I posted this a few years ago:
The thread "Recommendations for second orchid type after phals?" in Orchids forum

I have five phals now and four are spiking, one has a keiki also. It's bewildering. None have been treated the same, none got or get supplemental light, all spent the summer outdoors in different spots in the yard (that's normal) and came indoors September 28, after it started getting cold at night. The only commonality they have is that I drastically reduced the volume medium they are in. Some are horribly pot bound and in plastic, some are sprawling loosely in clay pots with a handful of moss and a few bits of bark, two are hanging in clumps of moss tied to a tree branch. They spent the summer in different parts of the yard...none were fertilized. They are all in different-facing windows: east, west, and south.

I did all of the things I was supposed to do, including supplemental lights, but impressed none of them although they always looked healthy (a couple were Lowes' rescues. Love orchid rescues.) No spikes. A month after they came inside, I started finding mittens. Now they are all at least five inches long. So maybe the temperature change, but I've read various things that those aren't a reliable trigger.

I have two oncidiums that I cruelly ignored during the summer outdoors, and one is spiking and one is thinking about it.

So I'm ready for a next orchid.

Setting the phal odyssey aside....

Details: I have clip on grow lights and also a full spectrum florescent set up. Not sure if I would use them but they are there.

I live in New England and it is very, very dry in the winter. I grow an alocasia and papyrus in container water gardens indoors and group many plants there together. My Oncidiums hang above that set up, so there is some humidity there unless I'm deluded. That whole section gets a few hours of a grow light bath a week.

All my houseplants spend summers outdoors, and I've developed a winter care routine which I quite like which is basically that 'everyone gets a small amount of water every Sunday' except for the phal that hangs in moss from a branch. That gets taken to the kitchen sink and thoroughly soaked each Sunday before getting hung back up. I used to handle houseplants on an as-needed basis but I'm finding that 'just do it every Sunday' is far less work.

I would like a winter flowering orchid, something fragrant or beautiful and bold in the depths of winter, and I'm interested in water culture because it's been going well for me w/a papyrus and an alocasia. I like the look of mounted orchids also, and since I'm already doing it for the phal I wouldn't mind doing it for another.

I do like plant adventures.

I think I don't like vandas. They spend a lot of time looking straggly and misshapen, but maybe I haven't met the right one.

Suggestions? (I feel like I'm visiting a matchmaker.)

A great many questions.
Vandas are probably not for you. They like it warm with lots of sun, water and fertilizer. If they are straggly and misshapened, you are not providing the correct conditions needed for them to do better.
Your Phalaenopsis might grow and flower better if you gave them better conditions. It is a good idea to repot them every two years at least. Have you ever repotted them? Phalaenopsis do not like, or need, much in the way of light.
Don't you have a few images to include?
Just how well are your Oncidiums doing? Large, fat pseudobulbs with dozens of flowers per spike? They prefer a good deal of moisture. Not humidity, that is not the same thing as frequent waterings in a pot.
The vast majority of orchids that are available today are epiphytes, meaning that they need good air movement around their roots. It takes a very concentrated effort to grow them hydroponically.
And if you water a Phalaenopsis once a week in the sink because "it is a lot less work", that concerns me. Growing orchids takes some work. Some will survive with minimal work but they won't bloom as well as they could.

I am hesitant to suggest other types. You could try Phragmipediums,


You could try Cattleyas but they require some sun.

I'm saying all of them are successful and flowering and I'm not asking for advice about Oncidiums or Phaleanopsis. I am not growing vandas wrong because I don't grow vandas. I don't want to grow vandas.

I also don't need to be condescended to, but thank you for the offer.

Empress, if I can add to this here - it has been my experience that specific plants follow ME, not the other way around. Bill gave you sound advice!
Our Orchid threads here are arranged by their blooming times, so you might want to look at those monthly bloom threads, see what hits your eye and then ask?
Your best bet is to look for Orchid nurseries in your area and buy from them. Are there open houses or a show? If you really want to expand your collection. I would quit picking up rescues. Buy some good plants from a reputable source and enjoy.
Sorry, but if you wish to go into water culture, those gorgeous epiphytic Orchids, which we post into our forum here, are not suitable for water culture.
Watering needs to be done as needed!
We can happily guide you, if you are so inclined.

I just went through your old thread! There was lots of good discussion on the subject! We were happily discussing Cymbidiums etc! Yes, they would work well, if given the appropriate light. We even discussed an affordable grow light.

There is one question I have - you wrote:
"A month after they came inside, I started finding mittens. Now they are all at least five inches long."
What are mittens?

Mittens are the new spikes on a phal, Ursula. They look like little mittens at first.
Empress, I grow Cattleya almost exclusively. They bloom all year for me in Florida. You might be able to keep them alive and possibly see a random bloom now and then with your culture and climate… but it would be a struggle during the winter as they really need a lot of sun to bloom. SVO orchids has some very nice compact window sill sized plants . Hybrids seem to be more forgiving than species .

Yes, thanks, Empress educated me. You know, I never heard that expression before. It sounds cute. I was visualizing little kittens with mittens....

Most of the current crew pictured below. I have one more phal still hanging in the window. It will bloom today or tomorrow. It lost a few of its flowers to bud blast when I moved it to a colder window, for reasons I can't remember. I wound up buying a Dendrobium phalaenopsis because, of course, it was on sale. But on reflection kind of a boring choice so I'll maybe try those Cymbidiums next.

Regarding the collective mitten appearances -- I brought them into the house on September 28, so looking at the historic data (https://www.accuweather.com/en...), that looks like a month of daily twenty degree drops. That was what I was shooting for, in hopes that it would trigger blooming. One instance isn't quite science, so I'll do it again this year, but as I mentioned all of the outdoor phals were in different conditions of all sorts, and then moved into the house into different conditions again (Different aspects, etc.) So it's the thing I can point to asking myself 'why did all these orchids in all of these different conditions decide this is the big year'? We will see on year two.

After bringing them in, mittens started appearing between September 28 and October 28. They have been going into bloom slowly; the first one being the white one in the bottom left corner which has been blooming since New Year's Day. One of them, not shown, which I have mounted on a bit of Mountain Laurel, did not bloom, but I think it didn't feel quite stable in the mounted arrangement -- it takes time for their roots to cleave to the wood and for them to feel stable.

I wound up not using supplemental lights, but hung them in windows. They likely would be more prolific with better light, but it's February and they're in bloom and I'm happy.



Bonus picture of an orchid mitten for those who haven't come across the term; it's just a cutesy way to describe differentiating a root from a spike.

Water culture for phals is a thing, incidentally.
shorturl.at/qwI27

I'm not sure about how I feel about it, but I like the look and I do other forms of water culture for alocasia and papyrus, and especially in New England, the more water you have lying around in the wiinter the better because at the moment my skin feels like it is made partially of sand.

There are different forms of water culture, but basically, it's not like with a spider plant or pothos where you plop the roots fully into the water and forget it. Some roots drape into the water, but maintain aerial roots above the water. If you have the right container, between the floppy leaves of the phal and the structure of the aerial roots themselves, you can have the roots and leaves raised well out of the small bit of water the other roots dip into.

Maybe I'll try it with the keiki I have kicking around.

Oh it is only honest to mention that big purple one is a cheat; it was a new gift.
Don't be overly wowed.

Empress, nice to check in with us! Your Orchid grouping looks very pretty and thanks for the Mitten -picture!!