Easy Orchids VS Difficult ones - Rating my Orchids by difficulty level!

I'm an orchid killer and the ones I haven't killed and had lived for years were the Dendrobium kingianum and Masdevallias.

It's funny because I live in a temperate/subtropical climate too (Buenos Aires City) and nobile-type Dendrobiums just grows alone, outside year round, like many other plants (including many orchids). I just try to keep them dry-ish during the colder months (it is quite rainy here and there's no dry season) and they just bloom consistently.
Many people have them just mounted in trees with other "tough" orchids that are pretty common around here like Oncidium bifolium (actually native to the area, quite hardy), Miltonia flavescens and Brassavola tuberculata (both natives to the northern part of the country), and some others (a friend of mine has a tree full of Dendrobium moschatum, Epidendrum type-radicans and Trichocentrum nanum).
I get that it might be because you have them inside, but for my growing conditions (pretty much as outside plants, with some repairs) Dendrobium nobile's are one of the most robust and rewarding orchids you might grow.
Maybe, if you can in your house, try to grow them with less love and more "exposed" to the elements that the rest of the orchids that you mention in the video. And i'm not being trivial with the Dendrobium nobiles, learning to grow this one could open to you a whole lot of variety, particularly now that you've moved to a more tropical-ish climate.
I think the ""mistake"" could be that you try to keep Dendrobiums (and Oncidiums from what I can see) as tropical plants when many of them are not, in fact as you mentioned they can suffer in tropical conditions; if I would to keep a Phalaenopsis as I keep my Dendrobiums and Oncidiums it would probably die within the first winter or maybe it won't be able to bloom (depending on the hybrid, of course). But, as I mentioned, many Dendrobiums, Oncidiums (and Encyclia, Laelia, Epidendrum, etc) in fact NEED the seasonal change to grow healthy. Maybe you need to expose them a little bit more, because are almost impossible to kill if you treat them like what they are, subtropical plants.

What about ZYGOPETALUM? Or do they fall under one of these in the list?

Agree with your assessment on oncidium. I would add prosthechea cochleata on the list. It's regarded as one of the easiest orchids to grow, but it's also the easiest to rot.

Do you sell orchid plants.? I wish to buy a monkey face orchid.

Dendobriums? From india temperatures range from 24 to 44 degrees

If anyone is from Europe, could you tell me where do you buy orchids? I don't know where to buy them since I don't like online shopping and in all the gardens I've visited they only have phalaenopsis. Thanks!

My easiest orchid is a dendrobium.

So where can I get some of these if I am in South Georgia?

...I took a plunge from phalaenopsis to THE Nelly Isler 😂 It's one of my top 3 stress inducing plants in a 60+ collection.

in group 11 there are many orchids shown, which aren`t oncidiums, there are some hybrids which are called miltassia (moltonia +brassia), so they haven´t the same care as oncidiums.

Where do you buy your rare orchids?

In Madeira Island, Portugal, with a sub-tropical weather most people just keep orchids outside and water them in the Summer. Nummer 1 does great.

If you use a grow light which do you recommend

based on my experience, in the philippines, dendrobiums are more hardy and easy to grow, it doesnt need cooler temp to bloom.

i completely agree with your ranking

1. Dendrobiums
2. Phals
3. Oncidiums
4. Cymbidiums

I tried Catleyas and did not like them, I avoid slippers and blubophillyms since they don't like dry spells.

I prefer orchids that can handle long droughts/dry spells... learnt the hard way that Cymbidiums like a lot more water. Found out that almost all my Dens and Oncidiums (surprisingly even Phals) can handle 2-3 months without water - don't recommend it though as it will stress the orchid.

Darn it. I decided to break away from phals and bought an oncidium. They are beautiful I just hope I can care for it well.

Super ❤

Paphs are great. Put em in a north window and forget em. Water once in a while. That's what happened with mine and I was rewarded with a gorgeous bloom and pups. However, they do need an actual nighttime. They die in the office (24/7 light).

nice video , for me the big Vanda's are the most difficult to grow well , i kill them all , difficult to keep air humidity high in the winter in home , there roots ware 2 meters long , i tried to keep them in pot and they rotted very quickly , shame on me , i love them so much with there huge flowers and the one with the chocolate flavour is just amazing to fragrant your home , but yeah , really difficult if you dont have a greenhouse to keep them at high air humidity , thanks for your video , it helps a lot to learn for caring and knowing wish one needs the specific condition to keep healthy

Just received my fertilizer from repot me

My Phal amboinenesis is constantly blooming

My jumping Jack zygopetelum are in bloom. Soooo pretty

I live in Southwest Miami 2 / 2023 and I had to have a shade house built in the yard 20 ft by 20 ft went to every Orchid show every event in Florida, had a notebook with all the names all the different classifications, over 1,000 orchid I had of course, the most expensive are the first ones that died and I killed quite a few of them, I lied I killed a lot of them but a lot of them survived my shade house still looks full later I learned more when I went to an orchid Club well I'll still love my lady slippers, cats and others oh, I just learned the hard way I suggest to anyone that likes orchids to go to an orchid Club and also watch these Miss Orchid girl videos thank you

I just love watching your videos so much. I really looking forward to having my own orchids collection and applying all the knowledge that you have shared here to take care of them!

But u know i started getting into epiphytes from Dendrobiums cause here in India Dendrobiums are the cheapest orchids and available in abundance and many people end of killing them. Never happened to me although I killed two Phals and thought they are the difficult ones. But hoping of getting one more Phal to try it.... Hope it works this time.

Dendrobiums are my speciality.

I live in Eastern Australia, which is the Dendrobium capital of the world.

I literally couldn’t live in a better spot to grow them.

Danny,
What is the shortest interval between bloom on a Paphiopedilum? And what is/are the varieties?

Thanks!

Danny I saw a video by a home grower of Paphiopedilums who indicates that it can be a very long time between flowerings. Your thoughts?

My first Oncidium grew a 3 feet spike full of flowers. It seemed easy. I LOVE Dendrobium nobiles, but I haven't been able to get it to bloom well. The second year I had it, it only threw out two or three measly flowers.

The easiest are Cattleya hybrids. Especially Brassovola types.

My tolumnias are not in the pots but on a bark and cork - just hanging there - i think it works the best

Wow thanks for this video!
I always thought that Paphiopedilum and Cattleya are hard to grow! So now I think I'll give it a shot :)
By the way, I find Dendrobium phalaenopsis are the easiest! It's crazy, they just survive everything. I'm now doing an experiment trying to grow at different media, including without any medium and they do so well! (And I live in a dry area!)

Easiest for me is dendrobium, then cattleya, oncidiums.... most difficult: phalaenopsis😅 . I put them on big trees in my garden otherwise they wont survive.

I read that the ma bell paph has a fragrance. do they??? and do any paph smell? TY

Great video! Very informative for me

Yeahhh I agree on the Onc and Milt subfamily... When I had orchids 15 years ago the Milt had the pests and other issues. I've criminally neglected my phals this past year due to both overwatering (sitting in puddles of water), underwatering (forgetting for a solid month) and keeping them in absurdly low light levels... Somehow I only lost 2 (one of which my dogs knocked over and broke) and 2 of them even rebloomed in spite of terrible levels of neglect.

I'm rebuilding my collection now and rehabilitating those poor phals that have been through so much. One of the worst cases has even put out a basal keiki so she will live on. Most of them are in the 5-10 year range too, so not young plants at all.

I live in North Carolina and have 5 oncidiums, 4 of them are doing great and enjoying their lives. The only one with problems is the species sotoanum which came with scales and cramped in a pot. I’m trying to get rid of the scales by watering with systemic granule water and recently repotted it. The bulbs shriveled but are still hanging on. Hope it could recover soon

How would you describe the difficulty of taking care of a miltoniopsis? since you are the queen of it :P

Cattleyas: Easy to grow, but somewhat challenging to bloom and to repot. Vandas: Impractical because of their huge roots; if there is an issue (i.e. fungal infection), recovery is not easy. Odontoglossums, Odontiodas, Beallaras: The higher the Odontoglossum percentage, the cooler you need to keep them; if you can keep them cool, they are rewarding.

Can you recommend a source to purchase orchids online?

omg you have a dendrobium trantuanhii,how much does it cost?

I agree with your Oncidium ranking! I've lost a couple to diseases and the two I managed to save are doing very well. I have them on the trunk of mango trees in South Florida. They look happy, they're bright green, lots of new growth and roots, no signs of infections, HOWEVER, they just will not bloom! It drives me crazy... like I have been babying you for years, give me at least ONE flower spike, please!!! They get direct sunlight in the afternoons and indirect in the mornings.

You forgot cymbidiums! Where are they on your list?🥰

not me crying after i ordered 2 oncidiums

Your videos show me the orchid diversity living in tropical climates allows, anyone who lives in a Mediterranean or cooler areas - Cymbidiums are bulletproof and everything else is a challenge :(

I am a total plant person, but never ever thought that I would look and be interested in Orchid videos. I even bought my first one today, its an Oncidium. 😁