Loved that article about killing orchids. I was nearly successful. I had a
cat and a dendrobium that I hung on
my cable line in the back yard . After they turned over and spilled out I
had to repot them. Just scooped everything up and put it back in the pot.
That included pecan tree leaves. The Dendrobium started to give up the
ghost but I saved it or least part of it. I took it from it's pot and
pulled the good from the bad. Note pulled not cut. Put it in pot of those
little roung bricks (fired clay) added water and decided to grow this by
hydrophonics. Would you believe that it put on new growth and is now doing
very well. I also remove warts from children's hands

Robert

Robert,

Loved that article about killing orchids.

Why thank you -- I am assuming you mean my post asking for "best ways to
kill orchids" :-)

Would you believe that it put on new growth and is now doing
very well.

I believe it. Enjoyed your anecdote.

Our experiences make me wonder why so many people have the misconception
that orchids are hard to grow. I keep encountering that notion, whenever I
tell strangers that I grow orchids, they usually say something to the effect
that they couldn't possibly manage it. Does anyone out here know or care to
speculate how this misconception took hold? Why do orchids have the bad rep
of being high maintenance, fragile, and difficult?

My husband speculates that the best explanation is that orchid growers are
high maintenance, fragile, and difficult people, and strangers just assume
that the plants have the same qualities as the people who choose to
cultivate them. Hurrumph! Making such comments to one's wife can be
dangerous, especially the day before Valentine's Day. I may require more
than one orchid to be pacified.

Joanna

LOL, Joanna; see separate thread what I got for V & B Days. And, Frank
didn't even say anything bad......

Diana

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...
Robert,

Loved that article about killing orchids.

Why thank you -- I am assuming you mean my post asking for "best ways to
kill orchids" :-)

Would you believe that it put on new growth and is now doing
very well.

I believe it. Enjoyed your anecdote.

Our experiences make me wonder why so many people have the misconception
that orchids are hard to grow. I keep encountering that notion, whenever I
tell strangers that I grow orchids, they usually say something to the
effect
that they couldn't possibly manage it. Does anyone out here know or care
to
speculate how this misconception took hold? Why do orchids have the bad
rep
of being high maintenance, fragile, and difficult?

My husband speculates that the best explanation is that orchid growers are
high maintenance, fragile, and difficult people, and strangers just assume
that the plants have the same qualities as the people who choose to
cultivate them. Hurrumph! Making such comments to one's wife can be
dangerous, especially the day before Valentine's Day. I may require more
than one orchid to be pacified.

Joanna

Our experiences make me wonder why so many people have the misconception
that orchids are hard to grow. I keep encountering that notion, whenever I
tell strangers that I grow orchids, they usually say something to the
effect
that they couldn't possibly manage it. Does anyone out here know or care
to
speculate how this misconception took hold? Why do orchids have the bad
rep
of being high maintenance, fragile, and difficult?

See Janet's post of an article in the NY Times.

Being in the business, I run into that misconception almost daily. Of those
espousing it, there seem to be 3 general categories: (1) those who once
owned one plant [almost always a gift, usually from a florist, occasionally
purchased at a big box store at discount], (2) those that the former gripe
to, and (3) people who have trouble with "houseplants."

If I can get them talking about it, I usually find that the members of the
first category [a substantial minority of whom are quite good at growing
terrestrial plants] have done at least one [sometimes more] of the following
things:

1. Assumed that the plant died when the flowers came off [so they threw it
away, not realizing it would bloom again].

2. Repotted it into dirt or planted it in the ground in their garden, or
put a 2" seedling into an 8" pot "so it would have plenty of room to grow."

3. Watered it repeatedly [sometimes daily] in a decorative display pot with
no drainage, so that the plant was sitting in water for weeks.

4. Failed to water it at all for months.

5. "Pruned" all the old growth and aerial roots.

6. Left it outside in a frost or freeze situation.

The second group is taking the word of the first. The third, I think, are
just so awed by the beauty of the orchids that they just assume these plants
_must_ be harder to grow than what they're already killing -- which is a
shame, because the reverse is definitely true. I can attest to this from
personal experience -- like Joanna, I can easily and quickly kill pothos,
diffenbachia and most other plants that grow in dirt.

So Joanna, there's my top 6 for your list on how to kill enough orchids to
become an "expert" [but it would be cheating for you to do it that way
G -- the _real_ experts do it mostly by (1) trying plants that they know,
down deep, aren't quite suited for their growing conditions (like
Miltoniopsis or Sophronitis in south Florida without a coolhouse), and (2)
acquiring more plants than they have resources to care for]. :(

Although you'd think it would've dissipated by now, there may also be some
"holdover effect" from the days when orchids were extremely expensive; 100
years ago [before the discovery of the asymbiotic flasking and cloning
processes], the orchids now readily available for $30-$40 dollars would have
cost hundreds or even thousands -- and a hundred years ago, $100 was a LOT
of money -- probably a year's income, or more, for the working class.

Your husband is entirely incorrect and _definitely_ owes you more than one
orchid in penance for his heinous sins [even if he doesn't buy it from me
G]. In my experience, "high maintenance, fragile, and difficult" people
tend to fall into groups 1 and 2 listed above ...

Good growing,


--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com


Our experiences make me wonder why so many people have the misconception
that orchids are hard to grow. I keep encountering that notion, whenever I
tell strangers that I grow orchids, they usually say something to the
effect
that they couldn't possibly manage it. Does anyone out here know or care
to
speculate how this misconception took hold? Why do orchids have the bad
rep
of being high maintenance, fragile, and difficult?

My husband speculates that the best explanation is that orchid growers are
high maintenance, fragile, and difficult people, and strangers just assume
that the plants have the same qualities as the people who choose to
cultivate them. Hurrumph! Making such comments to one's wife can be
dangerous, especially the day before Valentine's Day. I may require more
than one orchid to be pacified.

Joanna