Orchid Care Notes (Continued 1): My Insights on Growing Orchids

Orchid GrowingNotes ---- (Continued 1)
1: The Way of Orchids and the Way of Humanity
The ancients said, "Wealth is like dung, while benevolence and righteousness are worth a thousand in gold." But in today's market economy, in a society awash with material desire and the supremacy of money, few people advocate benevolence and morality. Since orchid growers have the financial means to invest in growing orchids and loveorchidsand place themselves within the noble orchid community, they should not covet ill-gotten gains; otherwise they disgrace the fragrance of the king of flowers and simply debase themselves.
Upon deeper reflection, the art of growing orchids is like the art of living; the way of orchids is the way of humanity. If the great path of life itself still has its losses, then what does it matter if one grows a thousand pots of orchids or possesses orchids worth a fortune? Perhaps one may achieve brief satisfaction of desire, but after all it is merely passing cloud and smoke. Above all, do not forget the most ordinary proverb: good and evil are both repaid, it is only a matter of time.
2: Ten Years of Accumulation
(1) Success is not easy: if an orchid grower can persevere for ten years as if it were a single day, patiently cultivating orchids without greedily applying excessive fertilizer or chemicals, then after ten years there will certainly be results. Orchid growers must spend a great deal of time and energy over the long process of growing orchids, so thatcultivationand management proceed without mistakes. After all, only a few people can achieve this, so those who succeed are rarely seen.
(2) Becoming famous is not easy: every orchid grower wants, within their lifetime, to discover at least one famous variety and thereby secure a place in orchid history. But famous varieties can be encountered by chance and cannot be sought by force; only with opportunity can you become famous, and it does not necessarily require paying a very high price. Yet over thousands of years, orchid growers have numbered in the millions, and how many have achieved lasting fame? Clearly, becoming famous is not easy.
(3) Ten years of accumulation yields remarkable results: to be conservative, assume the orchidflower'spropagation rate is 50%, and with a base of 3 shoots, the total number of shoots after ten years is: 3 x 1.5 = 173. If the propagation rate is 80%, and the orchid base is 3 shoots, the total number of shoots after ten years is: 3 x 1.8 = 1071 shoots. If a 1-to-1 shoot production rate can be achieved, then the number is even more astonishing.
Insights and Reflections
1: Orchid cultivation is an art, not like one plus one equals two. There are secrets that cannot be conveyed in words. If you can comprehend the mysteries within, cultivation will surely produce excellent results.
2: To grow orchids well and buy good varieties, one must follow the principle of three more and one less: "listen more, look more, compare more, act less." To avoid being cheated when buying orchids, one must firmly remember: buying orchids without seeing the flowers means you are certainly a fool. And if you want the orchids you cultivate to have a high propagation rate, then pay attention to the three don'ts: "First, don't rush to increase temperature and humidity; second, don't rush to apply fertilizer indiscriminately; third, don't rush to change the soil or divide the plants."
3: Orchids are works of art; their quality and value have no proper standard or measure by which to judge them, and their quality certainly cannot be decided by one person's likes or dislikes, or by the opinions of a few. Only a decision based on the majority opinion of orchid lovers can be considered reasonable and fair. When expressing views, try as much as possible to exclude inconclusive conclusions, so as to avoid inviting criticism.
4: After all goods are produced, there is an urgent desire to sell them, and orchids are no exception. But the methods and approaches of promotion are a great body of knowledge that ordinary people cannot learn. Some selling methods can make buyers happy, while others can make buyers sad. Orchid salespeople are magicians; they can sell low-priced orchids at shockingly high prices. This is truly a superb magic trick. When they perform their magic, some use the proper path, while others use crooked ways.
5: In all things under heaven, where there is a bright side, there must also be a dark side. In the noble orchid community, evildoers also exist. The orchid community is also a society, and the people in it are not necessarily all good. If orchid growers understand both the bright side and the dark side of orchid society, then once they are cheated, they will be able to take it calmly.

6: The orchid community is a complex group in which all kinds of talented people emerge in great numbers, and therefore different ideas arise. But every person who truly loves orchids shares one common goal, and that is the hope that the orchid enterprise will flourish.
7: In recent years, the appearance of exotic flowers, unusual plants, and rare varieties has become one of the investment directions for orchid growers in various places. The prices of rare varieties reach as high as tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan. Any investment carries risk, so some people have become enormously wealthy by growing orchids, while others have been reduced to utter poverty. (To be continued...)