To be clear, content wise....there's no arguing that this orchid wikia website is currently a less than useful resource. My point is that ingrained in its wikia structure is the potential to become a very great resource.
When wikipedia started there was no way it could compare to the likes of Encyclopedia Britannica. Now it's chalk full of factual information inputted by non experts who have access to expert materials. When I'm researching an orchid and discover its range extends to Mussoorie, wikipedia is the first place I look to learn more about Mussoorie.
None of us are really orchid "experts". But, most of us have access to at least a couple books written by experts. What wikia would allow us to do would be to pool together the facts from our books to create a significant body of orchid knowledge. You know how your local orchid society has such a great library? Well, think of it as creating a virtual orchid society library...except, it would be an orchid forum library.
So far there are only around 8 members of this orchid wikia and it was recently started in December of 2007. If orchidgeeks were to be the first orchid forum to take this orchid wikia by storm then we would be able to help set the standard.
That's how I see it on the "greater good" scale....but well...personally, unless all the orchid geeks were to storm this orchid wikia I'm a bit hesitant as it rubs me the wrong way to have my facts replaced with generalizations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kmarch  I think I know why your post was edited. Although you didn't say it in your post, it looks as though you gave the winter night-time low temperature and the daytime high temperature? If you say an orchid is "cool growing" I automatically know the ideal night-time temp is around 50-55F and the ideal daytime high temp is around 60-70F. It gives me a range of temps to work with and so it provides a little more info than what you posted. |
Actually, perhaps I was a bit vague regarding how I selected those two temperatures. It might be easier if I use an example... say
Melbourne.
If you look at that table you'll notice one row for the "Average high temperature" and one row for the "Average low temperature". Basically I pick the highest temperature in the "Average high temperature" row and the lowest temperature in the "Average low temperature" row to depict the average temperate range for an orchid. The coldest average low temperature in winter and the hottest average high temperature in summer. For Melbourne I would select 78F as the highest average temperature and 41F as the lowest average temperature. That's the same process I used to select 66F and 35F for Coelogyne nitida.
If you read that Coelogyne nitida was a cool grower and took "cool" to mean a low temperatures of 50-55F then you would probably bring your Coelogyne nitida indoors when the temperatures dipped under 50 degrees. But, if you read that the lowest average temperature for nitida was 35F then you would probably feel comfortable leaving it outdoors during your coldest nights.
Coincidently, I received the Clayton book from Kew a day after creating that article. I really like it...it's very nicely laid out and easy to reference.