No longer addicted to keeping/buying orchids

The orchid bug bit in 2007. The poison was potent. I started buying left and right and amassed hundreds of plants in my collection. Within the space of a year, my shade house was almost full. By the second year, I was hanging plants randomly and in a disorganized fashion in the shade house. Running out of space, I tagged some to trees.

A mere 2 years later and I have lost interest in buying or keeping orchids. I still keep the ones I have but will probably thin out the collection significantly in the months to come. The antidote? Rain, spider mites, crown rot, leaf rot, snails, bugs, caterpillars... it was just too much and too disappointing. Growing tropical orchids in the tropics may be the envy of many in temperate regions. But if you are someone who doesn't like using chemicals to control pests and problems, like me, it will be almost impossible to maintain a healthy collection.

Many say the orchid hobby is a bottomless pit. Well, I hit the bottom and have pulled myself out. And many of my friends, the ones who got me into the hobby the first place, have also given up and are moving to other things. I admire those who maintain the passion in cultivating them, going the lengths to procure and grow the rarest species from flasks and being so patient.

I still love to photograph orchids though, especially in the wild. I like to explore and go hiking in the jungles and hills in search of interesting things to photograph.