Orchid Organizational Skills

[articuno75]

Okay how does everyone do it? I only have 12 plus orchids and each one calls for different care at different times with watering, misting and fertilizer patterns at different times of the day blah, blah, blah you know what I'm talking about. I keep a log book for changes on my babies. Days they bloom, something drastic happens, repot. Does anyone else do this? How do the members with gigantic collections keep track I think this would be helpful and good to know for all members

[mayres]

Needless to day, the more plants you have the less individual attention any of them get. Same with different genera to some extent. I have approx. 120 plants and I do not vary my care as much as I should for each genera. The challenge is to find a happy medium and then collect plants that will tolerate the conditions that you can provide for the group - hopefully the bulk of the plants get what they want - a few get a little less - a few a little more. I have mine subdivided into low light vs. higher light, high water vs. lower water - other than that they pretty much are on their own. I track the repotting, spiking, blooming, etc. with an Microsoft Access Database - works great.

[PhalPal]

I started and have continued my collection by getting only those orchids that fit well into my conditions and lifestyle. I do like Mike said above, and if something is too fussy and is not able to handle a little variance in what it optimally needs, I just won't buy it to begin with. Yes, this can be hard but I DO have a life outside of my orchid hobby and like to travel too much.

The only criteria I try very carefully to provide is temperature range and light.

[robb]

I have 28 orchids, and the easiest way I found so far to track them all, is just get the same kinds! 26 Phalaenopsis and 2 Cymbidiums. Easy as pie, plus I use Mike's database for recording observations.

[Tobi]

Since I have gotten into more variety in my orchid collection, I have spent more time
trying to accommodate their conditions. However, I like Mike try to compromise my
caretaking to a more general time for watering and feeding. I have them on an excel
spreadsheet and keep records of watering, feeding, repotting and bloom times.

[Ellen]

You will find that as your orchid population grows, your care methods evolve correspondingly. I started off about 20 years ago with 3 catts in my office that I would inspect and meditate over on a daily basis. I now have an uncountable number of plants (thousands, with a high turnover rate since I sell them), so I basically have two areas - one a bit cooler and damper and the other a bit warmer and drier. Both basically get high light that can be modulated by use of shade cloth. Plants go in one or the other space and get fairly standardized care. Within each space there are microclimates (e.g., a shady cool area low in the greenhouse for pleurothallids, a bright warm area high in the greenhouse for catts and vandas, and a special corner area for plants that need a dry rest in winter. Plants are treated as groups, not individuals, although I do make the rounds every day looking for individuals that show signs of a possible problem. These will be pulled and treated as necessary, getting individual attention until ready to go back to the group. If not worth saving, I toss them. Maybe it sounds cold hearted, but it's better to euthanize one sick seedling than spend a lot of time trying to diagnose and cure it and/or risk having it infect other plants. As time goes on, I am also becoming increasingly discriminating about buying plants from outside sources, prefering to grow my own from flask. That's going to be a long process, but it's slowly happening. Your orchid growing will probably never evolve to this level of craziness, but it's likely that you will start grouping plants that need similar care.

[slippery_biscuit]

The more plants you accumulate, the less you will micromanage them individually, and the more you will manage them as groups. As with most who have written here, I've tried to limit my plants to those that can survive in the conditions I have provided.

As you increase you holdings, maybe try to think of your growing conditions first, then look for qualifying plants. You'll see lots of plants that would be nice to have, but not practical.

[cupcake]

Up till this July I had 3 phaelonopsis. I didn't even realise they were warm growers! All of a sudden I have 21 chids! This is their 1st winter and I am really nervous! I have mostly cool growers , buragearea, oncidium, etc and I am hoping they will all flower again. I have however 2 baby catts and hate to think what I am doing to them.Heyho! I will post my results! I always thought orchids were too picky to grow, which shows how much I knew!

[kot444]

I have about 70 orchids and less than one year of experience, so I keep my records on Excel file with first tab assigned to the list with general information: dates of purchase, repot, spike start, bloom start and finish, type of mix and cultural notes (here I do some grouping) of temperature, humidity, light, flowering season and comments on tricks and tips when I find some additional info on Internet from successful growers. On other tabs I keep track of watering, temperature and humidity in growing area - which I'm not going to do forever, just to establish some pattern for my growing environment, and wish list.

[kmarch]

I used to have a sheet for each plant, I had developed my own form, which contained the name of the plant, when and wehre I got it, how much it cost, any unique cultural requirements, and notes on when theystarted growth cycles and bloomed. I managed to keep this up until I had about 100 orchids, then it just became too much. A detailed record of your orchids can be fun but isn't necessary. I still have an inventory list in Excel but I never keep track of their activities any more.

[orchid_girl]

I have about 15 now. I just det the ones that fit into my life. I have two small kids, one big kid (hubby) and a love to travel so I try to keep things easy. I have 3 phals, 2 vandas, the rest are dens. So far I have not had any problems taking care of them in my lifestyle.

[PhalPal]

Something I did not mention in my previous post is that I have a 'cheat sheet' with all the basic cultural facts for each different type of orchid I have. I list what would be IDEAL for each type. I have high/low temps, light requirements, humidity, watering, preferred medium, and any other special requirements such as 'chill phals for 3-4 weeks in the fall.' Since I only have six different genera I have all this information on one sheet and no longer find myself looking up specific information up every time the season changes.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Here is an old post on the subject. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Orchid Spread Sheet General Care
I have all 1000 orchid plants recorded in an excel file with as much info as I can fit on one line, and keep it up religiously.