A really NEW newbie..lol

[luuckyluciano]

hi everyone, not only am i new to this forum , but i know nothing about orchids, i bought my first one yesterday , its a Dendrobium Oriental Smile 'Fantasy' , the lady at the nursery told me its a good one for a newbie... so if anyone can direct me to where i can read up on orchids and whats what with them i would be sooo thankful!!!! so thanx in advance!
chrissy

[Sharyn]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You have a beautiful dendrobium. If you run a search here on the forum for "Oriental Smiles" you'll find several threads addressing this type of den. Also, try this link from Yamamoto for some cultural tips. WholesalePhotoGallery

[jay]

Hello and welcome to the forum. It will help members give advice if you could go to your profile and enter your location. We are from all over the world with very different growing conditions. Knowing what you are working with will help us give accurate advice.

Do you have any pictures of your orchid yet? We love pictures.

[fred]

Hi chrissy
welcome to the forum
you would like to learn about orchids well you have come to the right place I am sure our caring and knowledgeable members will help you there.

Also I agree with Jay regarding your Location if you don't know how to do that you can go into your UserCP at the top left of the page click that a menu will drop and then you click Edit Profile scroll down and you will see Location please fill that in and scroll down and click save.

that will help us to understand your growing conditions as we have members from all over the world with different growing conditions also that will help us to give you the right advice.

[jerrymeola]

Den Oriental Smiles is easy to grow. It will take 25 degree weather and not lose flowers and go as high as 100. It can take full sun without shade and can flower in shade as well, It flowers better with the most sun you can give it, It does not rot if you flood it with water and can go months without water.

It has one very important characteristic you should have been told. It will lose every leaf every year. They turn yellow and fall off. That is the way the plant grows, it is not dying.

It also needs 50 degree nights to flower. If you grow it outside it will find a good month to flower. Normally they flower in March ( they are one of the latest Nobile Dendrobium) If the weather is very warm during the winter it may flower later. I still have a few budding.

[kid a]

hi, welcome to the forum! I think several of our member s have oriental smiles. A note of warning: we are orchid addicts and if you aren't already you will be very soon! Also the best advice I can give you is to ask a lot of questions. Its easy to loose track of time while reading and posting in here! And oh yeah, we love pictures!

[luuckyluciano]

oh very nice to meet all of u , thank u for responding! : ok i did it just now and i put my beautiful orchid as my pic.. lol.. i have other pics just trying to get used to the navigation of this site.. , i have to admit seeing all the abr. for the orchids.. i am a little lost.. which one loses leaves and which ones dont.. ect.. i am VERY excited though.. i also am kinda confused on the watering and when to water and how much and how..??? .. i bought this orchid in san diego yesterday.. and i live in banning.. well my conditions are somewhat desert... i live like 18 miles from Palm Springs but we do have pastures here and kalitchi clay for dirt.(sp?) .. not desert sand. anyway i have my new girl (i dunno it just looks like a girl) in the house my average temp in here is 74 to 78 degrees, if its real hot we set our A/C to 73, the orchid is near an air conditioning vent,.. although i dont have the air on that much yet.. maybe twice a week should i move her away from it? and do i need to give her humidity somehow?.. as u can see i am very confused.. lol.
really ANY info would be sucked right into my brain like a sponge...lol

[luuckyluciano]

ohhh i am so glad to hear i bought one that is soooo hardy... wow i can grow her outside.. , that would prob be the best but in her pot i imagine.. because we do get 120 + degree temps out here in this semi desert ... so i would have to bring her in in aug thru sept ... and put her outside for winter.. i think the lowest we normally get is 32 degrees in the winter.. but if it calls for colder weather again i can bring her in or would that not be good to take her from normally 32/36 degree weather into 74 degree heated house? what would i do then? i do have a wood barn/shed i could put her in during those times.. and i have to tell u guys.. i dont normally have an addictive behavior with booze or ciggys.. but flowers , gardens...ect. im real baaaaaaad... i mean REAL bad... i almost bought two other orchids but wanted to make sure i could take care of this one.. i grow plants and flowers easily , from seed or bulb or rooting.. whatever i am usually pretty good but i gotta say orchids scare me .. they are like the ultimate scarey plan/flower to grow.. i have heard nothing but horror storys on growing them and then never blooming once u buy them... but i am ready now to learn and try it.. because really to me they are one of the most beautiful , sometimes freaky looking flowers out there.. i loooooove them.. i just have to have them.. so u guys are my mentors.. lol so happy i found this site.. isnt google great???? lol

[Orchidementia]

I'm very new to this forum, but less new to orchids - I've been living with them for about a year and a half, with only two fatalities (I have at least a dozen). I just wanted to tell you that know from my own personal experience, it's possible to know ~zero~ about orchids and have them live! My very first orchid, a phalaenopsis, survived me under- and over-watering it, root loss and probably a zillion other things I did wrong to it and it's still alive! Either I'm lucking out and buying super-tough orchids, or they're not quite as tricky as rumor has it. Maybe Nero Wolfe is to blame.

[luuckyluciano]

wonderful... i wanted to buy several but wanted to make sure i could take care of this one.. where do u guys buy ur orchids.. do u find it best to buy in a nursery or is there a good online store u guys trust?

[patticake]

There are many nurserys such as Oak Hill. I've found many on-line by googleing. New World is awesome, although a little pricey. Carter and Holmes has some great plants, too. If you like Paphiopedilums, Piping Rock orchids are great! There are MANY places.
Our own Jerry Meola carries LOTS of plants, and is very fair in price.
Glad to have you with us!

I like the book Orchids for Dummies. There are tons of books on Amazon, in book stores, and the library. "Dummies" is a great book to start with- It explains all the abrs. etc.- I started with one plant, and read all about it. When I didn't kill it, I did the same with another, etc.. Different varieties and species, require different conditions. Learn one at a time, and you won't be so overwhelmed.

[fred]

for starters send our Super Moderator jerrymeola a PM and have a word to him as he may be able to help you out.
plus a couple of links to help you
http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/orc...commended.html
Oak Hill Gardens

[jay]

We are practically neighbors Chrissy! I live in Palm Springs.

As for humidity, I use humidity trays to help and try to mist them daily when the sun is not on them. I do struggle in the winter with humidity since it is usually in the teens or lower. This next winter I am going to had a good humidifier.

[Orchidementia]

I'm still new to the world of orchids, so I usually get mine at ... Trader Joe's. They have some gorgeous plants and the price is quite nice, so if I do end up murdering it, I haven't lost a lot of money. My husband just found out that his favorite scent and flavor comes from orchids (vanilla), so I may be asking for advice about real orchid sellers in the future.

[luuckyluciano]

thanx guys for the links, jay, yes u are just a hop skip and a jump from me.. r u familiar with banning? we dont really live in banning we live kinda in riverside county but they have our address in banning.. we live in the Dysart ranch area.. kinda behind Sunlakes country club.. so we arent in the small city of banning but on the outskirts.. yes i have been looking up the care of orchids and the different kinds.. i like ur suggestion patticake about the orchids for dummies.. lol.. i may get that book.. lol..

ok now here's the thing i went to walgreens today and they actually had orchids.. and for 12.95 !!!!! now how could i pass that up , it was soooo pretty and it was calling me.. saying buy me BUUYYYYY ME... so i did... its called Leopard Prince its a phalaenopsis, it says on the tag to not let it dry out.. so i assume i hav e to water it at least once a week???

[fred]

luucky
this is where the AOS culture information will help you with your Phals please see link

AOS | Phalaenopsis

the below link is to our section called Orchid Care Cultivation you will find a lot of information there also.
Orchid Care Cultivation - Orchid Forum Orchid Care

[jay]

This is also a good method of knowing when to method called the skewer method.

This will help with all of your orchids. Just keep in mind that some you will wait for the skewer to dry out, some you will wait for it to get cool but not still wet.

I am afraid I don't know the Banning area that well. I know only that I pass it on the highway when going west and it is near the Cabazon casino.

[luuckyluciano]

what is a "sticky" and how does it work?

[fred]

luucky

have a look at this link that will show you all the "Sticky" threads in that section.
Orchid Care Cultivation - Orchid Forum Orchid Care
the ones that are "sticky" are considered important and they are threads that we do not want lost in between the normal threads.

A "Sticky" is also made by the Forum Staff Members Only.
A Sticky may also be important information that you may need to know from the Forum Staff.

Also if a member refers to a sticky you know what is being said ( a thread that is sticky )

If you see what you may think is important information that you think all the members could use to help with orchid knowledge you may also suggest the thread be made "Sticky"