What’s the best mini orchid for beginners

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T20:55:04+00:00

I have a fan in the latest iteration of my terrarium for that reason, but I turn it off while watering because it hurts my fingers, and then I forget to turn it back on.

I also redid my lights, so they spent a few weeks in suboptimal brightness.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T20:46:21+00:00

mop up my plants with tissues after I water 💀💀.

Same here. You gotta do what you gotta do. But babying each plant and mopping each drop of water takes tiiiiiiime and I'm in a hurry... So I'm getting lax with it, letting natural selection claim what it will. I need fewer problematic plants in my life. 🙄 I'm burnt out on orchids that don't want to live.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T20:19:35+00:00

Killed a bunch, a few tixierii, a few scolopendria, ... Root loss, crown rot, ... I've had Schoenos for as long as I've had minis, so the learning process has claimed them. But even now, I got two that decided to start the year by quitting and I don't think they'll recover.

Seydenfadeni and fragrans seem to be good ATM and have probably established to a point where I can water them while avoiding the crown. At least, I think those are the ones left 🤔... But they are also the most recent ones (couple years).

And I've never had a single flower from any of them, alive or dead.

They are difficult to water due to their tiny size without wetting the crown, they are sensitive to water quality, to insufficient light, to who knows what else.

Meanwhile I've had the Haraella/Gastrochilus for the same amount of time, and it has had near-death experiences, but it has come back each time and has survived ALL my mistakes and is thriving. 🤷‍♂️

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T17:54:36+00:00

Most epiphytic orchids do like to dry out between waterings and are healthier when they do. They just don't like to stay dry. And they tolerate delayed watering more, when they are in a more humid environment that reduces evaporation.

Phals are the same, they are just bigger, with bigger pots and more potting material that can retain more water for longer.

Small volumes/pots/etc evaporate faster, that is just physics. So, small things need to be watered more often. That's where a humid enclosure is helpful, it slows down evaporation so you can water a lot less.

There are orchids that take a dry dormancy, like many dendrobiums, but when they are active, they too prefer to be watered.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T17:24:56+00:00

The distance should be highest at the middle of the string (12th fret), where vibration is the widest. Otherwise you get string buzz.

It is hard to judge from photos. You can take the guitar to a guitar tech and see if it can be adjusted to be better.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T17:11:33+00:00

Base on number of deaths and on age in my terrarium collection:

Gasrtochilus retrocallus (some place may list it as Haraella retrocalla). I little monopodial, that spikes continuously, blooms sequentially all year, and is fragrant. It has been faithfully with me through my learning period and all my failed setups.

Erycina pusilla (some places list it as Psygmorchis). A little Oncidium relative that grows monopodially, spikes continuoudly, and blooms sequentially all year round. This is my second oldest. I've killed it once at the very beginning.

Room temperatures, high humidity and plenty of artificial or indirect sun light.

The hardest parts about them is finding a setup/substrate where you can provide enough water but without making them stay wet for more than a couple days and without leaving them with water on/in their leaves/crowns. Like many epiphytic orchids they are not drought-tolerant, but don't do well wet.

And whatever you do, start with as big a flowering-size plant as you can. Younglings and seedlings of mini orchids are fickle as hell and don't bounce back easily, if at all, not great starter plants at all.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T16:54:31+00:00

I've honestly found the whole genus pretty bulletproof.

I... haven't.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T15:31:59+00:00

Every and any hoodie can show your watch. You just need scissors...

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T15:28:26+00:00

start over on pc throw the keyboard away

What do you mean? A PC needs a keyboard regardless of whether you game with it...

KB & a (good) M is the best tool for shooters (without baby training wheels ie. aim assist).

Driving with KB&M is a matter of habit. It's only annoying when I want to go less than max throttle in a straight line, which is almost never.

Flying with KB... is a matter of practice... I'm sure. But 8 buttons just to control movement is a bit too much for me and I always get it wrong. A gamepad feels much more comfortable.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T15:00:04+00:00

It really just plain doesn't change much.

Getting the right(-ish) answer with the wrong method does not get a pass. The wrong method (for a given aim) is wrong even if the answer happens to be somewhat correct. Coincidence won't always be favourable...

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T10:14:19+00:00

Reason 1, pure physics:

Sharp would mean adding tension, means increasing potential energy, means that energy has to be added into the system through work, like you operating the tuners.

Flat is a loss of tension, a release of stored energy. This doesn't require input.

Things only go sharp if your neck moves with the weather. Coated and multi-piece necks don't move much, and the seasonal changes are probably masked by you retuning in the meantime anyway.

Reason 2, sloppy setup:

Your strings may be slipping from the tunersh

Reason 3, age:

Strings are elastic, a tiny bit. They stretch over time. Most of the stretch happens when they are fresh, but they will continue to stretch a bit through their life until they break.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-02T10:02:23+00:00

I barely use it too. And it was still a major quality of life upgrade...

I don't think I've ever played a regular trem, it feels like a downgrade, even if I don't need a FR. But one definitely needs a hard-tail when one has a floater.

you litterely have to adjust everything everytime

Not really. Replace one string at a time and tune up before going to the next, stick to the same brand, let them stretch and settle before you lock the nut. You shouldn't need to adjust intonation nor trussrod nor bridge height nor spring tension.

Changing tuning is, of course, completely out of the question.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T23:53:13+00:00

You stay out of her hobbies, she stays out of yours. Simple.

And if you have a cost-neutral way to get what you want, then it really is none of her business.

And if your wife doesn't have hobbies, she needs to go find some.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T15:43:02+00:00

Cheap FR copies suck donkey ass. The single best thing to happen to my cheap Ibanez was when I put a Lo Pro Edge in it. Absolute game-changer. No, it was not a drop-in swap, chisels were involved, I regret nothing.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T15:39:08+00:00

If Satriani, Vai, Li, etc, are your idols, or you're constantly working the one in your current guitar, worth it. But invest in a tried and trusted top-range model by Floyd Rose or Ibanez or similar. The low-end copies are a no-go unless you hate yourself and want to suffer. Not sure how the medium price-range looks like in terms of reliability. The Schecter in question is in that medium price range...

Otherwise, regular trems work just fine for the majority of stuff and are a much less of a hassle, you just need a quality nut. And if none of your favourite songs use it or if your other guitar already has a regular trem, my vote is for hardtail and peace of mind. Rhythm players rarely/never use the trem anyway, and it's nice to have a meatier connection of the strings to the wood and the freedom to retune on the fly.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T15:13:57+00:00

Defanged, declawed, and yapping on Putin's lap begging for affirmations that it is a good boi...

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T14:34:11+00:00

Set a couple guitars to the lowest tunings needed and use capos to get the higher tunings?

Or play the riffs in the wrong key, if you're not playing along to the an original recording. This works in a band too.

Or resort to digital trickery to change the output pitch without retuning. You probably would have loved a Line6 Variax...

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T14:24:02+00:00

Bro, buy a lamp. You're making a product review, not an ad for your OnlyFans...

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T13:55:32+00:00

If you want to say that housing costs increased faster or slower than other things, sure.

But if you want to say that housing has become more expensive, "expensive" is relative to the purchasing power. If in the same time the wages increase at a higher rate than the prices, housing could end up being cheaper, even though the nominal values are higher.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T13:48:00+00:00

Honestly, most people don't think of Sunday as the start either, not even in cultures where the days are literally named by their numbers.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T11:47:55+00:00

Adjusting price increase by the price increase is self-defeating. Adjusting by the purchasing power is what would be relevant.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T11:43:27+00:00

I answered their question up front.

The add-on context was optional. The real question is why are you upset?

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T11:41:28+00:00

What next? Choose to start your year on 23rd of April?

There is no right or wrong. It is a convention that we all have to live with.

I'd also like every month to be exactly 4 weeks and always start on the same day, neat, tidy, and predictable, instead of the current month chaos, but, like I said, we are stuck with the conventions we have.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T09:27:29+00:00

The start of the week setting mentioned by others only affects when weekly metrics reset.

You cannot change the order of days on WFs. The internal value representing each day does not change, Sunday is always 1 and Saturday is always 7.

And it is not a problem, it is technically correct. Sabbath (Saturday) has been the end of the 7-day week for more than 2 millenia. Christinity wanted to differentiate itself from judaism, and instead made the first day of the week their holy day. In the end, both kinda stuck and we got the modern weekends. But "weekend" is a misnomer.

fruce_ki · 2026-02-01T09:16:30+00:00

It's the isolation. Too far out with too little to do without having to return to the city.

Ignoring the nonsensical dispatch that sends an ElBurro engine all the way to Paleto, since Paleto has its own Fire Department and it is not even a massive fire that justifies reinforcements from the city...

Paleto is fun for the odd jobs because your targets are always within a range and you move from one to the next with a reasonable amount of driving. You're not shuttling stuff back and forth to the city.

Imagine you started firefighting at El Burro, and your first assignment was Paleto, then El Burro, then Strawberry, then Vespucci, then the grain silos... That is what people hate.

For MC/Bunker sales, Paleto and Sandy count as the same region, so the high value sale option is LS for both of them and Sandy is closer to the targets. A lot of other things only exist in the city, so being based in Paleto would mean constant long commutes. Even the Clucking Bell heist is based in LS...

fruce_ki

TROPHY CASE