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Miniature orchids?
Hwra. Lava Burst 'Puanani' -- starts blooming in the compot, can stay in a
2" pot for years, blooms its head off in bright light, still blooms 2 or more times a year in phal shade ... -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids http://www.jborchids.com "White Monkey" wrote in message ... Greetings all, I just discovered this group after biting the bullet and getting an orchid. Many members of my family have had them, so I'm not a total babe in the woods and I think I'll be able to keep this one up (phal. "pink stripes") just fine in my tiny Amsterdam (Netherlands) apartment. However, I know that the collector bug will hit me very hard at any moment, I can feel it--it's happened before, just not yet with orchids (actually, it's an interest in adding vanilla to the list of spices and herbs I'm trying to grow that got me the phal.; it was *there*, you know how it is, and they didn't have a vanilla orchid in stock and this one just kept nodding away at me...). Before I go totally nuts I'd like to have a direction for that to flow... I'll be getting a few hardier and larger sorts as regular houseplants as I go, given that the prices here are much lower than appears to be the case in much of the rest of the world (the nice phal.'s with one flower spike with 6 or 7 flowers are going for 5 Euros here right now) but for the collecting and being generally insular and nuts about it phase, I think it would be best to try these fabulous little tiny ones I keep seeing referenced. In this climate, a miniature greenhouse, say the size of a couple of 10-gallon aquaria, would be my best bet to start off with, I think. So... what am I yammering at you folks for? Well, I'd like suggestions on which of the miniatures make good starters for amateur cultivators. What's good in shade (apartment's too small and the electrics too crappy and bunched up to get a fancy lighting setup, so we're talking natural conditions on that one), what can take a lower-temperature winter (yes, we do have a heater, but no, we don't run it very high at night--just enough to keep stuff from freezing) (I'm willing and able to get reptile hot rocks or something for the mini-greenhouses, though, should that turn out to be best)? I'm not one of these people who think something has to be showy to be special, and am in fact quite attracted to the weird, so don't worry about that sort of thing in answering. I am also aware that the floral return on orchids is limited--in other words, I'm fine with looking at apparent clumps of sticks or smudges of green for most of the year. The humidity levels here are high, but the light low. I have access to excellent plant-supply shops where they will know which soils/media to sell me, and which fertilizers (if any), and where I can ask advice about sick or damaged plants, so I don't have to get only the hardiest and most difficult to kill or anything like that, but this probably isn't a moment for the downright delicate. So, any suggestions on what to keep my eyes peeled for? Thanks, Katrina --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.497 / Virus Database: 296 - Release Date: 7/4/03 |
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