So here is where you say "Bye-bye" to the orchids that you've lost for whatever reason.....
And here's my first: Blc. His Light Divine.
Eited to get the name correct.
This message was edited Feb 19, 2009 6:00 PM
Orchids in the Great Mulch Pile in the Sky
Brassavola nodosa.
Bulbophyllum biflorum.
Bc. High Sierra 'Lynn' never even blossomed for me. Sigh.
Ceratostema rauhii.
The last for now. Cyc. chlorochilon.
This was Jewel orchid Macodes Petola. I planted it in the ground under an oak tree. I think the remains are still there.
Jim
I'm pretty sure I have one for this thread too Jim but I'm not up to the M's yet!
OMG Kathy, you made me chuckle. "Not up to the M's yet." LOL!!!
Joanne
Sad but true. Glad i made you laugh, Jo!
I had an Onc. Gower Ramsay that I loved and lost. And last year I had a brassia that very quickly went from happy to dead. I'm sorry guys. I'll do my best to learn how to avoid the causes of your deaths, and do better in the future. Rest in peace.
Sarah
We learn through their deaths, Sarah. Amen.
No matter how many orchids I kill, nothing can top what I did to my roses. I had a beautiful rose garden full of hybrid teas and grandifloras, 42 of them. One day in August, with a five gallon backpack sprayer strapped on, I could see that once again I was losing the fight with blackspot. There I was, standing in a fog of fungicide and insecticide, in 90 degree heat, wondering what I was doing to my health. So I made a decision. I drove my truck into the back yard. tied a rope to one bush after another and ripped them all out of the ground. The next day I haulled them to the dump. I eventually replaced them with modern shrubs and old garden roses but the days of spraying were over. In memoriam:
Jim
Here is the abbreviated/short list? I can start with M, but I do go waaayyy past it.
Masdevallias - I kill most of them, EXCEPT herradurae, tovarensis and my second erinaceae and some others which are just hanging on but are not thriving. I really wish I could keep a cute Masd strobelii going....I tried twice!
I kill all Jewel Orchids, except Ludisias. Give me a good Macodes, it will be pushing Daisies in about a year.
Phals? I am the master in torturing those, but I have some tiny species which do fine for me and one which is mounted and alive for over 4 years. If I could grow them always inside in the Living room, I would have no problem. But, I go away in Summer and hang them outside under a tree and within a month I see crummy leaves.
Cycnodes Wine Delight and Mormodes skinneri languished along slowly and then expired.
Ditto for a Dendrochilum cootesii, which never really took off. A replacement plant behaves like a charm and puts out nice new growth in Winter. I would think the first one was a bit "deadish" to begin with.
Sadly last year I pitched a very large plant of Lc Carl Bornshine 'Mendenhall', because I suspected a virus and kept it separate for a season to make sure it wasn't cultural, then let it grace the compost hill. I grew a small plant into a large specimen, it flowered beautifully for a few years and then every bloom looked weirdly streaked. I cried a bit when I threw it out.
My large Cym Showgirl, it was simply gorgeous and never ever without scale. I replaced it with a small Showgirl 'Malibu'.
In my early days I also killed a Cym. Ivy Fung and Cym. Alexanderi, sigh.
After growing Paph Winston Churchill for many years, it just died last Summer - like that. And a very cute Paph spicerianum, it flowered once for me. I took some pics of the latter and then it went belly up.
Neofinetia falcata Akebono didn't look so hot last Fall, it is a goner now. This is so far my only Neo casualty.
In my earlier days I also killed a Brassavola cordata, Slc Hazel Boyd, and a Potinara Hoku Gem 'Freckles',. I replaced the latter with a 'Sun Spots'.
I also did so lousy with my Latouria type Dendrobiums - spectabile etc. that I recently decided that they needed to make room for some other Orchids, new growth always looked crappy and flowered with some rare exceptions just plain lousy.
I am sure I can add to this!!
Most of the time I was at fault, conditions were wrong for that particular orchid, repeated bug-attacks, but not always. I have no problem with a second Dendrochilum cootesii as example - sometimesone buys a poor plant without vigor.
I suppose I can edit my post by adding more as I remember more.....
Ok - am I an expert now?
This message was edited Feb 19, 2009 11:01 PM
Ursula, I think you're much better at growing beautiful orchids than the few less-than-successes that you have listed here! So, what kind of expert are you?
Oh Ursula, it's so good to know we're not alone, LOL!!! Sort of comforting to know that even the best have killed a plant or two in their time. Ü
So far my most frequent victims have been Phals, and I beg to differ with whoever declares them the easiest beginner orchid to grow. I also don't seem to have much luck with the oncidium alliance; all I have to do is look at one and it's leaves do that accordion thing due to underwatering. And though I've only toasted a couple of paphiopedilums so far, I fear that perhaps they are just able to hang on longer than some other orchids, and that eventually they'll start to croak as well.
Jim - sort of a sad rose tale, though I can imagine your frustration.
Did make me want to go out to our garage and pet the nine tender roses I'm overwintering in pots though.... Ü
Oh gosh! I just love this thread. Why did I procrastinate?? My goodness, I just cracked up reading Ursula's compost pile!
And Jim, good for you! I only have one tea rose out of about 50 roses and that's only because it's a rugosa x tea! My BIL ripped his teas out too. They drove him mad in DE. Now he lives in CA and grows teas again because they came with the house. I don't think it's humid enough there for blackspot.
I missed a "B". Barkeria negrilensis.
And Dinema polybulbon 'Memorial Fred Morse' from an awarded plant.
Now I'm starting at the other end of the alphabet. Vanda Mokara Tan Mei Ying
You know, it is easy to be humble around these wonderful Orchids? I always look with pleasure at my flowering stuff and I truly enjoy them all. I always think positive that I will have them to the day I die.
But, something goes wrong - like a Squirrel peeing on a plant hanging in the cage ( surely that's what must have happened to that Phal liquifying some of its leaves overnight, ;-( ), or a big fat Mealy bug smiling at you, just as you just pick up that wonderful floofy Cattleya in full bloom and you stick your nose into it to smell. You turn the plant over and oh my, this was just Momma Mealy which greeted you. ( insert eye rolling emotie here) You treat the plant and all is fine, until the next time.....
Staying ahead of brewing trouble like bug attacks is for me the biggest challenge in growing Orchids, especially around Jan and Febr, when the systemic which I had applied in the Fall, wears off.
And, going out of town for a few weeks on vacation needs to be mentioned - no matter what, I always lose some plants. My Overseer/Papilio bit the dust during the Africa trip in 2007. Have to look at my list, I know I lost a few more which fall into this category.
This message was edited Feb 20, 2009 10:40 AM
I seem to have zillions. Just remembered the Broughtonia sanguinea that dies a slow death. I haven't gotten to the Ps but I lost about 8 or 9 phals this fall. Mass grave in the sky.
I guess I wasn't quite good enough to my Odtna Susan Bogdanow 'Aalsmeer'. I miss it.
Another pretty one hits the pile!
I lost Den. aggregatum today. I started with 5 leaves and they fell off one by one. :(( May it rest in peace.
Kathy, the pseudobulbs are still there? If yes, I wouldn't toss it yet.
No the pseudobulbs are all dried out. It really is dead. I have been "pretending" since fall that it would come back.
This is a good thread. I have one biting the dust as we speak, uh type. don't know why, been doing good for 3 yrs now. A no name dendrbium.
Well, there are so many that I have lost that I wouldn't dare name them all. My biggest loss was an angraecum eburnum that I paid $50 for. I got it in January with no greenhouse, hung it up outside one day when it was raining to get thoroughly watered, and forgot about it for 2 days. It was really nice those 2 days and the sun scorched it. I just knew it was a goner. No matter what I did it was a Ssssslowwwwwwwwwwwww
decline. It finally bit the dust a couple of months later.
I got another one later, much smaller, had it for a year or so, guess it will be another year or two before I see blooms.
Love all the horror stories. Makes me feel less alone!! Still fighting rot here. My cymbidium aloifolium is a goner. It was huge in fall. Sigh.
I sent a Bulbo (my first), a Paph seedling, a Phal species, and one other orchid I can't remember right now, to orchid heaven last week. RIP. On the upside, it made room for some of the new ones I bought at the Edmonton Orchid show last month. :)
Joanne
Yup. The shelves don't care; they just want to be full!!