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Post by dvg on Nov 1, 2013 15:53:54 GMT -5
I can't believe I am going to look at orchids. What has become of me?! With around 25,000 accepted species and even more hybrids, orchids have a lot to offer. I've successfully avoided getting drawn into orchid collecting (just have a handful now, but haven't been adding any new ones either) - that's another black hole just waiting to get you inside its event horizon... dvg
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Post by H2O on Nov 1, 2013 16:45:31 GMT -5
I didn't realize you were so close to Orchids Limited you lucky bugger! Expensive plants but they have some amazing plants you can't get anywhere else!
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Post by canuk1w1 on Nov 1, 2013 20:02:31 GMT -5
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Post by hal on Nov 1, 2013 21:12:45 GMT -5
Nice orchids, Greg. I'm getting hooked. My wife bought a bunch of NOID orchids at the Toronto show last year and I've been trading for some. Latest acquisition is 4 Pleurothallids. I think one of the NOIDs might be Sharry Baby. It should be flowering any day now, so we'll see.
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Post by Apoplast on Nov 1, 2013 22:30:18 GMT -5
Hi Doug - Well put! And that is my concern exactly. The last thing I need to is to be flirting with the event horizon for another endeavor.
Hi Justin - So, I take it Orchids Limited is a thing. Good to know, and about the cost too. When I was a kid I lived down the road from an orchid place that's out of business now called Acres of Orchids. I remember going on a tour and seeing plant tissue culture for the first time. It felt amazingly sciencey to a 4th grader!
Hi Greg - Those are some healthy looking plants! Where does one "rescue" orchids from? That sounds like a free source.
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Post by lloyd on Nov 1, 2013 22:52:57 GMT -5
Rescue Orchids: People are always throwing away orchids after they flower. At one time I had around 10 big phal's that people threw out that did amazingly well till I gave all but one away.
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Post by hal on Nov 1, 2013 23:01:00 GMT -5
I think I have one or two of those phals and they're about 18" across and busting out of their pots.
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Post by Apoplast on Nov 2, 2013 20:25:54 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation Lloyd! That's something I'll have to keep an eye out for, though why someone would throw away a plant because it's stopped flowering is beyond me (excepting annuals of course), especially if they end up doing as well as Hal's.
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Post by canuk1w1 on Nov 2, 2013 20:34:52 GMT -5
Rescue Orchids: People are always throwing away orchids after they flower. At one time I had around 10 big phal's that people threw out that did amazingly well till I gave all but one away. Thanks! Glad you like them - and even happier I've been able to keep them thriving! These were from a local garden centre and couldn't be sold but yes, they would have been thrown out. I have a big one (not quite 18'...) with 2 spikes. One is still green and 2 blooms seem to be coming back. And it has 4 healthy-looking nodes. I also spotted what looks like a keiki on one of the canes of my Dendrobium. It's still tiny but fingers crossed...
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Post by canuk1w1 on Nov 2, 2013 20:49:49 GMT -5
Hi Doug - Well put! And that is my concern exactly. The last thing I need to is to be flirting with the event horizon for another endeavor. Hi Justin - So, I take it Orchids Limited is a thing. Good to know, and about the cost too. When I was a kid I lived down the road from an orchid place that's out of business now called Acres of Orchids. I remember going on a tour and seeing plant tissue culture for the first time. It felt amazingly sciencey to a 4th grader! Hi Greg - Those are some healthy looking plants! Where does one "rescue" orchids from? That sounds like a free source. I got very lucky. I've become a regular at the local garden centre buying potting material. They carry some nice hybrids and when I bought the Sharry Baby, there were some "leaves" around and they followed me home. Fell in love with a Cattleya and bought it a couple of weeks later (1/2 price as it had been blooming for a while) and a few more followed me home. Picked up some more stuff last week and yes, I had a couple more... the owner knows they're going to a good home and she's afraid if she offers me any more I'll stop coming by - I'm at 11 and researching mounting them, plants are taking over my apartment!
I've seen on some of the orchid forums that stores will sometime sell them for $5 after they've bloomed but best to check around. Loblaws sells them by the container now. They'll often put plants on at 50% off but I haven't seen the Phals on sale. Probably best to schmooze an independent that carries them and find out what they do with 'em.
It's getting a bit late in the season to ship plants, but I could perhaps kee an eye out for anything you're looking for and send it in the spring? Greg
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