Even as my updates have gotten fewer, I've also been finding less and less time for watering my collection. Where before I was spending nearly an hour on my orchids every day, now I water everything in one quick go every few days as I remember. Sometimes 'a few days' means almost a week goes by.
With this kind of neglectful care, my collection is undergoing a rather harsh natural selection process. Some orchids seem perfectly fine for now under this regimen of care. Others, particularly orchids which were in weak health to begin with, have visibly suffered.
My collection is now reduced by two. I lost Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy almost a month ago. This was the orchid which rapidly lost all its roots due to what I think was excessive cold during the winter. The phal continued to shed leaves, until nothing remained of the orchid. RIP.
Infected orchid
I also threw away my hapless Aliceara Matthias 'Glamour'. This orchid has been trouble ever since I first bought it. I had noticed a white fuzz on it a while ago, and recently it appeared to have spread. I am not too versed in orchid pests, but I'm guessing this is 'scale'. Regardless, I had the orchid isolated from the rest of my collection for a while. Today, in a moment of frustration, I just threw it in the trash. I'd rather have one less young, sick plant to take care of, than risk the rest of my orchids for the chance to see this one flower.