Orchids offer learning opportunity

• By BRIAN HUDGINS
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Jun 29, 2009

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LAFAYETTE
When Barbara Alexander and Nancy Anne Rowe saw their plants die, it served as an ending and the beginning of a learning experience.

Alexander has been a member of the Acadian Orchid Society for five years. She started with one plant and now has 75. There were some others that didn’t last for the long haul.

“Phalaenopsis is the easiest to grow,” Alexander said. “I don’t do well with miniatures. You learn a lot from killing plants.”

Both ladies laugh about some of the orchid lessons they have learned.

“We threw things away that we thought were dead when the leaves fell off … they were deciduous,” Alexander said.

Rowe has been through similar situations. “You want to bury your mistakes,” she said.

The American Orchid Society, based in Delray Beach, Fla., has more than 550 affiliated societies around the world. For some orchid fans, the hobby is relatively new. Others have formed a lifetime interest in plants. Dennis Wollard, a professor of horticulture within the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, received his first orchid as a birthday gift from his parents. He is now the president of the Acadian Orchid Society.

“It was 1960 or ’61 when I got my first orchid,” Wollard said. “I still have a piece of it. I have killed orchids like everyone else has. It’s a learning curve. Genetics caused my interest. My parents liked plants in general and I knew I would do something with plants. There is a variety with orchids. If someone says they want something delicate or more robust, we have it.”

A look at the offerings available at an orchid show and sale shows the existence of delicate and robust. Miniature orchids sit next to larger, spiky plants. Some of the orchid types that are easier to grow for beginners include: Cattleyas, Cymbidiums and Encyclias.

Regardless of whether an orchid requires beginner-level or more strict care, one action by orchid owners results in the most plant deaths.

“The No. 1 cause of death is overwatering,” Wollard said. “The roots rot and shrivel and people think it needs more water. It starts a cycle and they die.”

Having a proper light source and steady air flow is vital for both indoor and outdoor orchids.

“Growing in the house is a little more challenging because of the lack of natural light,” Wollard said. “One thing inside growers can do is check to see if a plant is warm to the touch. If it is, it is probably too hot and might need to be pulled back from a window.”