I have been reading this forum for many years and finally took the step last October to start posting. I live in Belgium and been growing orchids for more than 40 years. I grew in a greenhouse but after moving house in 2006 I had to go back to indoor growing. My collection has room for ±120 Paphiopedilums and consists mainly of albino species but also roth’s, sander’s, druryi’s, stonei’s and cochlopetalums have deserved their place in the house.
I always take a very scientific approach and try to learn as much as possible about every single aspect of our hobby. It’s important to mention that none of the below list should discourage new starters as you can have great success without any of them. For me, these topics are just a lovely way to give more colour to growing Paphiopedilums. Here are a few examples:
I always take a very scientific approach and try to learn as much as possible about every single aspect of our hobby. It’s important to mention that none of the below list should discourage new starters as you can have great success without any of them. For me, these topics are just a lovely way to give more colour to growing Paphiopedilums. Here are a few examples:
- Learning to construct an In-house growing area where it is much harder than a greenhouse to give orchids what they need on humidity, air flow & watering, artificial lights, pest control and always making sure it remains at human healthy levels in the living room.
- Learning to obtain good (Reverse Osmosis) water with the right (MSO based) fertilizer. Understanding the effects of all nutrients and concentrations applied.
- Learning and finding the best LED light with the correct (PAR) spectrum and right (PPFD) intensity and giving the plants exactly what they need (DLI)
- Challenge of propagating plants (many years ago I did a “full cycle” from flower pollination to seedling flowering, but I haven’t done this since growing in-house)
- Challenge of scientific classification and determining the correct label for your flowering plant into the right species, variety or forma, when the name as bought proves to be incorrect.
- Learning how to keep plants free from pests and diseases. Understanding which bug is killing your plants and how to safely get rid of it in-house.
- Reading both the oldest (historical stories) and the newest (scientific views) books.
- Learning on plant botany, on pigments, on albinos, on flavum’s…
- Maintaining a personal collection database, keeping journal entries, making pictures of flowering plants..
- Constructing (Arduino & other home) automation to take care of lights, ventilation, temperature humidity monitoring and more like that.
- And the newly discovered joy and pleasure of interacting with members on Slippertalk
