Quick Phal questions

[anti0918]

1. Can anyone identify the orchid pictured below?

www.inmygarden.org/archives/Phalaenopsiscloseup650x472.jpg


2. Is that exact same type of Phal available on FTD or bigleaforchids.com, or anywhere online, where I could trust it to arrive intact and not die in a week?

FTD: www.ftd.com/514/catalog/product.epl?product_id=C34-3579&search=1

Big Leaf Orchids: http://bigleaforchids.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=47_48

Thanks!

[mayres]

Hardly know where to begin - a fairly short question, but a lot of ways to respond - I'll take an initial shot and others may chime in and add to. Phals are a "type" of orchid. To go down the naming terminology, the next level would be what type of species or in most cases hybrid phal. So your question might be, "does anyone know the name or cross of this phal?" Unfortunately there are loads of unlabeled phals being sold in florists, grocery outlets, big box stores, etc. and many of them are very similar. Unless a particular phal has some very unique characteristic it will be impossible to know exactly which one it is.
There are probably a couple hundred online sources for purchasing online orchids and if you would like folks here to do so - they could suggest 5-6 of their favorites - in particular for purchasing phals. Perhaps one of the best ways to purchase an orchid is during an orchid show where you can buy direct from the vendor and discuss any cultural suggestions and other facts. Of course buying online you have some possible issues with shipping abuse - but the time period between purchase and acquisition is relatively short (which is good). Buying from local "non-orchid" entities is often a bad choice in that the period between leaving the grower and purchase can be fairly long and they are often/usually abused by ignorant but often well meaning employees who don't know how to properly take care of them. If by arriving "intact" do you mean with blossoming flowers? Many vendors try to ship in spike but not actually flowered open yet - a good chance of then blooming out yourself with a healthy plant. If you read many posts you will soon see that a very common phenomena is blooms wilting and falling off when purchasing already in flower. They seem to commonly balk with changes in environment during their flowering period. This doesn't in any way affect the health of the "plant", just the flowering. Some orchid enthusiasts will not even purchase a plant in flower knowing it is not going to last anyway. The ftd route online is WAY too expensive in IMHO. I've read some people like big leaf orchids. Where do you live? The best route may be to find a vendor in your area if possible. Then you would know 100% what kind of plant you are getting. Rather than ramble on I'll wait for a follow-up question. Hope this helps - mike

[anti0918]

Ohio, USA. Can anyone suggest any online orchid stores that stock one similar to the one linked above?

[mayres]

There may be others, but I did see there is a place called Orchids by Ohlman that wholesales loads of phalaenopsis throughout your area. I'm not sure if you can get them from them directly or not, but you might be able to find out where they distribute in your area? They have an email contact on their website where you could ask a few questions - an idea for starters and hopefully you will get some more ideas soon from others - checkout their site here - http://www.orchidsbyohlman.com/index.html. Orchids by Hausermann ships some really great plants from Illinois - would be fairly close. Don't know where in Ohio you live, but noticed there is a Central Ohio Orchid Society in Columbus and an Akron Orchid Society that would be great potential contacts to locate and learn about orchids.

[anti0918]

Thanks! I'll look into Orchids by Ohlman.

[Ellen]

It is highly unlikely that you could ever ID a hybrid phal from a photo, but you should have no trouble finding one that looks just like it at one of your local stores. In my opinion, you're far better off going to your local box store or supermarket and buying a phal that you select yourself for 12.99 than ordering some sort of generic "white phal" or "purple phal" from an online place that charges $39 on up for them. You can always check with the local stores and find out when they're getting a new shipment of orchids. A word of caution: don't buy an orchid without an ID tag. You or the recipient of the orchid may regret it later. It would be especially unfortunate to pay the big bucks for a NoID plant.