Orchid Care Blog

Osmunda agrees with them, although the addition...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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Osmunda agrees with them, although the addition of sphagnum is often helpful.

The deciduous canes may be cut from D. nobile and D. superhum and laid on the gravel under the benches.

They will break at the eyes and form new plantlets.

Dendrobiums may be accommodated in a variety of containers, but, since they thrive in confinement, the receptacle should be as small as possible.

Rafts or baskets are suitable for the drooping types.

Drooping canes should be allowed to follow their inclination unless room is scarce, in which case they may be tied up. Other types will do well in pots with Osmunda as medium.

Sanders recommends a compost of three parts finely cut Osmunda to one part of sphagnum.

Coelogynes, with few exceptions, should be potted in shallow containers in firmly packed Osmunda.

When repotting, the growths should be placed toward the center and the compost mounded.

As they do not react well to repotting, it should be avoided when possible.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

Phalaenopsis give trouble to some growers. When potting,...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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Phalaenopsis give trouble to some growers.

When potting, the plants should be well centered in the pot or basket.

Medium should be well packed but not so firmly as for Cattleyas.

Compost should come well up around the base of the plant, since Phalaenopsis has a tendency to force the constantly forming crowns up from the medium.

There should be very good drainage.

Osmunda makes a most satisfactory medium.

Phalaenopsis are heavy feeders and will usually exhaust the medium in two years, after which they should be repotted.

This orchid has strap-like roots that wander out of the container and become fastened to it, the bench, or adjacent pots.

These roots must be severed in repotting, and the plant is inevitably set back.

The intense interest in gravel culture, which is spectacularly successful with Phalaenopsis, is partly a result of this difficulty in repotting.

Dendrobiums need to be repotted immediately after flowering since they start new growth almost at once.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

One method of dividing a Vanda (not...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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One method of dividing a Vanda (not particularly recommended to the amateur, until he has at least gained some experience) is to cut off the top part of the plant below one or two of the big fat roots breaking from the stem.

The top part may then be tied on a raft, and both parts are supposed to grow and flower.

This would be dangerous treatment for V. Sanderiana, a plant apparently loath to send out typical roots from the stem.

If Vandas are planted in pots, good drainage must be assured (at least one-third crock being used), and the plant should be well centered in the pot.

Vanda Sanderiana, as has been indicated, is the most temperamental of the Vandas.

It thrives in a large pot and reacts badly to repotting.

Old medium may be removed from the roots and fresh material tucked in its place.

Repotting, with Vandas as with Cattleyas, makes a good time to check up on scale-a pest most detrimental to this plant.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

There is no object in watering until...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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There is no object in watering until the roots are at least formed because until then the plant cannot use water.

A light, daily overhead spray will be sufficient to keep the leaves green and bulbs plump until the roots do form, which may take as long as three weeks.

Labels are very important and should not be lost or placed on the wrong pot when repotting.

Many types are available but only those that are water-resistant are satisfactory.

White or colored labels of celluloid, dull on one side for printing with a lead pencil or India ink, are ideal.

The potting method described applies to all Cattleyas, hybrids, and allied genera.

Vandas, with their air-loving roots, must have different treatment.

Vanda coerulea, especially, will do better on a raft than in a pot.

The roots will then be able to wander freely through the Osmunda tied around the base of the plant and the stocky aerial roots will break above the Osmunda.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

Even after the amateur has decided he...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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Even after the amateur has decided he can force no more Os munda into the pot, it is usually wise to try again.

It is surprising how many times the pot will be found not nearly so full as it was believed to be. When the pot is full, the stake is inserted at the back of the plant and the bulbs are tied up. They should be tied firmly enough to prevent a movement that will break off roots as they form, but not tight enough to choke the bulb or to force it so suddenly into an upright position that it will snap from the strain.

The label is placed toward the back of the pot, and the pot is then set aside in a place especially designated for newly potted plants.

Some growers do not believe in watering until the new roots are well established; others let the repotted plant go unwatered only a few days or, at most, a week.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

Some growers favor severing the rhizome while...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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Some growers favor severing the rhizome while the plant is still in the pot, dividing it some time before repotting, and thus encouraging new roots and growths without disturbing the plant.

This is a good plan and sometimes saves a year of growth.

Whatever the method, the potting material should be worked in without letting the potting tool touch the roots.

Success depends largely on the roots' being disturbed as little as possible.

If the tool is pressed against the edge of the pot for leverage and the material worked toward the center, only the medium will touch the plant.

A further and equally necessary precaution is to take care that the rhizome lies along the top of the potting material and particularly that the dormant eye is not buried.

This may be difficult if, owing to failure to repot in time, the plant has started to form new growths up in the air.

Even so, the rhizome must be placed along the top of the material and the bulbs gradually tied into an upright position.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

or plant, the chunk slips neatly in...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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or plant, the chunk slips neatly in place within the pot, to rest vertically and against the plant.

This procedure is repeated, from side to side, until all the gaps are filled, each chunk being made shorter as the edge of the pot is approached.

If the plant leans to one side it can be straightened by adding Osmunda to prop it up. The beginner often feels that experienced orchidists place too much emphasis on packing the medium tightly in the pot, but there are good reasons for this emphasis.

Cattleyas require firm potting so that roots will have a strong hold on the medium.

Plants that are held weakly may wobble and roots may be broken.

Firm potting also prevents plants from falling out of dry and shrunken compost and keeps water from settling in holes and rotting the roots.

It is wise to spread the roots, packing Osmunda among them for aeration.

There are many methods of packing the medium into the pot, but the one outlined is a good workable way of doing it and seems to pack the medium more satisfactorily than just to force it in without regard for direction.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

It is often well to enlarge the...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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It is often well to enlarge the hole in the bottom of the pot to give the drainage and aeration needed by epiphytes.

Some growers use a single piece of crock in the bottom, while others fill as much as one-third of the pot with crock-bits of brick, coke, haydite, or gravel may be used instead; in any case, the hole should not be tightly covered.

With the plant held firmly in one hand about one-half inch below the top of the pot, the back of the plant close to the edge of the pot, and the growing end toward the center, potting begins.

A piece of Osmunda is held at a right angle to the top of the pot with the grain also running at a right angle to the top; with a little flip of the potting tool, so that it never touches roots 1 In view of the fact that the house fills up so quickly and that it takes so long for backbulbs to recover and become productive plants (2 to 5 years), some growers recommend throwing them away unless they are of a very fine variety.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

The medium is easier to handle if...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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The medium is easier to handle if it has been sprinkled with water the night before.

Old clinging roots are severed from the pot with a sharp knife, and the compost, containing the undisturbed plant, is forced from the pot with a screw driver.

The roots are shaken free from decomposed material.

Dead or long roots are trimmed slightly, since they would be injured in potting anyway.

On a mature plant most of the backbulbs will be found to have no roots and, usually, no leaves.

Three to five of the newer bulbs are left; the rest are cut from the plant and, if they are lacking leaves and roots, and are true backbulbs, they are labeled and kept under the bench, dark and damp, until dormant eyes break.

1 The plant is now inspected for pest or fungus, for which it may be treated with a safe insecticide and a small brush.

2 If it has not been possible to save some of the good Osmunda on the forepart of the plant or if for some reason the roots have been destroyed, a soft ball of Osmunda is tied to the base of the plant as a foundation on which to work.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara

Cleanliness is important in repotting. Old pots and...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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Cleanliness is important in repotting.

Old pots and crock (broken bits of pots used in the bottom of a pot for aeration and drainage) should be scrubbed thoroughly.

New pots should be soaked for a time.

As a concluding word on the subject of equipment, the grower should remember that 'A proper place for everything and everything in its proper place' is a wise maxim.

The best arrangement is to have a clean, light potting shed adjacent to the greenhouse.

The major furnishing of this shed should be a potting bench of a height suited to the potter.

A comfortable height is advisable, or potting may become a back-breaking job.

A specific example will provide the most understandable picture of potting procedure.

Let us take a Cattleya plant with Os-munda as the medium; the method will be similar for other plants with certain exceptions that must be discussed separately.

The Osmunda, after dirt and foreign material have been shaken from it, is chopped into pieces about four to five inches square, cut with the grain.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara