New from New Jersey

Hi! Welcome from another college student Don't worry your collection will expand very quickly with the help of everyone here. Lots of awesome growers with the coolest plants. I'd try a search on here for culture help. Most people post culture tips when they post a picture. I've had a few Chiloschistas over the years and just recently got a Platystele. The Chiloschista like intermediate to warm temps, mounted, daily or every other day watering, fairly high humidity and bright light. For the Platystele, I think they like it slightly cooler (I'm growing mine indoors.), mounted or potted, high humidity, watered daily if mounted less often in a pot, less light than the Chiloschista. My personal favorite Platystele is umbellata. For Platystele sources, check out Andy's Orchids or J&L Orchids. They have a huge selection of orchids in general, and I think they both have Platysteles. Send Louisiana Orchid Connection an email about the Chiloschistas. They're local to me, and they have a large selection of Chiloschista species. He may sell one to you.

Here's a couple threads that give a bit of culture advice:

http://www.orchidsinteractive.com/showthread.php?1898-A-few-chiloschista-(leafless!)-species&highlight=chiloschista

http://www.orchidsinteractive.com/showthread.php?3875-Platystele-umbellata&highlight=platystele

 

Welcome to OI. I have a 50+ orchid book library, but unfortunately, there is no one definitive source for specific information. And many of the answers to your questions would be completely dependent on your growing conditions. When I'm considering adding a new species to my collection, the first place I look for cultural information is the Bakers' website. They have a culture sheet on thousands of different species, and at a buck per download, I've found 'em well worth the money. http://www.orchidculture.com/COD/sheetlist_cgi.html

 

welcome to the forum

 

I have purchased about a half dozen orchids from a greenhouse in Thailand using Paypal, which gave me the assurance that the orchids I wanted to purchase would arrive as ordered, and they did. In fact, they arrived very quickly (in about 2 weeks or less) and were wrapped very well. While I suspect that this Thai grower does not have the two varieties of orchids that you are particularly interested in, they offer very unusual blooming size orchids at very, very reasonable prices, which I think is of interest to you with your limited budget. I had a few questions on the culture of one of the orchids I bought (a Thrixspermum Centapeda) and they were answered promptly by email. The site is http://www.orchids-site.com.

As to media, I have been using Orchiata pine bark to replace fir bark when it becomes old and soggy and like it very much. It is cleaner and lasts much longer. I buy it in 2.5 gallon bags through Amazon, as this I think is the most economical. It comes in 5 sizes of bark.

I have been mounting some orchids on cork bark with success, so far. I bought a large piece of cork at a pet store for about $15 and used it to mount 4 Tolumnias, one of which is in bloom. I have plenty left to mount at least four or more additional orchids. I shopped for cork bark and found it to be very expensive except at PetSmart.
Have fun.
Steve Goodman
Voorhees, NJ

 

Hello Dana welcome to the forum

 

It's good to see some other college student growers. Andy's orchids is a good vendor with reasonable prices Good luck!

 

It's sort of backward to welcome someone to the forum who joined just before you, but nonetheless welcome to the forum. You have a lifetime to explore the wonderful and often strange worlds of orchids. I found youtube.com videos very helpful with regard to how to care for various varieties of orchids and visit that site often for help. Googling an orchid variety often turns up some surprising and very helpful advice.

I traveled to to an orchid show and sale that was held a few weeks ago in Holmdel, NJ, which is not far from NYC. At the show I bought a few masdevallias and one dracula. When I got home and unwrapped these orchids l found that all had labels marked with the name of the orchid on one side and and on the back "ecuagenera.com". For the heck of it I went to that website and found that Ecuagenera Co., not surprisingly located in Ecuador, has a price list of orchids for sale that is 132 pages long, and that list is in fairly small type. There are a heck of a lot of orchids in Ecuador!!! I assume that this seller had bought orchids in bulk from Ecuagenera Co. that he was offering for sale in NJ and that he just left the labels on the plants as it would be a lot of effort for no gain to remove and replace them. You might want to visit that site to see if the orchids you seek are available or just to explore.
Have fun.

 

Ecuagenera will travel to shows in the US, bringing in greenhouse-grown plants for which they have all the needed paperwork. You may have bought them directly from Ecuagenera. Other growers in Latin America may do the same.

 

Best bet for getting information is to join a local orchid club. There's a number in New Jersey, as well as in the NY Metropolitan area (if you're from North Jersey) and the Philadelphia area (South Jersey).

Just to put in a plug for my club (Bucks County Orchid Society), we do have members that travel from New Jersey. It is a small group, and visitors are always welcome. Ask for Carl if you come.