Welcome to the forum. We'll be glad to help. Don't be intimidated, Orchids are just like any other plants, they grow one pot at a time.

Hey, thum! I like your enthusiasm :). And I agree with richard -- you'll do fine. Actually I think people learn faster when they start off with several of the same type, so you're on the right track.

When you can, add a zonal or other indication of where you are to your ID, give us an idea of what conditions you are coping with.

Thanks for the welcome guys! I tried to add a zone last night but it only had them for the US. I'll play with the tags and stuff later today so you can see that info as I post.

But to answer your question now, Mehitabel, I'm about an hour outside of Sydney (Australia) at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Our temps go from 40 C in summer down to about -3 C (at night) in winter, so I've tried to buy my babies from places that specialize in growing genus' in similar conditions.
The only one that I bought out of awe was my first orchid, a great big 4 1/2 foot cymbidium (who came with an unfortunate case of root rot..... I had to cut about 70% of her root system out in order to save her. Hopefully she'll survive, so far she's looking healthy but it was only 3 weeks ago).

I've been a lurker for a while and I'd like to thank you guys for the advice you've given me without knowing it, its been great!

Hi and welcome to the forum. Since you've tackled 'surgery' on a 4 1/2' cym, I'd say you're going to do fine. I love the beautiful cyms, but they're a plant that I can't seem to grow successfully.

Happy growing, Sheila :)

welcome! cymbidiums is also my favourite. one of my first orchid purchases was also a standard cym. in a 10" pot. so far, it has bloomed for me every year. don't know the name of it because i bought it at a large grocery store.
sue

Potential black thumb,

Welcome! Much of Australia as similar climate to my Southern California. However, it sounds like you have far extreme temperature variations. We have an average of 5 C in the winter (at night) and summer high of 30 C.
But your negative C means that you get well below freezing in the winter. So in either case of cymbidiums or oncidiums must be in a greenhouse or in the house for protection during the winter. Summer sounds fine, but it seems that it gets pretty hot. You plants can summer outside, but need to be under shade cloth or lath with good air movement and spritzed. Cymbidiums like a lot of light, but their "feet" cool. So they are usually grown very close to the ground (not in the ground) but on a gravel bed, or raised on low benches.
The oncidiums are epyphites so they can grow in pots higher up on the bench, or even mounted on cork or cedar planks. (If mounted, they require to be watered more frequently than if they were in pots.) You don't state what kind of oncidium alliance you have, but most are intermediate temp growers and like a good amount of light. Good luck and have fun.

Thanks so much for the warm welcome guys! I come bearing gifts:

(please excuse the atrocious housekeeping...... Also the 2 pixel mobile phone camera....)

Here's the lady in recovery:

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And her bulbs, repleat with cinnamon powder to help the rotted ones:

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And this is my lovely new Colmanara Wildcat, allegedly called 'Bloodshot', but he looks like a Bobcat to me:

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{{gwi:165468}}

Sorry to hear that Sheila, they sure are impressive, aren't they? Pure majesty these fellows. Sue, this girl is only slightly smaller, she came in an 8" stretched to 9" pot, I've upped her to 10" now, didn't get her name either, was lucky to find out she was a cym! And to give you guys an idea of the condition she was in, while I was getting rid of a lovely layer of "mulch" I found a cigarette butt in the mix.... The only thing that saved her from tobacco mosaic virus would've been the piece of gum stuck in the end of the thing. I'm not ashamed to say I cried.....

Toyo, I was giving absolute max and min temperatures. Our average would be very similar, although it can get quite harsh here, it does sometimes snow ever so slightly up the Mountains, and we get the freezing air down here. And we're in a valley, so in Summer its truly scorching (honestly, I've wished I was in the desert sometimes for a cool change....). But I am planning on keeping them all inside, too beautiful to put out there with the bugs.

As for the Oncidiums I'll list them for you:

Oncidium Sharry Baby (huge girl, 10 bulbs at least)

Colmanara Wildcat Bloodshot (the fella in the pics)

And then there's these ones that I picked up bare rooted and hardly more than seedlings:

Miltassia Shazam ÂAC DCÂ

1 Beallara Marfitch 'Unicorn Splendor'

2 Beallara Spidermann 'Teflon 2'

3 Colmanara Jungle Monarch 'Tarzan'

4 Colmanara Wildcat 'Florafest'

5 Degamoara Flying High 'Concorde'

6 Miltonia spectabilis var. moreliana 'Big Ben'

7 Miltonidium Bartley Schwarz 'Big Bart'

8 Miltonidium Issaku Nagata 'Red Dove' HCC/AOS

9 Odontocidium Mayfair ÂGolden Gate HCC AOS

10 Oncidium Sharry Baby 'Freckles'

At AU$48 for 10 I figured it was worth giving them a go, even if a few aren't perfect.