Hi folks,

Well, the urge to collect has won. I have not fallen victim to "collector's
fever", though (mainly by recognizing the signs through long personal
experience): I was able to walk by the table full of identical white phal's
for 4 Euros the other day. It seems that I am able to not buy an orchid that
is "in my price range" if it looks uncannily like one I already have. I call
this Great Willpower.

Meanwhile, though, I find that I do now seem to have two phals, a miltonia,
a columnara wildcat, two oncidiums, and a cambria, and am not entirely sure
how it happened....

They all seem to be doing OK, although I lost the flowers on the wildcat for
this year because it was in desperate need of repotting when I bought it
(roots that had forced their way through cracks in the plastic, roots dead
from overcrowding, whole poor thing planted in Styrofoam cubes). The
miltonia also came with another one that has since died; they were at a
market stall where the proprietor was dropping the price steadily in
accordance with how miserable the plants looked--the miltonias (labeled
cymbidiums!) were very nearly dead, and 1 Euro each. One, as I said, has
since died; the other has begun growing new leaves, thank goodness.

I just wondered if anyone had any particular tips, like that one or another
of these likes extra fertilizer or will die if the temp drops slightly in
its room (this is the Netherlands, and we don't have central heating), or if
one or another is especially sensitive to rot, has an unusually short or
long flowering period, etc.

Thanks,

Katrina


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