WHAT'S NEW AT SLO ORCHIDS
About
Us
Our
greenhouses are located in San Luis Obispo County, City of Arroyo
Grande, half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the
beautiful California Central Coast. We started growing orchids in
1964, began commercial growing in 1985, and are still learning.
Our
goal is to provide complete customer satisfaction by providing
the best quality orchid plants at a very competitive cost. Call
us with any questions you may have concerning our orchid
offerings, cultural experience or any other orchid related topics
of interest to you. If
you have any unusual or interesting orchid species that you would
like to trade or sell, please us know. Visit our website for new
additions as we update our listings weekly.
Website Links
www.sloorchids.com - Check out our web site for pictures of most of our orchids.
www.google.com - A powerful search engine that works great for orchid
descriptions, sources and pictures.
www.orchidmall.com - For the most complete listing of orchid suppliers both in the USA and
foreign
www.pleurothallids.com - lots of pictures and it is the Pleurothallid society web
site.
www.orchidweb.org - To join the American Orchid Society and to use their extensive
orchid references
www.orchidspecies.com - Pictorial species site of over 3400
selections
www.orchiddigest.com - A non profit, quarterly orchid publication, great pics and
articles
www.orchidworks.com - Lots of pics comprising species and hybrids
Hours
of Operation
We are not a 40-hour per week business therefore an appointment will assure our presence anytime, Monday through Friday.
Ordering
To order, please use our convenient Shopping Cart. For credit card, fill in the appropriate information on the order form. You can also order by fax, email or US mail. Do not send credit card data via email. We will acknowledge your order and will notify you as to the ship date..
Return
Policy
Your
satisfaction is guaranteed. If for any reason you are
dissatisfied with your order, please notify us immediately for a
full, unconditional refund. Notification must occur within 5
working days of receipt of plants to process your refund.
Substitutions
Since
our catalog has a large selection of items and some are limited
quantity, we may occasionally run out of stock. We will not
substitute unless you specifically request an alternate choice or
a substitution for an equal or greater orchid value.
Orchid
Flasks
We have flasks available and they can be found on our Orchid Listing under Orchid Flasks. They are a special order item and require a $10 non-refundable reservation deposit. They will be available about 6 to 12 months after receipt of deposit. Your credit card will be charged for the balance at the time of shipment.
Discounts
& Specials
A
15% discount is offered on orders of $500 excluding monthly
specials, shipping & packing costs. Our monthly specials can
can be found, on our Orchid Listing under Specials.
Shipping
We ship on Monday and Tuesday of every week which ensures delivery by Wednesday or Thursday. There is a packing and handling charge of $8 for all orders plus shipping which will be charged at actual cost.
California residents please add 7.75% sales tax.For winter shipments we will add heat packs to your order at a cost of $2 per heat pack. Depending on the size of your shipment we will include 1 to 4 heat packs. These
charges will be added to your grand total. We
have had good, reliable service with U.S. Postal, 2nd day priority and prefer using them as our carrier.
Orchid
Culture
In
our orchid descriptions we have included a brief summery of
general growing requirements for the selected orchid. Following
is a quantitative listing:
MINIMUM
TEMP - MAXIMUM TEMP
Cool
night 45-50'F day 75'F
Intermediate night
55'F day 85'F
Warm night
60'F day 90'F
Hot night
65'F day 95'F
Shady less
than 800 footcandles
Partial
Shade 800-1800 footcandles
Bright 1800-3000
footcandles
Full
Sun 4000+ footcandles
For
a more detailed description of orchid culture, please visit
www.orchidspecies.com or www.orchidweb.org
Water
Quality
Having
good water quality is the single most important ingredient
required to ensure successful orchid growing. This cannot be
overstated. At Slo Orchids, we have a reverse osmosis system,
which eliminates any concern of salt build up in the potting
media. Additionally, we don't have water spots on the leaves and
in the hot summer weather we can spray the foliage and still have
clean looking plants. Difficult orchids often become easy to grow
when pure water is used. If you are not sure what your water
quality is, you should get it tested. NEVER USE SOFT WATER FOR
ORCHIDS!
Water
Frequency
Generally
we water all the orchids at one time regardless of genera. In
summer, we water 2 to 3 times a week or every other day. If the
weather is particularly warm, we will water spray the foliage
every day without necessarily attempting to water the media. All
watering is completed by 10:00 a.m., especially in the cooler
months, to allow the foliage to completely dry out by the end of
the day.
Fertilizing
We
fertilize at half the recommended dilution rate, every other
watering that equates to once a week in summer and twice a month
in winter. For general growing, we use a balanced 20-20-20
fertilizer with added trace and micro nutrients. For bloom
forcing, we use a 10-30-20 or similar high potassium or
phosphorus combination. Since we use reverse osmosis water, we
have a deficiency of magnesium and sulfur, and therefore do a
monthly foliar spray of magnesium sulphate also known as Epsom
salt. | 