I just can't imagine a life without orchids! After raising them lovingly for years, suddenly I found myself bedridden. When my aide arrived in the AM, I got a "Hi, how are you and I'm taking ten!" She went out to the back yard, quickly checked the orchids and brought any new bloomers onto the patio for me to enjoy before starting my day. It was my incentive for overcoming adversity. When hurricane Wilma flattened and twisted everything, I was ready to just hire a truck to haul the whole mess away. Eight weeks later, members of my favorite orchid society had dug through the mess, salvaged a mess of bedraggled plants and restored things as best they could. A fellow forum member (from Oklahoma) actually sent me over four hundred plants to encourage me to continue! Several society friends still come every week to care for orchids, as I am physically limited in what I can do out there. As they come into bloom, I sell them on the silent auction table at meetings, knowing they are going to good homes. Still about 1500 left, so I don't think I have to plan a "life after orchids"

Seasun, a south window is great, but 5 feet away is too far. You are not giving your phal enough light and it will decline into death if you leave it where it is. Orchids take some time to die, so you'll think you're doing fine, doing ok, maybe not growing like it should. Oh NO!!! What happened to my beautiful orchid???? Here's how where to put the phal figures: phals need about 1000 footcandles of light to grow and bloom. *Outside* at high noon = app 10,000 FC. You are never getting anything near that indoors because of the ceiling and roof of the house cutting off that directly overhead sun. All you are getting is the slanting sun, of much less than 10,000FC. Cut in half by the window glass and screen. Cut in half again *for every foot away from the window*. At 5 feet from your south window you are giving it *100FC or less* by my fairly generous estimate of what your south window actually lets in. In St Louis, I can keep phals *in* a south window with no damage, just far enough from the pane for a shade to slide down. Start moving it closer to the window. The first day move it to about 2 feet from the window. Leave it there a day or two, feeling the leaves where the sun falls on them (if it does). If they are hot, it's too much light, move at least 6" further away. If barely warm or cool, move closer. Repeat above, moving it 6" closer to the window every couple of days til you are at the place where nearer the window = leaves are hot (or it's in the window). There's been a lot of discussion with newbies about how much light to give phals here lately. Mostly newbies wanting to argue for keeping it on an inside wall in a bookcase where it looks great, more experienced growers arguing for more light, LOTS more. Your phal will love you if you do a search for these threads. Use the search function and put in something lilike "phal + light". If you leave it where it is and it dies in 6 months, put it down to needing to learn things the hard way. Actually that's how most of us learned this lesson.

Hi Harrison, Sorry for not being able to get back to you sooner. When growing orchids organically, I find the inoculation or encouragement of beneficial microbes (mainly good bacteria and mycelium) Into the growing medium to be of most importantance. They supply all the necessary nutrients to the plants through their life processes which include dieing and being eaten! The aim would be to establish large enough colonies to sustain the plants and protect them from disease. You can do this largely by watering correctly for the type of orchid you have with reverse osmosis water or rain water and avoiding the chemicals that prevent beneficials from establishing themselves. You can also add probiotics to the water. If you do a google search you can find probiotic products made specifically for orchids. Beneficial microbes feed off exudates excreated by the orchid roots. They also eat each other, many pests and any organic material in the medium, effectively locking up excess amounts. In exchange they supply the orchid with nutrients and hormones. Usually when I acquire a new orchid its first new lead (growth) will become smaller because I take it that the plant goes into a bit of a shock after being taken off chemicals and also because there just aren't enough established microbes in the medium ( it takes time). The fact that there are chemical residues in the medium that slow or prevent their establishment also doesn't help , but in time, as long as you avoid adding additional toxins and you water correctly, the good guys do establish. I find the orchids next growth after that to become very large. Whenever my orchids begin to show signs of new growth, I like to water with a weak aerated tea made from an organic fertilizer just to increase microbial activity. Always keep in mind that orchid roots require a lot of oxygen around their roots so don't over do it with anything or you will very well smother their roots. Its really all about finding the right balance and developing an "instinct" or at the least learning to read your plants correctly. Hope this helps with your experimenting! Its a lot of fun actually :)

Mornin'! Oh yeah... I don't know what I was thinking. Forgot about shipping, duh! I'll go stick my head under the spigot for a wake up... I don't think I am skilled enough for seedlings. I'm from Tennessee. I grew 'maters, and dandelion greens. I need easy, straight-forward, simple and hardy. My conditions seemed to favor phals. A bright sunroom, with a parrot from hell, and a couple large aquariums and a Lowes clearance table fountain, so pretty good humidity. My own little "jungle." A number of different houseplants, and I built a lattice trellis that I hung the orchids on. It was very pretty, and a great place to "hang out." I did look at some 'collections' on Ebay, but after reading some of the posts, was a bit leery. I did buy one off there that was so tiny I needed a magnifying glass to see it, and sadly it didn't do very well. My first ones were surprizingly nice, mostly the $3 "after blooming" from Lowes, and oddly, I guess that 'spoiled me' a bit, since I wasn't fussy about what kind they were. They don't seem to be doing that anymore. Last time I looked, the local one had no orchids at all. Maybe too much of a loss? Richardol, no, I really don't care if they are tagged. Some of my "Lowes specials" were a complete surprize when they bloomed. That was sort of fun! I am like a kid in that I am anxious for a "bunch" right away, and then will start selecting individual ones. Will look online for a local club, but now I can't drive, so I hope I can convince the hubby he wants to go to! I mean honestly...If he "really wants me to be happy...." ROFLMAO! Kizzy