BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Orchids My absolute best advice to new orchid enthusiasts

Greetings -
Whether you have one or two orchids, or have suddenly found yourself with a dozen (it can happen!), I'd really encourage you to check out your closest local orchid society or club.
Many are affiliated with the American Orchid Society, and thus have access to lots of educational materials.
To my surprise, our local orchid society turned out to be *not* a snooty bunch or highbrows, but rather a casual, friendly group of 'plant geeks'. I think the first meeting more than made up for my $10/year membership - I was asking about a languishing Miltonia...and was bluntly told "you can't grow that HERE!" Too hot in south Louisiana, who'd have thought?
When I first joined, people actually gave me divisions, and thanked me for taking them!
A good place to get good cultural advice - when I knew next to nothing, I found that vendors could tell me anything, and I'd believe them (thus, the Miltonia).
Regards - Nancy

Good advice, Nancy. There are other good reasons to attend--you will get to see what those orchids that look so great in pictures actually look like since many orchid societies have plant tables where members can bring in and show off their flowering plants. Many also have plant raffle and sale tables where very reasonable plants may be purchased.

Another piece of advice is to go the the American Orchid Society web page, choose Orchid Information, and then AOS Forum, then choose Orchid Culture/Orchid Q&A. You don't have to be a member to post questions and have others answer them for you. Remember to use the full name on the tag and state where you are growing and under what conditions.