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My First Orchid Show!

V

Vbkid

Getting There...
As many of you know, I'm up in Madison these days. A coworker of mine, who is into orchids and reefs told me that an upcoming orchid show is quite the event and even has some CP vendors (http://www.orchidguild.org/orchidquest.html).
My girlfriend, who grows a few phals for fun, is coming with me.
Knowing very little about orchids in general, can anyone recommend some orchids I might encounter that will be easy to grow in either a window or just a grow rack? Any types to avoid? Any tips for finding some good deals?
Thanks,
Kyle
 
You'll see mostly these genera;
Phalaenopsis
Paphiopedilum
Cattleya
Dendrobium
Phragmipedium
Dendrobium
Encyclia
Epidendrum
Maxillaria

Occasionally you'll see some really rare and unusual ones.
Personally I find Paphiopedilum the easiest to grow in a windowsill. I'm sure there will be some vendors that will have some really unusual stock.
 
I've always had the best luck with my phals and most of them are happiest in indirect light of the plant room window areas (i use tables though setup in front of the windows)...they definitely don't like full-time sun scorching them though lol. Be sure to take some pictures to share with us, I *love* orchids and am jealous of this upcoming show you're going too! I wish it was closer to me :p Though we have the 2013 RI Flower show coming up soon...!
 
"Easy to grow" is really a rather loaded question. Much depends on your growing conditions (light, temperature, RH, etc). Once we know that, it is easier to make suggestions. You may also see pleurothallids like Masdevallias.

If you go early on the first day, you will have the greatest selection to choose from. If you go near the end of the last day, you might luck out and get some plants more cheaply as some (but not all ) vendors mark some of their stock down at that time so they don't have to take it with them.
 
Judging by the vendor list, you're bound to find some pretty interesting species from a few of those nurseries. My suggestion is to go to their various websites and find some you like. That will give you a good start to finding some that meet your culture conditions.
 
did you end up getting anything? i was at an orchid show on sunday and came home with 6 new orchids and three new succulents. was hoping for nepenthes but they only had ping. sethos.
 
Ah you lucky devil! I see that Andy's is supposed to be there. I wish he would come to the Michigan shows. He should have some very sweet species ... though with you & your girlfriend being novices, you might want to take it easy at his booth. Most of his stuff will be mounted -- which will generally mean frequent watering and/or pretty high humidity. Looks like you will have a bunch of other vendors too that never seem to make it to this side of the pond.

Supratta will have extremely well executed fake flowers. (She makes them by hand.)

Natts always seems to have a nice selection of blooming plants.

Oakhill used to be the vendor I would send new addicts too. They would typically have nice size plants for less than most other vendors would sell for. However, they recently changed hands and I have not seen them since that occurred.
 
DragonsEye said:


Oakhill used to be the vendor I would send new addicts too. They would typically have nice size plants for less than most other vendors would sell for. However, they recently changed hands and I have not seen them since that occurred.
Click to expand...

As far as I know, Herman (the founder) still has a hand in the operations. I was told by the previous owners that the same quality and selection as in the past should still be expected.
 
goods said:
As far as I know, Herman (the founder) still has a hand in the operations.
Click to expand...

I wonder how Herman would manage that since the entire operation was moved from its location in Illinois to Wisconsin? I would not think it likely that Herman moved up with it. Also, I know his daughter and son-in-law were to have moved out to California. I rather expected Herman to move out there with them.

As far as quality remaining the same, I hope so though only time will tell. I did notice on their website that prices had increased quite a bit.
 
  • #10
Cody,
the show is this Saturday, I'm sure I'll come back with some goodies!
 
  • #11
I'll post some photos when I get time later, but I ended up with younger seedlings of Dendrobium discolor and Dendrobium spectabile...seems pretty straightforward for caring for em, but any tips?
 
  • #12
Here are the plants me and my girlfriend came home with! The two dendrobium are mien and she got the phals. My main quesiton is, can the dendrobiums be put very close to the grow lights? The seller said he thought they'd do fine under lights as logn as they were above a water tray to give them adequate humidity!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugh-jass/8439204989/" title="DSCN0679 by kwalton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8356/8439204989_f4a21d060e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCN0679"></a>
 
  • #13
Oh dude! You do go for the bigguns don't you? Those dens are both going to be be HUGE plants. I envy you having that kind of space. Due to my space restrictions I have never tried either one (though if I had the space I would grab a D. spectabile in a hot second). But based on folks I have known who grew spectabile, over the summer it can be put outside where it will receive very bright indirect light.

So besides the Doritanopsis, what phal did you woman get?
 
  • #14
D. spectabile, very nice choice! I used the bloom as inspiration for one of my senior seminar pieces.
 
  • #15
I think the was Phal. amabilis if I remember correctly?
 
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