Author: kingianum

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Why so much orchid growing info on the web is unreliable, bad, or wrong

Why is so much orchid info online bad, wrong, or low quality?

Because many people simply don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to orchids (and much else).  Do you remember those kids in school who just had to blare out whatever they thought on any subject?  They always had an opinion or half-baked thought.  They may genuinely have believed they were being helpful, but mostly they lacked a bit of self-awareness.  You may even have someone like that in your family or workplace who simply MUST give you advice (often bad) and opinions (often silly) on every situation in your life.

Here’s my hypothesis: a huge amount of stuff posted as comments on the web comes from people like this.  They don’t know what they’re talking about, but they feel a need to tell you anyways.

A treasure trove garbage dump of bad orchid advice is the answers given to questions asked on our Amazon listing for Dendrobium kingianum, our top-selling orchid.  Any customer can ask a question, and anyone can chime in with an answer. I recently perused what people asked about this orchid we offer, and the “helpful” answers provided by self-declared experts. There’s so much mis-information, ignorance masquerading as deep knowledge, and even confessions of “I don’t know” by people who are trying to answer the question (well, if you don’t know, why bother uploading an answer?).

The following response takes the cake:

Q: How do you grow this plant?

You’ll want to keep the temperature above 55, but below 85 with the highest humidity. [WRONG, WRONG, and HALF-WRONG. You want to let this plant get down into the 40s F (or even 30s F) during winter so that it will set the flower buds for blooming in spring. This plant can easily handle temps into 100+ F; they certainly do at my nursery and in their native Australia. High humidity is good, but not critical for this species.]

Bright light, but out of direct sunlight is best–even a strong halogen bulb will burn the leaves. [OK, not completely off-base re direct sun, but not so true re halogen bulb . You want to get a recalcitrant kingianum to bloom?  Give it DIRECT SUN even if the leaves burn.  This but of advice was given to me by an expert grower in Australia, where this species comes from]

Repot it as soon as it comes in, [SUPER WRONG!] mine had a solid ball of sphagnum in the roots which will rot and cause damage to your roots. [SUPER DUPER WRONG- sphagnum moss is the BEST medium for this kind of orchid! Wow.]

Don’t repot in a huge container, orchids like to wrap their roots in a ball, so choose a pot only slightly larger to promote growth. [BINGO, FINALLY, A REASONABLY CORRECT ANSWER!]

Repot once every two years, you’ll notice the bark chips start to break down–thats when to repot. [NOT REALLY NEEDED FOR THIS SPECIES] Many people avoid terracotta because the roots will bind to the edge, but I like that it helps wick away excess water in the bottom of the pot. [HEY, NOT BAD…] Edging with a butter knife will get the roots to come back out with little damage.

Water it with about 1/4 cup of water around once per week. [UNBELIEVABLY WRONG! JUST USE A HOSE AND DON’T BE SHY WITH WATER. I MEAN, DOES ANYONE GO AROUND POURING A SMALL QUARTER CUP OF WATER ON ORCHIDS IN THE JUNGLE? WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS!]

Keep it in well draining soil (I use mostly bark chips, but you’ll need to figure out what is best for your climate) Starting in November, you’ll want to water it half as often until it grows a flower spike. [HALF WRONG.  LET IT DRY OUT COMPLETELY!]  If May comes around and still no flowers [WRONG, THAT’S TOO LONG TO WAIT], go back to usual watering and try again next year with a little less watering. [DANG, WE INCLUDE INSTRUCTIONS THAT TELL YOU NO WATER STARTING NOVEMBER 1!]

If you start using fertilizer, make it half as strong as suggested on the bottle for the first couple uses, going straight to full strength fertilizer can burn the roots. [A POSSIBLY ACCEPTABLE ANSWER DEPENDING ON TYPE OF FERTILIZER USED]

This person meant well, but unfortunately, most of what he said was flat-out wrong! Now when most comments on the internet are posted by people like this, clogging up the web with wrong info, it makes it hard for the accurate stuff to get through. And that’s why there’s so much bad info about orchids online.

If you want reliable info on growing orchids, www.orchidinsanity.com (i.e., the present website) is pretty good, if I do say so myself.

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Why you should never buy orchid seeds online

Most people know the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack and his widowed mother live a hardscrabble life on a farm. They need seed to plant for next season’s harvest, and since they have no money, the mother tells Jack to sell their only cow for seeds to plant. On the way to market, a mysterious gentleman talks Jack into trading his cow for a few “magic” seeds. When the boy comes home early and his mother finds out what Jack has done, she berates him for his foolishness. Of course the magic seeds grow into a massive beanstalk that Jack climbs into the clouds, where he has many adventures and ends up with riches beyond belief. 

This will NOT happen if you buy orchid seeds. Unlike most seeds you know (e.g., corn, tomato, peppers, basil, apple, etc.), orchid seeds look like specks of dust; they are that fine. (There are a few exceptions where the seeds look more “normal”, but they’re very uncommon.) When orchid seeds disperse and land someplace to germinate, they form a symbiotic relationship with a type of fungi called mycorrhizae. These fungi supply nourishment to the germinating seed, as orchid seeds do not carry stored nutrients, which is why they’re so small.

In the 1920s, scientists figured out that orchid seeds can be sown directly on sterile nutrient media (a jello-like substance with sugar and other nutrients for the seed to absorb), and germination could occur aseptically. After the orchid hunters of the Victorian era, this was the next quantum leap in orchids, and over the past 100 years, orchid researchers have developed methods and many different types of media for growing orchids in laboratories. In fact, all of the orchids you see in big box stores started off in a laboratory somewhere.

The problem for buyers of online orchid seeds is they don’t know what they don’t know. A casual but dedicated orchid grower sees an ad for orchid seed for a few bucks, and thinks they can just sprinkle the seed onto some dirt, and they’ll get some nice plants going and maybe see some blooms in a year or two. It’s not going to happen.

Here’s what the casual grower doesn’t know: Orchid seeds for commercial growth (and made by serious hobbyists doing their own breeding) are all sown in laboratory conditions. Some businesses have the expertise to do this (we have our own lab here at Orchid Insanity), and a dedicated hobbyist can learn how to do it as well. While it’s not rocket science, there is a steep initial learning curve. 

On top of the expense, effort, and expertise needed to set up an orchid laboratory, you also need a lot of patience. It takes around three to seven years to go from a sown seed in a sterile flask to a blooming size plant.

So if you’ve bought some orchid seeds online, throw ’em out. They’re likely fake (i.e., not real orchid seeds but seeds from some other plant), and won’t do a thing for you. I’m sure clever scammers send non-orchid seeds that might germinate fast enough for you to leave a positive review on Amazon or eBay, but most certainly won’t bloom with an orchid flower, and by the time this imposter plant does bloom, you’ll be well past the 90-day window for demanding a refund or leaving a negative feedback. (Or, like someone we tried to talk out of getting online orchid seeds, you’ll actually believe the imposter plant is a real orchid.) As far as scams go, it seems to sucker plenty of people, as these listings never get pulled from Amazon or eBay, probably for the following reasons:

  1. The loss to any one individual buyer is not worth that buyer’s time to pursue. By the time they realize a plant that has grown and bloomed is NOT an orchid (if they ever do realize this), it’s too late to file a complaint with Amazon/eBay/etc.
  2. Most of these fake orchid seeds that do get sown by eager buyers won’t germinate at all, and the buyers will blame themselves for using the wrong kind of dirt, and end up forgetting about it.
  3. Even if buyers were to send lots of complaints in to Amazon/eBay, who on their staff is botanically competent enough to evaluate the truth of the buyers’ claims? They’ve simply got much bigger fish to fry with more serious scams out there, and fixing algorithms that shut down completely legit listings (it’s happened several times to us).
  4. These fake orchid seed listings continue to get sales, as there’s a sucker born every minute new, excited folks enter the orchid hobby all the time and some of them think that they’ll save money by growing these lovely beauties themselves from seed, the way they did with tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, etc. So to the Amazon/eBay algorithms, these listings are good/valid listings, else why would buyers keep buying from them?

The end result is that these fake orchid seed sellers (many located in China) continue to make money as they’ve staked out a little niche where it’s hard for them to get caught.

But what about early orchid breeders back in the 1800s before all this orchid lab stuff got going? Orchid lovers bred orchids back in the 1800s, and without specialized orchid laboratories, how did they sow the seeds? Well, they did it the natural way. They let the orchid seed capsules break open naturally, and let the fine-as-dust seed scatter right on top of the media containing the mother plant. This method worked to a fair degree in those days because those mother plants had come from the jungle itself, and hence were already covered with the proper mycorrhizae to support the orchid seeds. The symbiosis between orchid seeds and mycorrhizae is somewhat specific to the species of plant and fungi, and this is the reason it’s hard to replicate today what the Victorian-era orchid breeders did a century ago. An orchid you get nowadays started life in a sterile laboratory flask, and hence does not carry any of the specific mycorrhizae needed for seed germination. Other species of mycorrhizae might work, but there are a lot of mycorrhizae types out there, and getting a functioning symbiotic match is unlikely (but not impossible).

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Trials of Orchid Retail (part 1 of 7,683,329 and counting)

Everyone who has worked in a retail setting has funny, frustrating, infuriating, and mind-bending stories of customer interactions. I’m guessing that fast food is the worst, followed by 7-11, and then liquor stores. Online orchid retail may not be in the top five, or even the top ten, but we’ve got plenty to contribute to the annals of retail hilarity and asininity. Here’s one memorable exchange with a customer who started off with a supercilious attitude, and despite my clear explanations, still could not understand what was being explained.

THE SCENE: A Customer saw one of our “mystery” Cymbidium listings (i.e., a “potluck”/random/no_ID_tag Cym plant). The listing has as its front image a montage of various Cymbidium flowers overlaid with questions marks.

CUSTOMER: What is the green cymbidium orchid in the picture?

ME: Hi, Thanks for your interest. The photos are simply random photos of various types of Cymbidiums, not necessarily from the group of plants we have, that comprise “mystery” or plants with no id tags.

If you’re looking for a green Cymbidium from us, you might consider “Zabala” or “Enzan Olive” both of which are available.

CUSTOMER: No I simply trying to get the name of that green orchids . The ones u have are slightly different. It’s strange people selling things and don’t know what they are more than an orchid

ME: The photos are simply random photos of various types of Cymbidiums, not necessarily from the group of plants we have that we’ve designated as “mystery” or no-identification plants.

CUSTOMER: But u have no knowledge period of scientific names it would be good for you to learn

[OK, at this point, the Customer has stepped from ignorant to borderline insulting. Telling me that I have “no knowledge period” of scientific names, well, them’s fightin’ words.]

ME: Well, I do have a Ph.D. in genetics, so I think I know a few things. Plus, I’ve got about 50,000 orchids of different species, and have given orchid talks all over. So this is actually the first time that someone has said that I don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to orchids…

So thanks for the advice to learn more about scientific names. You should read my orchid book sometime — I’ll be happy to send you a free copy.

CUSTOMER: You don’t understand what I’m saying then all I’m asking is hey you sell orchids so you should know the name of the green one from a pic your provided I’m not trying to buy it from you. Just would like the name of it. I wasn’t even trying to be rude [yes, a likely story] obviously you are I just needed extra help to have a traumatic brain injury!

ME: You said that I ought to learn about scientific names [see above]. Well, this is a weird question to ask about a random orchid photo, but I now understand the issue. You appear not to know the difference between an orchid species and an orchid hybrid. Species plants are what you find naturally occurring in the jungle. Hybrids are usually man-made by breeding related species and producing something that doesn’t exist already in nature.

The vast majority of orchids available for sale are HYBRIDS. Hybrids do not have pure SCIENTIFIC names, which for some reason you thought I should learn more about. All orchids have a genus, in this case, the genus “Cymbidium”. So the green one is actually called Cymbidium Eaglewood Kana. This is NOT a scientific name, BECAUSE IT IS A MAN-MADE HYBRID.

Species plants from nature are given SCIENTIFIC names, and by convention over the past 500 years, the names are in Latin. There are about 100 known Cymbidium species out in the jungles of the world. Each of them has been given a SCIENTIFIC name in Latin. For example, Cymbidium aloifolium, Cymbidium floribundum, Cymbidium traceyanum, etc. There are strict rules governing the naming of naturally occurring species.

The Cymbidium flowers shown in my advertisement photo are all hybrids, and don’t have scientific names. They illustrate the idea that a buyer would be getting a random no ID plant which I make clear in the description.

Now, you WERE being rude when you said the following:

“But u have no knowledge period of scientific names it would be good for you to learn”

You don’t know me at all, but still accused me of having no scientific knowledge and that I ought to learn.

But, your problem is that you assumed that all of the orchids in the photo have SCIENTIFIC names. They do not because they are HYBRIDS.

It appears you don’t know much about orchids, so let me return your advice to me: “it would be good for you to learn.” I hope this has been a helpful orchid lesson for you!

CUSTOMER: Well I am sorry I approached it in that way and while I’m still confused I will drop the matter. What you see is me being confused not nessecarily mean or but sorry just the same

Well, she may still be confused, but at least she apologized at the end.

Still…Is it too much to ask for a bit more civility, and restraint of one’s ignorance, on the internet? Who am I kidding? Of course it’s too much to ask!

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Car tires and orchid roots

A good way to think about orchid roots is to think about car tires.  Tires do an important job, get worn out doing their job, and eventually get replaced.  Orchid roots are the same way – they do an important job, get worn out doing their job, and eventually get replaced.  Orchid plants generally initiate new root growth during the start of the growing season.  Roots will emerge from new shoots; it is rare that roots will emerge from older growths.  In some orchid types, you’ll actually get new root tips branching out from OLD roots; Vandaceous types including Phalaenopsis and Neofinetia) do this, and I’m sure others can, too.

So if you find that your orchid doesn’t have quite the robust root system you were expecting, don’t worry too much.  Orchids want to grow new roots, but they’ll do so when the season and growing conditions are right.

Your job as a grower is to create conditions where new roots can grow AND extend.  That means having the proper media and moisture level in the media for roots to grow into.  It’s always annoying when an orchid starts to make new roots, but then the roots stop growing.  This happens because the root couldn’t find water (and, in some cases, something to cling to).   So when you see new roots emerging, make sure the roots can find some moist media, such as damp sphagnum moss or thoroughly wetted bark.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of orchids want aeration at the root zone, which is why overwatering is the number one killer of orchids. Too much water (usually because there’s too much media in the pot) will drown the roots, and you’ll end up with a rootless, and stressed, plant. One great thing about orchids is how tough they are. Consider a garden plant like a tomato. A few days without water, and that thing is in trouble. This is very true for many plants, especially ones grown in containers. Orchids, on the other hand, can handle lack of water for weeks, and in some cases, even months. This very ability to handle dry conditions means that orchids can usually recover from loss of roots, although it can take awhile (months or even a year) before they re-establish, and it’s best keep them very humid in the meantime.

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The best orchid teachers you’ll ever meet

The world is awash with books, websites, and videos on how to grow orchids. Most of these sources have some useful information, but some do not, and a few have positively misleading information. Of course, you can rely on the info we offer here at Orchid Insanity; we don’t claim to know everything, but experience, successes, and failures, have taught us things that will be helpful to many growers.

While you can certainly learn a lot from us and other experienced growers, the best teachers of orchid growing are the orchids themselves.

What you learn from careful observation of your own plants in your own growing conditions matters more than what books or videos or the know-it-all at the orchid society (or online forum) tells you. Your goal is to develop a reference baseline for what works for you, and what doesn’t. Once you have a reference baseline (which is just a fancy way of saying “experience with what works”), you’ll be better equipped to figure out how to grow a new kind of orchid that has joined your collection, or how to solve some culture issue you’re facing.

One reason many new growers struggle with orchids is they have the wrong expectation. They might get a few nice plants to begin with, but they really don’t know what to expect, and when the plants don’t meet their expectations, a new grower might start panicking, which usually results in overwatering, or over fertilizing, or switching to the latest growing media/nutrient fad, which further stresses the plant, causing the grower to eventually give up, claiming that growing orchids is just too hard. The reality is the new grower didn’t have a good baseline of experience and hence had the wrong expectations, and made the wrong decisions as a result.

The best and fastest way to develop baseline experience is to grow a lot of different types of orchids, preferably cheap ones to start with. You might try a few Cattleyas, a few Dendrobiums, a few Paphiopedilums, some Odont/Oncidiums, and maybe a few off the beaten path. A good number to start with is between 10 – 20 plants. You can get some cheap from an orchid society raffle table, or someone who is downsizing their collection. (We often have “cosmetically challenged” plants with minor leaf damage or irregularities that we can offer for a discount.) Do your research, but try not to fine-tune things too early. Keep conditions general — moderate light, watering to keep the medium in the pot moist, infrequent fertilization — and above all, give them high humidity conditions. High humidity is really the secret. If you’re growing indoors, the best setup for high humidity would be a humidity shelf, which is simply a plastic storage shelving unit wrapped in plastic sheeting (saran wrap is just fine!).

If some plants struggle, while others thrive, don’t stress out. This is natural, and common, and is a necessary step to becoming a good grower. Your plant’s successes and failures at growing speak volumes, once you know how to “listen” to what they’re saying. Once you learn how to listen, they’ll teach you to be better orchid growers.

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The difference between a species and a hybrid

Two terms that get used a lot in the orchid world are “species” and “hybrids”.  This is one of those situations where you might have a vague notion of the concepts, but once you hear someone explain it, everything clicks and you pat yourself on the back for knowing it all along.

OK, here’s what they mean:A species is what you find in the jungle (or out in nature).  A hybrid is what you get when you cross (i.e., breed) different species together, or breed a hybrid with anything else.

A great way to understand the concepts is to think about dogs.  Everyone knows there are purebred dog breeds; consider these to be species, as they are pure-breeding.  In other words, if you cross two Pembroke Welsh Corgis, they’ll produce Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppies.  

Everyone also knows that there are mutts, which are some mixture of various breeds.  So a species orchid is like a purebred dog, while hybrids are like mutts.  Purebreds and mutts can be equally lovable (or not, depending on the individual), and that applies equally to orchid species and orchid hybrids.  (Yes, I know that all dogs are the same species, Canis familiaris (or Canis lupus), but the analogy works.)

  • A purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi
  • A Corgi-Golden Retriever hybrid

Around 30,000 known species of orchids occur in the wild, and over the past 200 years, breeders have bred over 150,000 new hybrids.  The vast majority of hybrids have hybrids as parents (i.e., mutts begetting more mutts), since production of new hybrids by orchid breeders drives the market: buyers of orchids are always looking for something new.  (To the spouses of orchid enthusiasts, one red orchid bloom looks just like any other red orchid bloom, and they simply can’t understand that it’s the little ruffles on the edge or that touch of white on the lip that make something so distinctive, and so desirable.)  

The orchids you find at the supermarket are all hybrids — lovely mutts.  But where do you go if you want to buy orchid species?  Well, you have to go to an orchid specialist (no coincidence that “species” and “specialist” have the same root) like us, Orchid Insanity.  You can check out our available species here.