Hello, I'm in central Florida and I am interested to try orchids. I've been gardening herbs for a long time here now. Since I'm new at orchids, I don't have any to trade, but I can trade for items from my online store, where I have hand made soaps, jewelry, tapestry bags, herbal salves, etc. Message me if you are interested. I'm adding a link to where you can see what kind of things I have to trade. Here is a link that might be useful: my online gift shop

I have a plant, it is surviving summer in the coolest, shadiest place in a glasshouse. It is in a small pot that is sitting on a very shallow tray filled with water. I have always had (for at least 20 years) a mature plant or bits and pieces when it became too big and untidy and had to be broken up. Well worth growing not just for the leaves but also for the interesting flowers. Not much help for someone in zone 5 but in general terms this is one of the easier orchids provided you avoid extremes of temperature, dryness and harsh sunlight.

Arthur, it's a 2 sided coin. The strength of a large group allows them to do things that we would like to imitate but cannot. They offer 2 programs each evening, one for beginners and one for the more advanced growers. When we have a speaker talking about Draculas, Masdies and Pleuros, I gringe as I know that 90% of our members cannot grow these things. Other than general interest, a talk like that has no practical value. The raffle plants carted home by people have a low survival rate. The San Diego society has a subgroup of species enthusiasts who meet separately. As many as 30 experienced species growers create a stimulating experience. San Diego has the only huge group I am aware off, I suspect most other metropolitan areas follow the LA pattern of several smaller groups. When the large society puts on a show it's a thing of beauty, our shows are nice but amateurish in comparison. I like our intimate medium sized society but I also see the benefits of a strong group. I guess you cannot have both. In my immediate area, 4 societies are spending 4 speaker fees every month. If that could be combined we could afford to go beyond the local talent and import notables from further away. If we could cooperate to the extent were we would rearrange our meetings to be back to back, that would also help but even that is not possible. Each group's specific night is set in granite as they have met that particular evening for 30 years. Nick

Hi, IÂve posted this message several times and it has been to shown to work for orchids that are to all intents and purposes dead, ie. have no live roots. Fortunately most orchids are designed to suffer severe stress and are some of the few plants that can survive total root loss. First you need to think what caused the rot. The commonest cause in cultivation is a build-up of bacteria/ fungus in the compost due to:- too low temperature/not enough light/ lack of ventilation. The treatment : - you need to cut away ALL the dead tissue with a sterile knife or scissors, wash the whole plant in a mild chlorine or peroxide solution ( no stronger than you would use for a swimming pool for example), then dry with a not too hot hairdryer and place the plant in a fresh, well ventilated place and leave the wounds to recover for 24 hours. There is no need to treat them with anything else*. You must be ruthless in this procedure, however, and be prepared to cut into live tissue. If you leave any infected or moldy part on the plant it will not survive. Get a large jamjar or small transparent sealable plastic container or similar, quarter fill it with fine gravel and add 2-5 tablespoons of water, not enough to reach the top of the gravel. Sterilize the whole by microwaving for about 2-3 minutes. Don't let the water boil away. When it has cooled, put your plant inside the container (its ICU) and seal the lid. It should fog up. Make sure it is not in contact with any base water.This may seem a lot of faff, but the aim is to prevent re-infection with fungus/bacteria, which occurs very easily. Some people use sphagnum moss, but unless there are live roots, there's not a lot of point. Keep everything very warm and well lit but out of direct sunlight. In a couple of months ( if you are lucky - your plant is critically ill) you will see new roots forming. Some orchid species recover better than others. If your plant still has some live roots, cut off those that are dead, as above, dust the wounds lightly with sulphur and wrap the live roots in damp sphagnum moss. Place in a sealed container as above and maintain 100% humidity for at least a month, then replant, preferably not in the medium that was killing it originally and remember my third sentence. *Some people object to the use of these toxic chemicals, which are designed to eliminate bacteria and mold. If you prefer to omit this step, it is very advisable to thoroughly rinse the plant at least once a week with sterile water. Remember also, once you open the sealed container you will be letting in airborne fungal spores, so you need to do it quick. Good luck.