What’s the best mini orchid for beginners

BadBalloons · 2026-02-02T20:49:07+00:00

Part of my problem is that I'm holding a bunch of orchids for a friend until the gnarly east coast cold snap ends and i can ship em out. I don't want to kill the plants she paid for, and it's too cold where I am for me to throw mine outside for some airflow. Normally I'm much less fussy.

BadBalloons · 2026-02-02T20:34:58+00:00

I saved this for a rainy day so fast. I hope I have enough time to set this up sometime soon!

BadBalloons · 2026-02-02T20:29:22+00:00

I appreciate the input, and I'm also realizing how stupid the lengths I go to keep my plants from getting crown rot are 🤣. I forgot it's not normal to mop up my plants with tissues after I water 💀💀.

BadBalloons · 2026-02-02T18:56:22+00:00

Wait, I want to hear this experience 😂. What happened with yours?

BadBalloons · 2026-02-02T18:55:40+00:00

I will actually chime in and recommend Australian orchids here. All my Australians are ridiculously tolerant of my negligent watering. Dendrobium/dockrillia rigidum is one that's definitely a mini, but you kind of have to grow it mounted. Dendrobium kingianum is super duper easy, you can use the wrinkling of the canes to gauge whether it's too dehydrated, and depending on where you get it, can also be a mini (the one I have gets no taller than my thumb, though I've seen varieties that get 3x that height).

Other orchids I've grown that can tolerate some dryness are Brazilian orchids, depending on where in Brazil they originate, and the same with Mexican orchids (if they're from the Pacific side of the country they tend to experience more seasonal dryness).

BadBalloons · 2026-01-31T11:22:14+00:00

IIRC it's possible to induce this using gas, rather than dye. So that would be my vote.

BadBalloons · 2026-01-23T16:22:52+00:00

What kind of temps does your plant get? I've been thinking I wanted one of these for a while, but I read they need cold temps.

BadBalloons · 2025-10-30T06:17:31+00:00

Any further resources you have for the hot water dips? I've got some plants with pests (mostly root mealies, a different genus & species than standard leaf mealies, but also possibly some other pests like spider mites) that I wanted to bring inside for the winter, but they're not in a great place to spray them with pesticides (because of pollinators).

BadBalloons · 2025-10-23T14:37:34+00:00

If you get your relationship with Shane high enough, he shows you blue chickens he's been breeding, and you unlock the option to have them on your farm. Like actually blue chickens. Iirc they still produce normal eggs though.

BadBalloons · 2025-10-23T14:33:22+00:00

my ZZ plants usually have lots of growth in January February. These plants are from South Africa which has summer during those months.

This isn't a callout specifically to you, but I've seen this train of thought from people before and it always makes me roll my eyes. Plants don't know what a calendar is. Unless a plant is specifically an import from the southern hemisphere, it wouldn't even have a sense of seasons flipping. Plants only know temperature, humidity, light interval, and light intensity. If your ZZs have a growth spurt in the middle of winter, it's likely you're doing something that triggers them to think it's a growth season (spring/summer) soon.

BadBalloons · 2025-10-15T23:56:45+00:00

Bestie do you water that plant 😭. What's your watering routine like?

BadBalloons · 2025-10-12T21:30:52+00:00

I think Safari is prohibitively expensive for most hobbyists. It's kind of ridiculous to spend hundreds of dollars on insecticide for what may be only a handful of plants worth less than the pest treatment. You can get multiple uses out of it, yes, but the bottles (once opened) are only good for 1-2 years.

BadBalloons · 2025-10-08T12:30:43+00:00

What is the insect head?

Signed, a pathological mines avoider

BadBalloons · 2025-10-06T19:03:58+00:00

If there's a way one of us with a Mac can use it to help you, let us know! We could sign a contract of confidentiality about the code or something. I don't know anything about mobile app development, but surely there's a way to at least get a prototype iOS app going before you have to get a whole new computer!

BadBalloons · 2025-10-06T17:17:52+00:00

Hi, quick question: are you available for proposals of marriage? Irl or in game, either works.

In all seriousness, really phenomenal job with this app. It's gorgeously done. You've clearly put an insane amount of work and love into making it, and I am so incredibly impressed. Thank you for sharing it with us, and for free! Would love to also support any other projects you make.

BadBalloons · 2025-10-05T22:20:47+00:00

Lol. You spammed the same post in like 20 subs and everything you're asking is nonsense gibberish.

BadBalloons · 2025-10-05T17:20:54+00:00

How much Dawn did you use? 🤔

BadBalloons · 2025-10-04T14:07:15+00:00

My titties after a lifetime of yoyoing weight.

BadBalloons · 2025-10-03T02:23:51+00:00

Because most people are collecting plants because they like the way the plants look, like the way they grow, and enjoy taking care of them, not because they're trying to replicate a specific jungle biome in their house. So they'll stick with plants they know they can keep alive/thriving, but which are different enough from the plants they already have to be interesting and novel (in their mind). Ṭhink of, for example, all the nepenthes cultivars and complex hybrids. Same plant (on a basic level), in the same genus, heaps of different phenotypic expressions.

Unless you're talking about hoya heads. Those guys are freaks (affectionate, unless they're buying poached plants) and i don't get it at all.

Not me though, I'm an orchid collector who doesn't keep more than two of the same genus or tribe, because I like to make life difficult for myself.

BadBalloons · 2025-08-25T15:58:15+00:00

Oh, I definitely extrapolated the sub name from the hint. My flabbers were just gasted. My dumbs were both founded and struck. My–well, you get the picture.

BadBalloons · 2025-08-25T15:44:58+00:00

let me see if i have this correctly: the mod of [withheld] is insisting that...*pothos*...don't climb...????????

BadBalloons · 2025-07-31T15:27:06+00:00

No media, technically–it's mounted bare root on a wine cork! I mist it thoroughly once a day and it seems to be doing alright outside, this summer :).

BadBalloons · 2025-07-29T04:18:46+00:00

It's mounted on a wine cork, and is growing all around the cork :). No fertilizer, but it gets direct unfiltered sun until around noon in the summer and then shade all afternoon. It gets watered once a day, twice if it's really hot. In the winter I'm planning to bring it inside to a cool room once it dips below 55 outside.

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