mrhappyrotter
Grand Chupacabra
But I'm finally a member. Watching those recent "guess the plant" threads have been torture since I haven't been able to participate until my account was activated.
A little about my experience & interests. I've been in the plant hobby since I was 13. I used to raise various lizards and as part of that, I kept plants in the tank to provide a natural habitat for the pets. That lead me into the world of bromeliads, which I still quite enjoy, and eventually got me hooked on orchids. So, at this point it's fair to say I have around 20 years of experience with orchids. I also have a number of fresh water fish tanks and consider myself a killifish hobbiest as well. All my tanks are heavily planted. Between work and school, I've had very limited time (and money) to invest in my hobbies, so for the last 5 years or so, my collection has dwindled -- I've lost more plants than I care to think about to the great jungle in the sky, given a bunch away and sold a few of the more in-demand specimens. But now, I've found more time on my hands, so I'm ready to dive back in.
My plant collection and interest, while primarily focused on orchids includes a variety of families: bromeliads (especially tillandsias), cacti & succulents, ferns, cycads and the orchids. Within the orchids, my collection is heavily geared towards phrags -- I love them all -- particularly species, the caudatum group and anything red/orange (i.e. bessaea hybrids). I do have some paphs, but for me, they are a little more challenging. I tend to be a species buff in both groups, but I keep mostly hybrids (though most of them are primaries) simply because I find hybrids a little less demanding. I also enjoy the oncidium alliance orchids -- I particularly enjoy brassias, miltonias and those funky intergenerics heavily influenced by those two groups. Overall, I stick to small/compact plants that fit well under lights, though I make frequent exceptions for the phrags because I love them so much.
I grow under lights indoors in the colder months, but most of my collection goes outside from May to October. Overall growing conditions are intermediate to warm and almost everything is grown in a rockwool based media that's served me well all those years I didn't have time to water and repot as frequently as I should have.
Guess that about covers it. I found this site recently, and it seems to be by far the most active slipper group online and also the most interesting in terms of information and photos, so I'm glad to be here.
A little about my experience & interests. I've been in the plant hobby since I was 13. I used to raise various lizards and as part of that, I kept plants in the tank to provide a natural habitat for the pets. That lead me into the world of bromeliads, which I still quite enjoy, and eventually got me hooked on orchids. So, at this point it's fair to say I have around 20 years of experience with orchids. I also have a number of fresh water fish tanks and consider myself a killifish hobbiest as well. All my tanks are heavily planted. Between work and school, I've had very limited time (and money) to invest in my hobbies, so for the last 5 years or so, my collection has dwindled -- I've lost more plants than I care to think about to the great jungle in the sky, given a bunch away and sold a few of the more in-demand specimens. But now, I've found more time on my hands, so I'm ready to dive back in.
My plant collection and interest, while primarily focused on orchids includes a variety of families: bromeliads (especially tillandsias), cacti & succulents, ferns, cycads and the orchids. Within the orchids, my collection is heavily geared towards phrags -- I love them all -- particularly species, the caudatum group and anything red/orange (i.e. bessaea hybrids). I do have some paphs, but for me, they are a little more challenging. I tend to be a species buff in both groups, but I keep mostly hybrids (though most of them are primaries) simply because I find hybrids a little less demanding. I also enjoy the oncidium alliance orchids -- I particularly enjoy brassias, miltonias and those funky intergenerics heavily influenced by those two groups. Overall, I stick to small/compact plants that fit well under lights, though I make frequent exceptions for the phrags because I love them so much.
I grow under lights indoors in the colder months, but most of my collection goes outside from May to October. Overall growing conditions are intermediate to warm and almost everything is grown in a rockwool based media that's served me well all those years I didn't have time to water and repot as frequently as I should have.
Guess that about covers it. I found this site recently, and it seems to be by far the most active slipper group online and also the most interesting in terms of information and photos, so I'm glad to be here.
