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what spieces is best?

mabudon

Metal King
I want to grow orchids at home but I dont want to do too many tricks, like getting high humidity and stuff.

My house is kinda dry but we get humid summers.

What species would do well with pretty much minimal care (and ideally grow pretty quick, maybe flower kinda often and aren't really expensive)

I'm thinking of getting one of those little Home Depot "starter" ones, that come in the clamshell package like VFTs usually do

Any suggestions??
 
You should get a Phal. I have one and it's pretty easy, I just mist it once every day and water it every two weeks. It's my first orchid and so far so good.
 
Okay, that is what I was sorta expecting- that care regimen sounds do-able
smile.gif

Thanks for the response!
 
Paphs are easy, too and remind me of cps more.
 
Oncidiums can be absolutly bomb proof for some individuals. my most abused plant in the house is an Oncidium orchid, blooms about every 3 months too
 
Any of those mentioned so far are good choices, so maybe start with whichever you like best or you find cheap.  I can grow Phals almost as easily as I grow dandelions, but I do terribly with Oncidiums.  My first orchids were quick-sale Dendrobiums and they never did well.  But I tried others, not knowing what I was doing, and started learning which orchids I grow well and which ones I don't.
 
If you want easy I wouldn't start with a species orchid. Go with a hybred. Many hybreds can bloom more than once a year and are less picky than most species. You really do not want to get a species Phal. Most are picky. The easy ones folks are talking about are the hybreds. Those can be easy, but read up on them. Letting water stand in the crown can lead to crown rot. Almost all orchids require good air movement, but there some that can do ok with less air movement. I would say get a cymbidium. They can go outside and get full sun till about noon then you want them to have some protection from the non time sun till about 4 or 5. Then ful sun til dark. They can take down till just above freezing and even though they bloom once a year they grow fast and can even be planted in dirt. They are yard plantrs in Fla and Cali. I have found gongora to be an easy species for me and did well in my house. It blooms once a year though. I wouls stay away from Catt, Phal, and Den species. Hybreds are ok, but the species require more strict culture and not recomended for beginners. I hear Paphs are eays the hybred anyways, but they ar not for everyone. I have problems with getting even the hybreds to flower, but some people do great with them. The light range for orchids go from 800 foot candles to about 3000 foot candles to a few that can take full sun at about 6000 foot candles. You just need to read up on them. If your just itching to start though anything you see for sale at walmart, lowes or Home Depot will be the easy ones to grow. I haven't ever seen any species there, but I have heard that some stores do get them from time to time, but they are generaly the easier ones to grow.
 
Thanks everyone!!
My wife (who is the actual "interested party") just came back from the local supermarket and said that they had a big pile of different coloured-flowering phals (meaning, I would suspect, "non species" hybrids) so I guess we would be safe with one of them...

cymbidium sounds intriguing too, I will keep on the lookout for such a thing , and wil always have this thread for quick reference, thanks so much for all the responses (now you can begin the countdown to "What is wrong with my (insert name of Orchid I decided to try)" thread penned by yours truly)
 
LOL no problem Mabudon. Yes you can pretty much garentee that any orchid you buy from a store like walmart or lowes or HD is a hybred and is a good start. I used to buy alot of the ones from lowes that were discounted because they were about dead, just to see if I could revive them. I wouldn;t buy the ones that had obviously both roots in the grave, but were just severly neglected. It builds confidence when you bring it back to health and flower it. I accualy killed my first cymbidium but just aquired 2 more from a friend. I accualy killed phals in the begining too. I overwatered and was growing in the house. So be careful not to do that. If you do not have high airmovement then they take longer to dry out. Orchids are almost exactly opposite from CPs. Not always, but alot of ways. One decline of my first cymbid was that I let it stay out in full sun all day long and kept it too dry. I cooked it and bourght it back from a back Pbulb and killed it again by letting it stay too dry. Like I said my Gh drys quickly because it has ALOT of airmovement and I don;t have a wetwall. I guess thats how I am able to grow in sphag when many growers say GA environment is not good for growing in sphag. Well, nothing is in stone with orchids. A friend of mine is starting to grow her catts bare root, or she said she was anyways. The best thing I can advise is read read read. There is alot on the internet and then you need to kill a few plants. The best orchid grower kills a few plants from time to time. Thats why I recomend the throw away hybred from the DIT stores to start with. Yes they are pretty, but they are mass clones of the parent plant. Once you read read and read read some more untill you can recite much of the stuff said about orchids and then use that as a guideline. My favorite saying is nothing about orchids is written in stone. What works for me may not work for my neighbor right next door. You have to take the advice and then mold it to your growing style. Never take anything as gospel because once you do and follow someones advice to a tee you will kill your plant. You have to learn to read your plant and listen to what its telling you. Thats what makes a good grower. Your orchid will give you signs on what to do for it, and thats where buying the cheap orchids from walmart come in. If you kill those your not out much, but start buying the species and harder to grow orchids and you could be out alot more than you like. Do not get discoraged if you kill some. It is going to happen, and even the most experianced kill some from time to time. Your going to have some that just will not flower. I have 2 Maxilaria species that I can;t get to flower to sav my life, but that happens. Some people can;t grow this that or the other plant. Its trial and error. So feel free to ask any question you want bro. Orchid can be easy if you put forth the effort to learn about them and learn how to read them. Goodluck!! Oh and Phals like between 800 to 1500 footcandles of light. The best results at about 1000 foot candles. And to get them to reflower after the spike is finished you can cut it back to about 2 mm above the first dorment node and it might branch. If the spike is spent and dies away to get it to reflower you need to give it a cold spell in the winter. Let it get down to 55 degrees for a few weeks and once you see a spike started you don;t let it get colder than 60. Thats what a phal guy told me and he rents the things during masters week so he know how to grow them, but again thats a guideline and not gospel. Have fun.
 
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