My Growing Orchid Collection and Some Blooms

Apparently, writing about the orchid of this week this morning put me in an orchid hunting mood, because after I wrote that post, I took a walk to the Ikea in Red Hook (it’s sooo gorgeous out today!) to see what their orchid selection was like. It was crap. So I took the bus back toward Park Slope and on the way there I popped into Lowe’s to see if they happened to have any good orchids. And they did! I couldn’t stop myself…I ended up leaving with THREE new orchids! I promptly repotted them when I got home, like the good orchid geek that I am. All three are those Better-Gro orchids that come packaged in net and plastic, and each cost $13.97. Behold my post-repotted haul:

A Maxillaria tenufolia, which will have small red blooms that give off a rich coconut scent. The plant sort of split into two when I was cutting off the dead roots, so I potted them separately and now have a bonus orchid.

Maxillaria tenufolia

An Oncidium Sharry Baby, which is in GREAT shape:

Oncidium Sharry Baby

This baby is lookin’ so goodโ€”it has an amazing mass of roots. It’s by far the healthiest Better-Gro orchid that I’ve bought to date. With all the others, I’ve had to cut away the majority of roots upon bringing them home because they were rotten. Not so with this pretty lady!

Look at all those roots!!

And last but not least is my new Encyclia hybrid, whose tag says it’s an Encyclia alata x alata early bird.

Encyclia alata

This orchid also split into two plants when I was removing dead roots, so file this under Probably A Bad Decision: I repotted them both together. The plant has a couple new little growths that had grown up through the netting, so that is good.

In Blooming News, my NOID Oncidium from Ikea has rebloomed for me! It’s one of the two plants that I bought as a housewarming gift to myself when my boyfriend and I moved in together last summer. And it is just lovely:

This spike has about 30 flowers!
Stripey, cute, and fragrant to boot
Gotta have some close-up action

I shall leave you with that. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

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8 comments

  1. You found a Sharry Baby at Lowes? Wow – I hope I’m that lucky one day, Sharry Baby is on my wish list!! Glad to see you updating again. I love seeing your orchids. I stumbled on your blog when I was googling help for my dying phal and found your post about the phal that wouldn’t die! I read all your posts and have been checking for an update. It gives me hope that I’ll get the hang of this orchid thing one day. I killed my first phal but I now have five phals and a dend I’m trying to keep alive ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Aww, thanks Claire! It’s nice to know that people are actually reading my blog. ๐Ÿ™‚ Sounds like you are getting the hang of it for sure! I’ve killed my fair share of orchids, but you definitely learn as you go. Happy growing to you!

      1. Thanks! I haven’t had them very long so I think the fact that they are still alive has very little to do with me! My theory was that if I had more at least some of them would have a better chance at living ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. The NoID is gorgeous!!! I want it!!! Jealous (again) of all your finds. The Max with the coconut scent – can’t wait to see those blooms! Love your posts; keep up the good work (: …and thank you!!!

  3. I’m a new orchid enthusiast so its good to hear some established growers like the Better-Grow $12.97 Lowe’s orchids also! I’ve always heard beginners should get established plants, but I found a beatiful mule ear, and may go back to get a wildcat that my brother talked me out of!!!

    1. I don’t know if I’m really an “established grower,” but thanks for thinking so! ๐Ÿ™‚ The Better-Gro orchids are really affordable, so if it doesn’t work out it’s not like you lose a lot of dough. And if it does work out, you feel all that much more rewarded!

  4. Iโ€™ve been cultivating all kinds of orchids for many years now and Iโ€™ve become rather good at. They all thrive and produce gorgeous blooms.

    One would think that Iโ€™m doing everything right in providing all that these beauties like and need โ€” water, humidity, fertilization, lighting, air circulation, etc. Sadly though, orchids which are purported to emit fragrances donโ€™t do that for me. So, what am I doing wrong? What am I not providing that I should?

    Any advice would be much appreciated.

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