So it seems like my mini phal and full sized phal are doing well, and I want more orchids. Eyeing a psychopsis Mendenhall "Hildos" and oncidium Arthurara sea snake "Unforgettable" and some jewel orchids… Maybe a cattleya and dendrobium at some point…
How would you rank difficulty level of the different orchid varieties? Not just what I mentioned here. Like if a beginner wanted to collect one of each species, what order would you recommend they get them in?
by Random—Precision
6 Comments
Keeping an eye on this as someone in the same situation 👀 Good luck with the hunt OP!
I kill phals and have 60 orchids with 15 ish people would consider rare. So, there isn’t one? 😂 your climate matters most.
Where that be? They indoor only? Probably mostly phals if you don’t wanna invest in lights or humidity stuff. Maybe Dendrobriums or oncidiums but even then some of the varieties will be picky and some won’t
Florida ish? Buy whatever your heart desires that doesn’t belong in a mountain and it will thrive outside with basic watering from a hose
I think you may be underestimating how many orchids are in existence. There’s approximately 28,000 species of orchid in the world, and literally countless hybrids! You can’t reasonably expect to come close to collecting them all.
That aside, I don’t think there’s any such thing as an objective ranking of which orchids are easiest vs most difficult to grow. Some are famously easy to grow, sure, and others are notoriously difficult. But it really does depend on your growing conditions, your habits as a grower, etc.
Here’s what I’d suggest: instead of trying to Catch ‘Em All, try out a few of each type (ie, each alliance, or section of genus – basically, groups of orchids with similar cultural needs) and see what suits you personally.
That’s a lot of orchids and they’ll need to be treated differently than your pals, especially in terms of their light needs. Cattleyas are probably the easiest of the ones that you need, they require less water than the others. Oncidiums can be fickle and dendrobiums sometimes have a dormancy period which can be confusing for beginners. Never grown jewel orchids, but terrestrials are usually quite different than the epiphytic orchids.
Oncidium on top of my easy list, they have survived everything from no water for literally 3 months to pests and sunburna
Oncidiums aren’t hard, and jewels are… Variable? Ludisia discolor is basically a normal houseplant, and I’ve found macodes petola easy with this guy’s guide (https://herebutnot.com/macodes-petola/), but some jewels can be touchy.