Joanna, my problem is how to limit the collection size. Each time I
bought "just one more" shelf, my intention was to stop there - just
using the available shelf space to accommodate the plants comfortably.
But there was always that little bit of extra space available - till
overcrowding meant yet another shelf! Is it just weak will? I prefer
to rationalise it as a serious love of orchids. I'm sure nearly all
of us here suffer similarly.

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 14:22:56 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

This post was inspired by Dave Gillingham's moving story in the Who We Are
thread (which by the way I continue to enjoy immensely, and am very glad to
read each new post there).

Dave's story makes me wonder what the cutoff point is for when a collection
becomes to large to rejoice over every individual plant's new leaf, new
root, and new spike. My collection currently consists of 31 orchids, and I
still watch every one carefully and rejoice over each activity of each
plant.

I know that Claude also does that, and I have the impression that Claude's
collection is somewhat larger than mine, though I'm not sure about that. I
checked Claude's post in Who We Are as well as Claude's Web site, but I did
not see the total number of plants in your collection, Claude?

Anyway, it appears that somewhere between 31 plants (my current number) and
about 200 (Dave's current number) one can no longer keep track of each as an
individual and rejoice in each one. I wonder what the cutoff number is? Of
course, I know that this cutoff will vary somewhat based on the individual's
determination and the amount of time available to spend with plants and
maybe some other variables, but: What is the largest number of orchids in a
collection that a single human being can report keeping track of in an
individualized way, rejoicing over each one's activity?

This is not just a rhetorical question. I really want to know. And then I
will try not to exceed that number if at all possible. Well, probably it
will not be possible since I am an orchid addict and I feel the craving for
new orchids at most a month after the last orchid was bought. But I might
try to postpone the inevitable if I know that exceeding x amount will lead
to a dire consequence such as the de-indivualization of individual orchids.

Joanna


Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

I have some 1500 orchids in the greenhouse...and I travel 5 days a week.
So I can not look at each one every day. What I do is use a set of red
plant tags to mark where I am in picking up and looking at plants, so
that they each get looked at regularly. (I start at one end of the bench
and work across). I also use neon green tags to indicate plants that
should have special care (new spike, loss of root mass, etc). I have
about 40 plants with green tags right now (most are in that happy spike
phase). I have an isolation bench for plants with problems so they do
not infect others.

Doug

In article ,
Dave Gillingham wrote:

Joanna, my problem is how to limit the collection size. Each time I
bought "just one more" shelf, my intention was to stop there - just
using the available shelf space to accommodate the plants comfortably.
But there was always that little bit of extra space available - till
overcrowding meant yet another shelf! Is it just weak will? I prefer
to rationalise it as a serious love of orchids. I'm sure nearly all
of us here suffer similarly.

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 14:22:56 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

This post was inspired by Dave Gillingham's moving story in the Who We Are
thread (which by the way I continue to enjoy immensely, and am very glad to
read each new post there).

Dave's story makes me wonder what the cutoff point is for when a collection
becomes to large to rejoice over every individual plant's new leaf, new
root, and new spike. My collection currently consists of 31 orchids, and I
still watch every one carefully and rejoice over each activity of each
plant.

I know that Claude also does that, and I have the impression that Claude's
collection is somewhat larger than mine, though I'm not sure about that. I
checked Claude's post in Who We Are as well as Claude's Web site, but I did
not see the total number of plants in your collection, Claude?

Anyway, it appears that somewhere between 31 plants (my current number) and
about 200 (Dave's current number) one can no longer keep track of each as an
individual and rejoice in each one. I wonder what the cutoff number is? Of
course, I know that this cutoff will vary somewhat based on the individual's
determination and the amount of time available to spend with plants and
maybe some other variables, but: What is the largest number of orchids in a
collection that a single human being can report keeping track of in an
individualized way, rejoicing over each one's activity?

This is not just a rhetorical question. I really want to know. And then I
will try not to exceed that number if at all possible. Well, probably it
will not be possible since I am an orchid addict and I feel the craving for
new orchids at most a month after the last orchid was bought. But I might
try to postpone the inevitable if I know that exceeding x amount will lead
to a dire consequence such as the de-indivualization of individual orchids.

Joanna


Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

It's been interesting listening to the responses to this thread. You people
(me included) just can't stop, can you?

I think Joe Kunisch said it best....

"You can get off alcohol, drugs, women, food, and cars, but once you're
hooked on orchids, you're finished.
You never get off orchids...never." Joe Kunisch, Bloomfield Orchids


"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
Joanna, my problem is how to limit the collection size. Each time I
bought "just one more" shelf, my intention was to stop there - just
using the available shelf space to accommodate the plants comfortably.
But there was always that little bit of extra space available - till
overcrowding meant yet another shelf! Is it just weak will? I prefer
to rationalise it as a serious love of orchids. I'm sure nearly all
of us here suffer similarly.

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 14:22:56 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

This post was inspired by Dave Gillingham's moving story in the Who We Are
thread (which by the way I continue to enjoy immensely, and am very glad
to
read each new post there).

Dave's story makes me wonder what the cutoff point is for when a
collection
becomes to large to rejoice over every individual plant's new leaf, new
root, and new spike. My collection currently consists of 31 orchids, and I
still watch every one carefully and rejoice over each activity of each
plant.

I know that Claude also does that, and I have the impression that Claude's
collection is somewhat larger than mine, though I'm not sure about that. I
checked Claude's post in Who We Are as well as Claude's Web site, but I
did
not see the total number of plants in your collection, Claude?

Anyway, it appears that somewhere between 31 plants (my current number)
and
about 200 (Dave's current number) one can no longer keep track of each as
an
individual and rejoice in each one. I wonder what the cutoff number is? Of
course, I know that this cutoff will vary somewhat based on the
individual's
determination and the amount of time available to spend with plants and
maybe some other variables, but: What is the largest number of orchids in
a
collection that a single human being can report keeping track of in an
individualized way, rejoicing over each one's activity?

This is not just a rhetorical question. I really want to know. And then I
will try not to exceed that number if at all possible. Well, probably it
will not be possible since I am an orchid addict and I feel the craving
for
new orchids at most a month after the last orchid was bought. But I might
try to postpone the inevitable if I know that exceeding x amount will lead
to a dire consequence such as the de-indivualization of individual
orchids.

Joanna


Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.