Hello from San José, CA!

[AmuseMe]

Hi folks.

I'm new to orchids and the forum. Although I am usually a black thumb when it comes to plants, I thought I would see which orchids would survive in my care. I've had most of my (still alive) orchids for less than 4 months, so I hope you can give me some tips in keeping them alive. And maybe steer me toward some that are a bit hardier.

Thanks all!

[BillC]

Hi Nina, welcome to the happy geek show. You will meet lots of nice people who have much experience in the care of the whole spectrum of orchids. Ask the questions and they will give you the answers.

Bill

[Orchidementia]

Hey, neighbor! I'm in the Scummyvale/Mountain View area, and apparently, this is Orchid Heaven for cool/intermediate growers. If you have phals, you can leave them outside and wonders occur! (Don't forget to water them, though!)

What are you growing, how many, and what are you getting next?

[jay]

Hello and welcome to the forum! Glad to have you here. I look forward to hearing about the orchids that you have so far.

[kid a]

Hello! Nice to meet you! We love pictures so if you have some feel free to post them!

[Rocinante]

Hi Nina, welcome! A most important general tip for growing orchids is learning to avoid over-watering them. Over-watering is the easiest and fastest way to kill an orchid!

[butt0n]

Hello and welcome!

[arleneg]

Hi! It's nice to see you post..finally!

Be careful. Many of us are enablers.

[Hummer344]

Howdy Neighbor,
welcome to our backyard. Lots of friendly people and good advice.

[jay]

Amuseme - do you have a preference of genera? You asked about suggestions for hardier ones, if you could narrow down your preferences a little there would be many suggestions.

[AmuseMe]

Thanks for all the welcoming notes!

Since October 2007 or so, I've managed to send quite a few phaleanopsis' to compost, an epi (sorry, Arlene), and an unknown type, but it may have been an oncidium. I don't have any blooming orchids at the moment, but I do have a few that are sprouting new leaves or roots. Yay!

At this moment, I have 5 phals (still new to names, so I can only say colors), 2 cymbidiums, 3 dendrobiums (actually 4, because I split one), and 1 sedirea japonica Nagaron.

I have questions about a few of them, but I will post to their respective forums.

Thanks again for the greetings!

[AmuseMe]

Jay - At the moment, I'm favoring dendrobiums. Only because that's the one that seems to be growing in my care.

I had taken on a kingianum dendrobium because the owner told me that it's hard to kill! I haven't seen much difference in the plant since I bought it (May 2008). Hopefully, that's good news.

[Hummer344]

We all send plants to the compost pile. I, for one, killed many orchids before I got the hang of it. Now I only kill a couple a year. LOL

[solay]

Hello Amuse Me. Welcome and nice to have you on the forum.

[AmuseMe]

Originally Posted by arleneg

Many of us are enablers.

I think I could have guessed that.

[patticake]

Hi, and Good to have you with us! I'll bet you'll be a true geek in no time!