$50 ages ago on Paphiopedilum Wintston Churchill 'Indomitable'. Hate to think how much i have spent over the years on my orchid hobby.

Actually the plants are not all that expensive and you always get a little bit back each year by selling divisions or seedlings that do not come up to expectations.

P. Mini Mark 'Maria Teresa', 10/06, $45, NCOS show (Orchidphile)

Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Lynette', 10/06, $50, NCOS show (Floradise)

Cyc. chlorochilon X Cycd. Jumbo Micky, 12/06, $45, NCOS meet (Orchid Enterprise)

Grammatophyllum scriptum var. kiilani, 10/07, $50, NCOS show (Orchidphile)

20/20 hindsight tells me that Orchidphile has good quality but is EXPENSIVE !!

C-

All of the orchids I've purchased are reasonable, under $40. The problem comes when I buy more than one at once. That is pricey.

Sarah

I've got you all beat - I spent $125 at our show this year for a gorgeous, blooming Paph. (primulinum x sanderianum) x rothschildianum. Gorgeous yellow multifloral, flowers easily 7" across. It was truly love at first sight!

Julie

i'm still a newbie, so I can't justify spending that much yet (I want to make sure I can keep them alive first! LOL) the most I've spent is $20 on my Taida Phal Little Emperor.

I purchased a large (10" pot - 3 and 5 spikes)Cymbidium from a vendor (I think their name is Raritan Valley something or other) at the Philly Flower Show for $60 this year and the previous year.

I also purchased a Green Hornet from Waldor at the Flower show this year for $40. Best money I ever spent on an orchid. It originally had 3 spikes, which are all out of bloom, but put up 4 more spikes before the original 3 died. So, it's been blooming for 5 months and I'm guessing I have at least another month or two from the buds that are continuing to form.

Let's see...I think the r/o system was somewhat less than $300. I think the misting system was also a bit less than $300. When I get a sunroom/greenhouse built, that will be between $20,000 and $30,000 in theory. Trip to Chicago for orchid show, botanical garden visits, hotel, food, maybe...$2000 or so.

Oh did you mean plants? They're cheap...

Sujewel, what GENUS is your Green Hornet ? I'm not familiar with the hybrid name but it sounds interesting ! I have a Greenbird 'Brilliant', and a Netrasiri Fine-Green, see what I mean ? The first is an Eplc. (I refuse to even think about the NEW re-names !) and the second is an Epc., so what's yours ?

Mrbreeze, your plants won't like you if you think of them that way ! I know I wouldn't if I was one !! :D

Chryss

$50 on a Hunleya meleagris from White Oak Orchids. Worth every penny. I really want a Phal. gigantea so I guess that will be my next "paid most for". Going to break down and get one blooming size. Don't want to wait 10 yrs for blooms!

Chryss.

Mine is an Encyclia.

Here's what it looked like when I purchased it:

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Here's what it looks like now:

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The most I've ever spent on a single orchid was 55 dollars. But, Mr.B has the real deal there, it's the stuff. Thing about Florida and 'winter' is.......it will be 40 degrees tonight, 80 degrees the next day. So for me it wasn't like - winter/indoors - summer/outdoors. It was a LOT of in and out in winter. A LOT. And then one day as my husband was (rolling his eyes, helping me lug orchids in - again) he said, "you need a greenhouse" ........I agreed....lol......

And there you go. I got the greenhouse, then I needed a shade house attached to it - then there's fans, thermostats, humistats, shade cloth, timers, vent openers, r/o system, rain barrels, fert barrel, pumps, sprayers, misting systems, sprinklers systems, systems to back-up the systems, an auto generator in case a hurricane (or whatever) knocks my power out for two weeks (been there, done that) and a ton of other "stuff" .....
You are talking about a butt-load of money. When you get it all running right, it's WONDERFUL!! But the up-front investment in all that "stuff" makes the cost of the orchids themselves fade into the distance!

Pat.....

1/2 of $2,900 for a large D speciosum 'Daylight Moon' FCC/AOC. I tried to block out my name etc and post this anonymously but that of course is not possible. 1/2 of the plant is hanging in my backyard sulking over the fact that it has been yanked out of its beloved Australia and thrust into the Northern Hemisphere where everything is back asswards.

That's why I bought the '$80cents a gallon' Moped as I can't afford to buy gas anymore. On the other hand, my car doubles in value everytime I fill it up with gas so maybe I'll do that with the next stimulus check.

Nick

{{gwi:190855}}The most I have spent is $750 for a group of 5 Laelia anceps, I don't remember exactly how they split out. Now that some years have past I have divisions and am getting my money back and still have a piece for my collection.

I see I need a new picture of this one. It is in spike and will be the first of my several anceps varieties to bloom. One of the varieties has a short spike, but I can't remember which one.

The most I've spent was $75 for a nbs Paph. dianthum. Then there was my first orchid purchace ever back a few years ago when I knew absolutely nothing...that dressed up, in full bloom noid white Phal bought from the local florist for $60. Gorgeous I thought at the time, but in retrospect definately not worth what I paid. It's a reliable bloomer at least, and spikes again as soon as I cut off the old one.

I paid around $24 for my first orchid, a purple Phal... which died of root rot not long after buying it.

Counsellor summed it up pretty good... I want to be sure I can keep them alive before I spend a lot of money!

Most of my orchids are keikis from friends, or were reasonably priced young plants.

I am, however, attending the Chicagoland Orchid Festival later this summer, and I expect to drop some coin... not a lot, but some!

Gorgeous Green Hornet, by the way!

$425 for a Cattleya walkeriana. Pretty big money for a few others too, but they're divisions of outstanding Brazilian cultivars. I'm gradually transforming my collection from a whole bunch of ordinary species Cattleyas to a small number of exceptional ones.

Hi
I can tell I'm lucky as I have absolutely no taste lol.
I refuse to go over 20 bucks lol. I go to the shows on the last day and look for broken ones . 20 of my orchids were originally given to me. I'm lucky that I live in an area with sooo many dealers so I can do a lot of comparison shopping. Ever notice that when you buy a plant within a week you'll find the same plant at half the price ?? lol
I did pay 150 bucks once but was a palm not an orchid .
gary

I shudder to think of all the money I've spent on plants...the most I've paid for a single plant would have to be a dendrobium cariniferum, $50 with shipping.

I too agree with Mr. B - it's the supplies! I dropped over 100 for my T5s a few months ago....and before my credit card even had a chance to cool down, I've gone and spent another couple hundred on a misting system. YIKES! Time to enroll myself in more of those university studies for pocket money!