On Growing Orchids

On Growing Orchids

Part One - 'Secrets' That Only An Orchid Grower Can Reveal

'Secrets' are something very special and can only be passed along by someone who actually 'knows' the 'secret'. The 'secrets' that I learned about growing orchids, I will relate to you, in terms of my own personal experiences. Hopefully you will pass these 'secrets' along to someone else who wants to grow orchids. After all, is that not what life is all about, ie. passing along 'secrets of success' and having fun with a hobby that you love?

The four orchid plants that I have now, originally came to me as a gift, from a young man with whom I worked, named John. When we chatted at work one day, he told me that one of his hobbies was growing orchids and that he had a collection of about forty orchids of different varieties. He also taught me about their value, as he said that they were being sold for between twenty to forty dollars each, on the flower shop orchid market. That really surprised me then, but now I am beginning to understand why they are so costly.

Initially, after talking with John at some length about orchids, I joyfully began to anticipate that he was going to bring me one tiny little orchid plant as a 'starter'. I could hardly wait to see it. He must have sensed that I was seriously interested in trying to grow orchids, as I had already purchased a book on them. He actually wanted to read the book and so I agreed to bring it into work for him.

I did bring it with me the next day and I was glad that I remembered to bring it because, John showed up at work carrying a big, black garbage bag, containing four orchid plants in large black pots, each wrapped in thick layers of newspaper. I was totally amazed to see what he had done.
I had to place the bag containing the plants under my desk, as there was really no place else to put it for the day. I was not about to leave it untended either or to let anyone walk off with it. It just might have been tossed out by someone by mistake. Needless to say, I got a few questioning looks from the people with whom I was working, but I just smiled innocently and explained that John had just brought me some plants.

When I carefully unwrapped and looked at the plants a little while later, I saw the collection of plants each had three or four large, thick, dark green leaves. Three of the plants had been planted in bark chips and one was planted in green moss. The eight inch flower pots were clear plastic with matching plastic bases for watering. I think I was just a little bit disappointed initially because none of them had any blossoms on them but I re-wrapped them gingerly and put them back into the garbage bag.

Inside the bag, I also found a pint size glass jar containing some fertilizer with the 'recipe for success' on the label. The fertilizer was a powdery pink colour and filled about an sixth of the jar.
Just as he promised earlier that morning, John revealed his 'secrets' about orchid growing to me over lunch. "Bring one plant with you at lunch time," he told me. "I will show you how to take care of them." When lunch time came, I carefully grabbed one of the plants wrapped in newspaper out of the garbage bag and headed for the lunch room. I gently unwrapped it and placed it on the table where John was already waiting for me. While we ate lunch together, we chatted about growing orchids. He was simply smiling and ignoring the curious looks of all of those around us and so I did too.

John used the plant on the table to demonstrate how to take care of orchids and taught me how I could get them to grow and to blossom too. That is the real 'miracle' of growing orchids...the 'blossoming' is the fun part of growing any kind of exotic plants. He explained that orchids are originally tropical plants that like to grow on tree bark in the rain forests of South America.

Caring for them primarily consists of keeping them in a similar environment conducive to their growth and propagation.

After work that day, I walked home, which was about a mile, excitedly carrying this big, black garbage bag of orchid plants. This was in the early days of March 2003, and the day was really quite cold. I was concerned about how the plants would fare and walked as quickly as I could, just ignoring the stares of those around me. I was not about to spend any extra time out in the cold, explaining what I was carrying home in a garbage bag. I think I was just a little bit embarassed about the whole thing, but I was really enjoying myself immensely. I was thrilled to have not only one, but actually four real, live orchid plants.