $5 than see them thrown away) I know that most of them are throw
aways from the flask grown for mass market, but.....

oh, and does anyone have the orchid math down yet?
how does 1+1+1+4=35 and no more room put more orchids?

Jack

Ah, and just wait until you start buying plants at orchid shows... If
you like Phals and Paphs, you can grow them under lights and thus
expand your growing space but still, sooner or later, we all run out of
room.

When my collection swelled from 2 plants to 160 plants, space became an
issue, even with artificial light. I'm now culling my collection. In
time, you may find as I did that (1) your taste changes, (2) you've
discovered some wonderful new plants but you don't have room for them
because your bargain plants are taking up space, (3) some of your
plants are very similar, and it doesn't make sense to keep an inferior
near-duplicate plant, and (4) the more plants you've got, the more time
they take, and you'll need to develop different strategies for caring
for them.

Lately, my philosophy has been this: If I don't love it, it's got to
go. If it doesn't thrive, it's got to go. And where do they go? They're
donated or given to friends who now, bless their hearts, are gettting
addicted to orchids and are having a space problem ;-)

Uh, actually I have to grow all my plants under lights (40w flours per
shelf on a shelving unit in front of a window) because I am in Alaska,
so space is getting to be an issue fast. 2 of the plants are going to
be pampered and rebloomed (3wks?) before being given away.

as for taste, like phals ok, will buy them at a good price ($5) but I
am finding that I prefer catts and compact fragrant species. Which
goes into don't get what won't grow for you and your setup, which kinda
sucks as the Phals doing the best with all three of my older ones
blooming now. Some day, hopefully soon I will be able to build my
green house.

That will lead to my next problem of what to do with all the empty
space, I'll have to cross that hurtle when I get there.

Really very good ideas Nancy, I too have experimented on no-namers &
wouldn't ya know, haven't lost a one!!

--
Cheers Wendy

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Nancy G. wrote:
Jack wrote:
I picked up 4 phals from a box store (made friends with one of the
guys who works in the garden department who would rather sell me the
orchids for $5 than see them thrown away) I know that most of them
are throw aways from the flask grown for mass market, but.....

I've rescued some phals in a similar situation. There were no tags
visible in the pots, but I was later pleasantly surprised to find
names stenciled on the plastic pots that were inserted into clay pots.

At the very least, these are good practice plants. You can experiment
with plant foods, insecticides, potting methods or mounts etc before
you use the product on your more expensive plants. I admit, I've
treated the NOIDS quite casually in the past and have used some
bizarre techniques. The blooms in the future will be rewarding and
lovely.

They also make good gifts for beginners that you may know. It is
selfish, but easier to lose absolute control over an inexpensive plant
to a novice. They are primarily interested in the blooms and many
don't know about tags and names, that will come later if they are
geniunely hooked on orchids.

I have also displayed various blooms and plants in a restaurant I eat
at frequently, the local nursing home, and have a few people that have
my version of plant of the month, in which I exchange a blooming plant
for another plant that has faded. They have the blooms for a couple
of weeks, maybe a month and are not responsible for an orchid for a
year trying to get it to rebloom. I enjoy sharing the plants in that
way, rather than letting the blooms fade unseen in a greenhouse.

Nancy G.

You know I don't really understand why Noids are not valued more by most
orchid addicts. I mean if one does not plan to try to exhibit or award one's
orchid, what does it matter that the only name you've got for it is Phal
Noid. If it is a really vigorous plant with nice flowers then why would you
not value it as much as or even more than Phal Exact Name 'Oh So Special'
AM/AOS, especially if that second plant is not flourishing for you despite
its impeccable pedigree. Give me a healthy no name mutt, and I will prefer
it anytime over a high maintenance awarded fancy namer. Of course if the
plant is a no name orchid that is not healthy or thriving, I won't value it,
except maybe as a challenge to see if I can make it well again.

Joanna

"Nancy G." wrote in message
ups.com...

Jack wrote:
I picked up 4 phals from a box store (made friends with one of the guys
who works in the garden department who would rather sell me the orchids
for $5 than see them thrown away) I know that most of them are throw
aways from the flask grown for mass market, but.....

I've rescued some phals in a similar situation. There were no tags
visible in the pots, but I was later pleasantly surprised to find names
stenciled on the plastic pots that were inserted into clay pots.

At the very least, these are good practice plants. You can experiment
with plant foods, insecticides, potting methods or mounts etc before
you use the product on your more expensive plants. I admit, I've
treated the NOIDS quite casually in the past and have used some bizarre
techniques. The blooms in the future will be rewarding and lovely.

They also make good gifts for beginners that you may know. It is
selfish, but easier to lose absolute control over an inexpensive plant
to a novice. They are primarily interested in the blooms and many
don't know about tags and names, that will come later if they are
geniunely hooked on orchids.

I have also displayed various blooms and plants in a restaurant I eat
at frequently, the local nursing home, and have a few people that have
my version of plant of the month, in which I exchange a blooming plant
for another plant that has faded. They have the blooms for a couple of
weeks, maybe a month and are not responsible for an orchid for a year
trying to get it to rebloom. I enjoy sharing the plants in that way,
rather than letting the blooms fade unseen in a greenhouse.

Nancy G.

thanks, I'm growing them in S/H (heard that some phals hate it) but it
makes watering a cinch, even for newbies. Will proably give them away
for easter as think I have 3 duplicates. That will leave me with one
lime tips to yellow to ruby throat, 2 different purples, a "classic"
white phal with a purple throat speckled with yellow, and some dps. my
wife bought me. ( I can name all my catts and species)

Jack