**Easy Orchids VS Difficult ones - Rating my Orchids by difficulty level! 🤔 — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/easy-orchids-vs-difficult-rating-difficulty/

Danny rates orchids from easiest to most difficult, sharing care tips and personal experiences for home growers.

## Key Takeaways

- Slipper orchids are the easiest and most forgiving for beginners.
- Phalaenopsis orchids are widely available and forgiving but require patience to rebloom.
- Cattleyas offer variety and resilience but need bright light and have varied growth rates.
- Understanding orchid growth habits (epiphytic vs terrestrial) is key to proper care.
- Success with orchids depends on adapting care to your environment and learning from mistakes.

## What the video covers

- Danny ranks popular orchids by difficulty, starting with the easiest like slipper orchids and moving to more challenging types.
- Slipper orchids (paphiopedilums) are terrestrial, forgiving with watering, and suitable for low light and normal home temperatures.
- Phalaenopsis orchids are popular, epiphytic, and forgiving but require patience for reblooming and specific care for roots.
- Cattleyas are sympodial, drought tolerant, suited for hot climates, and offer diverse colors and fragrances but vary in growth speed.
- Danny highlights the importance of understanding orchid types (epiphytic vs terrestrial) for proper care.
- He recommends miniature and polycarlos phalaenopsis hybrids for easier care and reblooming.
- The video emphasizes that orchid care success depends on environment and eliminating care mistakes.
- Danny shares personal preferences and experiences growing orchids in different climates.
- He encourages viewers to find orchids that fit their lifestyle and environment for rewarding growth.
- The video includes references to other orchid types and care challenges, promoting realistic expectations.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction and Overview of Orchid Difficulty Rating
2. 01:38 Slipper Orchids (Paphiopedilum) - Easiest Orchids
3. 03:16 Phalaenopsis Orchids - Popular and Forgiving
4. 06:38 Cattleyas - Diverse and Resilient Orchids
5. 08:17 Additional Orchid Types and Care Considerations

Answers

## Questions about this video

Which orchid is considered the easiest to grow at home?

According to Danny, slipper orchids (paphiopedilums) are the easiest to grow at home because they are terrestrial, forgiving with watering, and tolerate normal home temperatures and low light.

Why are phalaenopsis orchids popular among home growers?

Phalaenopsis orchids are popular because they are widely available, affordable, forgiving, and can thrive in many environments, though they require patience to rebloom.

What is important to understand when caring for most orchids?

Most orchids are epiphytic and require special care such as well-draining potting mixes and avoiding root suffocation, unlike typical houseplants. Understanding this is key to successful orchid care.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:00

Speaker A

[Music] Hey guys, it's Danny. Today, I'm going to make a sort of a top, a sort of a rating of what I find to be the easiest orchids, gradually going to the most finicky or most difficult. I will consider the vast

00:14

Speaker A

majority of the more popular orchids, let's say definitely the ones in flower shops but also some of the ones in specialized nurseries. This video will be slightly subjective because I'm talking out of my own experience, but I did grow

00:27

Speaker A

my orchids in two different types of climates. I will try to put myself in more people's shoes, let's say, and come up with a pretty good list that I hope will help most of you home growers. And before we start, don't forget to give

00:40

Speaker A

this video a like if you end up enjoying it. It really helps it out, and why not subscribe? I post multiple times a week, right? Let's start. The first orchid which I consider to be the easiest to keep in a home, it's not

00:51

Speaker A

the phalaenopsis. It is, though, the slipper orchid, not any slipper, the paphiopedilum. Different type of orchid which I will not address today because I really don't have good luck with them, but paphiopedilums, in my opinion, are the most

01:09

Speaker A

hassle-free orchid for home growers. Some might disagree, some might say no, phalaenopsises, but I have some reasons to believe that. Again, generally speaking, these guys will not give you as many headaches. The first concept to grasp whenever we're growing most other

01:23

Speaker A

orchids, which are epiphytic, is the fact that they are epiphytic. They will not behave like other houseplants. Well, the paphiopedilum is terrestrial, so it will actually be a little bit more similar to the other houseplants we might already grow. I would say it is the

01:38

Speaker A

in-between, nice transitional plant because this guy doesn't really like to dry out, so it is much more forgiving to more frequent watering, to, let's say, more of a denser substrate. This is not the type of orchid that you put out aerial

01:52

Speaker A

roots, and most of the times you won't even find it for purchase in transparent pots. So first off, I really don't think it's as intimidating as your first phalaenopsis might be with all the transparent pots and roots everywhere.

02:03

Speaker A

Second, when it comes to care requirements, it doesn't really ask for much. It doesn't even ask for bright light. Temperature-wise, it is comfortable in a wide range of temperatures, most of them being absolute normal home temperatures. Doesn't need high humidity,

02:19

Speaker A

doesn't need a drop of temperature to trick it into blooming, and while it can still suffer from rot, it is a sympodial, so it might actually bounce back with a new growth. Bonus, it looks so, so pretty. Yes, it's not gonna be in bloom for as

02:35

Speaker A

long as the phalaenopsis, not gonna have all that beautiful spray of flowers, but I do believe overall, considering all of the things that I know and experienced with slipper orchids, I think they're the easiest, least intimidating, and most

02:49

Speaker A

rewarding if you just want a plant that looks nice because look how nice it is. Blooms from time to time, it's gonna grow well in even office lighting situations, not to mention they are quite resilient. Yes, they don't really like to dry out,

03:03

Speaker A

but I don't know if you notice, mine is very dry. I'm late with watering day. It has been a busy week. Do you see him wilting? No. Do you see the flower fading? No. So yeah, he doesn't like drought much, but

03:16

Speaker A

if you just have a busy day, if you postpone watering a day or two, he's just not gonna mind it. He's gonna completely understand you. And for that reason, I really love slippers. I really do. I find them easier than phalaenopsis.

03:28

Speaker A

Orchid number two, the phalaenopsis, even though yes, it has its soft spots and sensitivities, but you know what? Throughout the years, anywhere that I lived, I have been more consistent with phalaenopsis success than any other thing. And you might already know

03:45

Speaker A

phalaenopsis are the most popular orchids, and that's for a reason. Now, phalaenopsis are epiphytic orchids, so the thing you need to get used to the most is the fact that they don't like to have roots that suffocate. They need a

03:59

Speaker A

different type of potting mix, maybe a different type of pot, a transparent pot. They will teach you patience because in order to rebloom them, you need to be patient. You need to grow them vegetatively. You might do a few mistakes

04:12

Speaker A

along the way like rushing the roots, rushing the crown or the stem. Yeah, there are all of those things happening, but with other orchids, I feel like there are worse things that can happen, easier for home growers. They're also available in

04:24

Speaker A

most countries around the world in flower shops and garden centers, and again, in most countries, they are very affordable as well. But what I believe is one of the major drawbacks of these orchids is that they have a little bit

04:36

Speaker A

of a trick when it comes to reblooming. So especially for those of you who live in very warm climates and have some issues reblooming phalaenopsis, I do have the beautiful polycarlos type phalaenopsis or hybrid, which is much, much easier to rebloom. To better explain

04:52

Speaker A

this, I have a video that I filmed recently. Check it down below in the description. Bottom line, I do believe there is a phalaenopsis for everyone. Now, if you did not have success with phalaenopsis, there is something in your

05:04

Speaker A

care or maybe environment that messes stuff up for you because really, phals are really, really forgiving. So try to figure out what messes up your plans because I'm sure if you eliminate it, you're not gonna have issues with

05:17

Speaker A

phalaenopsis. And even though historically I wasn't really a big fan of phalaenopsis, I will tell you I love miniature phalaenopsis because they don't take up space and they give me the same beautiful flowers just on a tinier version. And I also adore the polycarlos

05:33

Speaker A

types, the polycarlos hybrids, novelty hybrids, all of those things. This thing right here, I adore it, and it doesn't give me headaches quite at all. So honestly, I'd rather focus on something like this than trying out miltoniopsis again and failing again, you know? So

05:48

Speaker A

these guys are my babies, and I would recommend them to anybody. Orchid number three, cattleya or cats, some of my favorites. These were cats have regained some of their lost popularity, I feel like, in the past few years. Did you know these guys were super

06:06

Speaker A

popular maybe in the 40s when the flowers were used as corsages? They were the phalaenopsis of their time, really. And well, with the availability and diversity of phalaenopsis, they kind of lost some of that popularity, but it's back because cattleyas are absolutely

06:25

Speaker A

fantastic. There are so many different types of cattleyas and hybrids on the market nowadays that you can find something to suit you. If you want fragrant, you're gonna find fragrant. If you want non-fragrant, obviously you're gonna find non-fragrant hybrids. Whatever

06:38

Speaker A

color you can think of, mine is maybe black. You can find a cattleya with that color. I would love a black cattleya. Bonus, they are sympodial orchids. They are not prone to crown rot or stem rot. They have other

06:53

Speaker A

soft spots, but certainly I do believe it's easier to rebounce a cattleya, which has a rhizome, rather than a monopodial. The downside of these guys is that there are so many different varieties that you don't know what

07:07

Speaker A

you're gonna get. Pretty much the hybrids are more likely to bloom more for you and grow faster, but there are some species which have terribly slow growth, species which you kind of need to time a repot of as of their very strict pattern

07:21

Speaker A

of growth. If the cattleya keeps blooming this year, then it's goodbye until next year, you know? There's no other possibility of it blooming this year. Can be a little frustrating with the species and maybe simple hybrids. They're also more drought

07:35

Speaker A

tolerant. These guys are very, very suited for very hot climates. As long as you have bright light, whether artificial or natural, you should be good with these guys. And really, honestly, I don't think there is an orchid that can compete with

07:48

Speaker A

the fragrance of cattleyas, generally not even phalaenopsis. And I love my balina. No, this is beautiful. I love my chantilly. So the cattleya is third on my list, no surprise.

08:03

Speaker A

gonna stop counting at this point and i have it here but i would put the dendrobium phalaenopsis type orchid and this is because to me it is another version of a cat lab that looks a little different and obviously it's completely

08:17

Speaker A

different genus but i feel like the care for cat labs is identical to the care of dendrobium phalaenopsis types and in some parts of the world they are so so incredibly popular especially in asia and maybe in central america am i wrong

08:36

Speaker A

let me know i feel like those climates are very very suited for these orchids there are hot growers they like a lot of light they are very drought tolerant i don't know which is more tolerant the dendrobium phalaenopsis or the cat layer

08:50

Speaker A

but i can assure you that dentals don't necessarily need to be repotted at a certain time of the year i rarely ever lost a dendrobium phalaenopsis so i was tempted to put them above cat layouts on the list but i

09:03

Speaker A

won't simply because there isn't as much variety as the cat layers with the cat layouts you can find tiny little specimens for smaller homes smaller shelves smaller offices with androbium phalaenopsis types typically you go big you go tall there are very

09:20

Speaker A

few which are actually tiny and certainly they're not as tiny as tiny cat layers so i find generally cat layers a bit more versatile when it comes to maintenance but other than that i find androgen fallen off is just as

09:33

Speaker A

easy and just as much of a joy to grow them you might have some issues with blooming them if you don't have a lot of light but the story is the same with cattleyas as well anyway to me they're pretty much

09:45

Speaker A

on the same level one of them though is much more diverse than the other so that's why i put cat layers in front of denver's next up we're gonna go more into the territory of nursery orchids the blooper

09:57

Speaker A

films i love bulba films i will get more but the fact that they're not available at the flower shop obviously means i'm not going to acquire them as fast but bulbophyllums in my eyes are just as easy to grow as phalaenopsis they don't

10:10

Speaker A

require a lot of light they don't require special conditions you can grow them out of a greenhouse just like all of these were kids i mainly specialize in home approved orchids so things that need a lot of humidity and all sorts of

10:24

Speaker A

special things that you cannot implement in a home you will not find in this video to me bubble films are the thirstier version of the phalaenopsis if you will at the same time though they don't tend to bloom as often and as

10:37

Speaker A

long-lasting as phalaenopsis they don't necessarily have the most interesting leaves either and certainly they can grow out of hand because they are a crawling type of an orchid it is a sympodial and it has quite a long rhizome there are

10:52

Speaker A

exceptions obviously but the ones that i have that yeah they're naughty they tend to spread really fast so that is the drawback plus the fact that you don't see it in bloom all that often again is a drawback plus some of them smell

11:04

Speaker A

really bad like really bad their pollinators are flies you can imagine but they're just so beautiful and so easy to take care of once you get the hang of things they're just not as easy to bounce back in my experience all of

11:17

Speaker A

the booboo films that i ever lost except one which i think had a virus but all the others i lost them because they had a rough transport or they weren't very healthy to begin with and rehabilitating them it was not easy so that's the only

11:31

Speaker A

drawback that i see with bulbos they're quite sensitive when it comes to almost losing them but other than that once they get going look at this guy they're really easy to grow they don't require a lot of light but they don't bloom as

11:44

Speaker A

often either however i just find them a joy to grow in a home next up it's gotta be vandas for me oh man vandas i think i'm on a mission to popularize vandas together with the bulba films i don't under i mean i

11:59

Speaker A

understand why they're not as popular as spells but don't they look like another type of phalaenopsis kind right well vandas i believe are not as popular because they are sold bare-rooted and it's a little bit intimidating if you

12:14

Speaker A

think phalaenopsis are intimidating because they're potted in transparent pots and they have roots everywhere imagine a very rigid banda yeah it is intimidating and it is quite large but on the market in nurseries there are tiny vandals available as well and if

12:29

Speaker A

you manage to acclimate them to pot culture it's going to be much much easier to take care of something like this in a home i do have a video on vanda care just like any other orchid down below

12:42

Speaker A

but i also have a video on how i like to switch them to pots it's not an easy process depending where you purchase your orchid sometimes from some nurseries i did get already potted vandas but it was kind of rare but the

12:56

Speaker A

market is changing if you get a vanda acclimated to a pot great i don't think it's way different than a phalaenopsis yes it does require much more light and yes it is a hot grower but it doesn't need that cool down to bloom and it can

13:12

Speaker A

also stay pretty small if you choose a variety that stays small but for me vandas are high up because i did manage to adjust all of my vandas to pot culture and i have a great time with keeping them like that in my home so

13:26

Speaker A

definitely give vandals a chance because i think they are beautiful next up on the list is jewel orchids now i would put the ludicia discolor further up in my list maybe as close as phalaenopsis but i will keep it here

13:44

Speaker A

because ledicia is not the only jewel orchid we can grow and other jewel orchids are just a little bit more finicky slower growing not as friendly quite intimidating so because ludicia's and its hybrids are so easy to grow they

13:59

Speaker A

don't demand a lot of light they just grow in whatever type of soil you have for that reason they are here but other orchids might demand a little bit of a higher humidity to grow well although they can grow well in a home as well

14:15

Speaker A

but i don't know if you have a very dry home if you do if you struggle with humidity you might struggle with some of these guys so it's hard to generalize leducia discolor is easy and i do believe it will do pretty good in almost

14:28

Speaker A

any type of home but because there are some individuals that really don't like certain environments i'm just going to keep it here i have a tutorial that i recently made on jewel orchids and ledycias it's hard to generalize i might

14:43

Speaker A

think that maybe the makotis will be difficult for some of you but turns out it's not i might say oh this is super easy to grow but you might not have such good success with it it it really

14:55

Speaker A

depends on environment so i'm not gonna put it high on the list i'm going to put it in the middle i consider it to be easy but i can see how some people can struggle with some individuals of this

15:04

Speaker A

particular family next up telomere or kids again i feel they're not as popular as they should be because they're not all that available in flower shops across the world but tolumnias i believe they're great for home growing because they're rather tiny

15:20

Speaker A

and look at this flower display typically ontolognias you will have bigger flower displays than they were kids themselves the flowers look like oxidium flowers they're not fragrant typically but they are just so charming and a tolumnia can bloom multiple times

15:37

Speaker A

a year you don't need to drop the temperature or anything you don't need high humidity again you don't need greenhouse conditions to grow these guys where i think the downfall is with tolumnias is getting the mixture right these like moisture but they like air

15:51

Speaker A

just as much so with your mixture you need to strike a balance between having a lot of aeration and keeping them hydrated i don't feel like tolumnias are drought tolerant whenever i skip watering day i start to see little

16:04

Speaker A

wrinkles so i need to water but if i make too much of a wet let's say mixture too much sphagnum moth that's not really to their liking they grow much better when i offer a lot of ventilation and a lot of moisture at

16:18

Speaker A

the same time so it can be a little tricky to find the proper mix but once you do i don't think you're gonna have a lot of issues another thing that they're not great at is bouncing back fast a

16:30

Speaker A

setback to luna can definitely bounce back but it's gonna take a while all of mine that were in bad shape due to i don't know transport weight loss battery potting and things of the sorts they took a while to bounce back oh while for

16:42

Speaker A

a tiny little orchid you think ah it's gonna come back to its full glory within the year not really no it takes a while you you think you know that it will bounce back fast because it has fleshy leaves it has reserves no it

16:56

Speaker A

takes a long time i don't know why but once it gets going it's great so because of the reward in the very little space they take i will put illumina somewhere in the middle of my chart next up i'm going to place on the list

17:12

Speaker A

dendrobiums generally speaking except the nobles nobodies are further down but dendrobiums are just such a varied group of orchids it's just hard to split them in all sorts of sections so i'm just going to bunch all of the dendrobiums

17:26

Speaker A

together at this stage of my list because there are some which are more finicky than others some that are not really finicky at all easy to grow in a home but they're pest collectors generally dendrobiums are known for

17:40

Speaker A

really attracting pests which is not a good sign some pentrobiums do take a little bit of a winter rest but it's not like the phalaenopsis you don't necessarily need to drop temperatures in my opinion again except the nobodies

17:54

Speaker A

some are deciduous i'm not sure how many people like to have bear canes in the middle of winter with nothing on them and just to wait for a once a year show you know maybe not what you would want

18:07

Speaker A

some dendrobiums are big some are absolutely worth it and easy to grow like the beriota i think it's very easy to grow some are just not very easy to grow so because they're just so varied you kind of need to pick which one you

18:20

Speaker A

think will do okay for you which one you have more available in your area but generally speaking i find that draw beams to be somewhat on the lower side they're not the most finicky or kids for me generally but they're not the most

18:34

Speaker A

glorious either i mean my fouls and my cats are glorious not these guys but i do okay with some of them so that's why you don't see a lot of dendrobiums on my channel i'm not a fan of stuff that are

18:45

Speaker A

just not happy with my face you know if they don't like me you know i don't want to keep them here by force so i don't have a lot of them and the ones that i do i really like or i think they will do okay

18:57

Speaker A

in my environment so for me dendrobiums are here on the list bottom of the list but not the most bottom position dendrobium noble is on the other hand oh boy where do i start if i would be living

19:12

Speaker A

back in romania in a temperate climate i would say the ndrobium nobodies are easy or rewarding beautiful plants but now that i live in this subtropical climate i cannot like they have such a specific pattern of growth that i don't get it right

19:28

Speaker A

mid-season winter comes their made way through their growth the second growth because yes they grow two growths in my environment because i have long summers and then they just end up depleting themselves trying to figure out what type of season it is what they should do

19:44

Speaker A

should they bloom should they not all of that drama i talked about it it's not worth it so with androbium nobodies on my personal list they're low but on other people's lists they might be higher up because if you have that

19:57

Speaker A

particular climate that helps them out it's great it's fantastic they're beautiful they smell nice you should definitely own them they're not finicky at all they can grow in a home you just need to pay attention to the winter rest

20:09

Speaker A

and other than that they should be absolutely fine and for the time that i grew them in romania i had no issues no issues they were the easiest well things don't sit the same way here so for me personally they're low on my list

20:22

Speaker A

i don't even bother purchasing them anymore i don't know if i will ever purchase them if i have one maybe i'm gonna get it for a video or for an experiment but i don't want to lie to myself i can't grow

20:34

Speaker A

these guys anymore that is that all right are we ready for the bottom of the chart yes um obsidians i can't believe i'm putting them on the bottom because i love them but oh man considering the last year that i had

20:49

Speaker A

with them and how many i lost due to the pest infestation i i can't i can't so oxidiums generally are easy to keep they are not very demanding you can grow them in a home they have been the first serious let's

21:02

Speaker A

say orchids that i managed to save i kind of built my foundation knowledge of orchids on on stadiums because i purchased a lot of them discounted dirt cheap like nine years ago or 10 years ago so i built my channel and i built my

21:17

Speaker A

knowledge on obsidians i know a lot about them this being said when it rains it pours with them when things go bad oh man they roll so fast if you don't have time for them so these guys should be really easy for a home

21:33

Speaker A

grower if you don't have a lot of workouts they will be very easy but if you have a lot of work it's maintaining these guys will be a nightmare it has been for me i am definitely never going

21:43

Speaker A

to purchase as many on stadiums unless i have a contingency plan what happens is because they have these growths which are kind of like an onion they have a lot of layers and because they have big leaves i'm showing you a tiny one by the way

21:57

Speaker A

there are others that are big they have a lot of leaves they're very foliage oriented plants they have leaves they have pseudobulbs they have large structures it's easy to contain a pest outbreak you might contain it on the surface

22:13

Speaker A

you're gonna break your back it's gonna take a while if you're not using let's say toxic systemic means if you're using spot treatment let's say oil-based solutions it's gonna take an eternity it's gonna break your back and you're

22:27

Speaker A

not gonna achieve success necessarily because oh look at that the pests might hide themselves in the new growth can you do anything about it no because if you put water in the new growth it's probably going to rot can you oil it

22:38

Speaker A

really bad no because the new growth is pretty tender and you're gonna rush it again it's not a pretty situation if you let a pest outbreak get out of hands and with oncidiums it's really easy to do so

22:49

Speaker A

whenever we grow our kids we need to be a little realistic yes we have time for everything now but there might be a time in our life when we need to focus on very important stuff and neglect some

22:59

Speaker A

parts of our lives which are not all that important it's not because we want to it's because we are forced to right so this is the reality of things the first ones to be affected by neglect i think will be on sidiums or on sodium

23:11

Speaker A

types i'm going to include here the miltoniopsis as well miltonia's brassias even zygos i'm gonna include them as well all of these guys i think they will take the hits in your collection and when it comes to rehabilitating them

23:26

Speaker A

from a pest infestation it's gonna be a long long part process that has been my experience with them and sad because i love them so much i think they are so rewarding if they're good they're wonderful if you don't have

23:41

Speaker A

issues with them they grow wonderfully but if you don't have time for them they can really go downhill fast and make your life really really i'm not gonna say bad or kids don't make my life bad but just

23:54

Speaker A

not fun you know so sadly for me on sidiums which are some of the orchids i owe everything i have to honestly they are at the bottom of my list it's heartbreaking but that's the truth that's how things evolve so

24:07

Speaker A

if i'm ever going to have a bigger onstadium collection i will try to focus on tinier individuals stuff that i can contain or maybe that i can grow in one of my glass cabinets which maintains them pest free or close to pest-free

24:23

Speaker A

easy to manage right other than that i don't know i don't see myself going through the drama anymore so sadly they are on the bottom of my list but what about you guys what is your list do you have something that you

24:37

Speaker A

would put on the bottom of my list that i put on top let me know in the comments below let me know why i'm curious to hear from you and with that said thank you so much for watching this video

24:46

Speaker A

hope it was entertaining or maybe you learned something new you're gonna have tutorials actual beginner care tutorials for these or kids down below in the description as always and with that said if you'd like to keep in touch with me on social media just

24:59

Speaker A

search for me i might miss orca girl most importantly though subscribe to this channel because i post very very frequently every week here multiple times a week now that's it i hope you have a great day and i'll see you next

25:09

Speaker A

time bye [Music] [Music] you

Topics: orchids orchid care easy orchids phalaenopsis paphiopedilum cattleya orchid difficulty home growing orchids orchid watering orchid reblooming

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