As I remember the old nursery tale, the ugly duckling emerged in the spring as a lovely swan after a winter spent in loneliness because of his unattractive plumage.
Orchids, like ugly ducklings, will never win any prizes for graceful foliage, but an orchid in bloom is a sight to quicken the pulses.
At such a time, many a greenhouse gardener, like a moth attracted to a flame, is drawn irresistibly to them.
Orchids are much easier to grow than many other greenhouse favorites. This is because nature has endowed them with a zest for living which, with proper care, approaches immortality.
One word of caution, though: don’t buy a cheap bargain collection of plants, for they are no bargain when you compare the flowers they produce with some of the better hybrid varieties.
Start With Species or Varieties
Most experts recommend that beginners start with orchid species or wild varieties. However, since I don’t consider myself an expert, I feel free to disagree.
The species are generally cheaper and have a definite flowering period; the hybrids are not only more beautiful but also easier to grow because of their hybrid vigor.
Showy Cattleya
To most people, the word orchid brings to mind the showiest member of the family, the cattleya. This is fortunate because the cattleya hybrids and species are the easiest for the average amateur to grow.
Spray Orchids
In addition to the spectacularly beautiful cattleyas, some of the most graceful is the spray orchids that bear as many as twenty to thirty individual flowers on a 2′ or afoot scape.
In a greenhouse maintained at a night temperature of 60° degrees Fahrenheit for cattleyas, the genus of spray orchids known as phalaenopsis makes a good companion plant since it likes a temperature of 62° to 65° degrees Fahrenheit with slightly higher humidity.
I consider the phalaenopsis hybrid Dom, a glistening white, firm-textured beauty, the most perfect of the relatively small number of hybrids in this genus.
The phalaenopsis is of monopodial growth, which grows upward from a single head. This makes it impossible to divide, as can be done with cattleyas.
For this reason, it would be a much more expensive plant if it were not for the fact that seedlings grown in a sand-filled flat and fed a nutrient solution will sometimes flower in less than two years.
Mature Phalaenopsis
A mature phalaenopsis may produce from 60 to 90 individual flowers per year if cut with a short stem so that additional flowering branches can develop from buds along the flowering stem.
If you purchase a seedling ready to flower, it will have a small root-like growth near the base of the plant.
This will grow at the rate of about an inch a week until, when the stem is several feet tall, it produces its first flower. From then on, it may bloom itself to death unless the cutting of the main flowering stern stops it.
Spray Orchid “Oncidium”
A spray orchid with a particularly airy grace is the Oncidium. The little gold-and-brown flowers are well-spaced in an arching spray and resemble butterflies in the sunlight.
Most of the orchid hybridizing has bypassed the dainty Oncidium to concentrate on its more pretentious relatives. Still, fortunately the species Oncidium sphacelatum and O. spiendiaum are so charming and easy to grow that there seems to be no need for improvement.
Oncidiums will fit in well with a cattleya routine, although they will stand more sun and a cooler night temperature than phalaenopsis.
Although there are optimum temperatures for each orchid genera, the three mentioned will do quite well in a winter night-time temperature range of 55° to 70° degrees Fahrenheit. Daytime temperatures generally run 10° to 15° degrees Fahrenheit higher than night temperatures.
When you buy your first plant, you may wonder why the grower says, “Water thoroughly, then don’t water again until the osmunda fiber is almost dry.” This may seem particularly perplexing since orchids are tropical plants living in a steaming jungle.
This seeming paradox can be explained by the fact that the roots of a cattleya, which look like they were made of a greenish-white plastic material, are composed of velamen.
This substance has the unusual faculty of condensing and absorbing atmospheric moisture. As a result, cattleyas require an abundance of humidity, particularly during the spring, summer, and fall.
Obtaining Moist Atmosphere
To obtain a moist atmosphere, some commercial growers use a bed of clamp coke in their plant benches, the orchid pots resting on cypress-slat staging above the coke.
Other growers employ fogging nozzles under the benches. My orchid pots stand on a cypress-slat platform an inch above a 6-inch-deep cypress trough with moist sand in the bottom.
For the amateur who grows a variety of plant materials in his greenhouse, I believe this is the best way to keep orchids happy in combination with other plants.
Drenching of Pot
A thorough drenching of the pot once, or at most twice a week during the active growing season, is all the watering the plants need.
Usually, during the winter, cattleyas go through a modified rest. Therefore, at this time, watering and humidity should both be reduced.
Phalaenopsis orchids need slightly more water than cattleyas. When making the daily application of water to the sand in the orchid trough, I run the hose over the pots of phalaenopsis if they appear to be the least bit dry.
Humidity
Humidity is perhaps the most important factor in growing healthy orchids. Where large numbers of orchids are grown, specially-made misting nozzles are generally used.
Relative humidity is the percentage of moisture held by the air compared to the amount the air is capable of holding.
The higher the temperature, the greater the ability of the air to hold moisture, so that air at an 80° degrees Fahrenheit temperature and 100 percent relative humidity was cooled to 70° degrees Fahrenheit. Sonic moisture would have to drop out as rain.
A year-round humidity of 80 percent would be ideal. Since humidity in the average home is about 20 percent in winter, it is obvious that orchids cannot be expected to grow well in this atmosphere.
High humidity itself is not the complete answer because motionless damp air is conducive to developing fungus growth.
There is a specially designed humidifier with a fan that can be purchased from many firms handling orchids and supplies. Still, a less-expensive low-pressure mist nozzle is also satisfactory.
This nozzle mists 3 gallons of water per hour in a 120-degree arc, and it can be installed in any water system having a 25- to 50-pound pressure.
Proper Light
Proper light is important to good orchid culture.
There is a popular misconception that since orchids grow in dense jungles, they require little light. On the contrary, orchids are found in tons of trees where the light is strongest.
Oncidiums will stand in the full summer sun, but in a greenhouse, shading is required to keep the temperature clown.
I use sections of slat shade which I start nutting on the greenhouse in February, covering first the orchid section and later the entire top.
The slats run north and south so that the strips of sunlight move during the day. I removed the shading entirely in November.
If orchid leaves are dark green and very healthy looking with no flowers. They are probably not receiving enough light, whereas a yellow color and shriveling pseudobulb indicate too much light.
Fertilizing
Whether orchids need fertilizing is at present controversial. Since orchids in the jungle often grow high up in trees and with their roots exposed to the air, it was at first believed that orchid plants should be tied to boards with no provision for additional feeding.
Many years of experimentation have shown that cattleyas and some other genera do best if grown in osmunda fiber, the wiry brown or black root of the osmunda fern.
For years this has been the standard growing medium, but there is a division of opinion on the desirability of supplemental feeding.
Many colleges and experiment stations have conducted tests using various feeding solutions. After seeing the results of these tests, I believe that a 10-10-10 analysis of water-soluble fertilizer, which also contains trace elements, is a definite help in growing good plants.
The plant food is added to water according to the manufacturer’s directions, and the dilute solution is drenched on the plants once every three or four weeks during the growing season in place of plain water.
Repotting
Repotting orchids is necessary every three or four years. This has always presented somewhat of a problem to a beginner since potting in osmunda fiber requires different techniques from those used in potting in soil.
It is necessary to work the fiber about the roots by pressing in small pieces with a wooden stick. If the orchid is not potted firmly, growth is poor, and often the pot breaks just when potting is completed.
There are still many advocates of osmunda fiber, but the use of fir bark is rapidly gaining in popularity because of its ease of handling and the resultant good growth of the plants.
Fumigation
Insects are seldom troublesome, but I find that preventive greenhouse fumigation is the best way to avoid trouble.
I use one of the smoke generators designed for greenhouse use every two or three weeks.
Enjoyment From Orchid Raising
If you wish to get the most enjoyment from orchid raising as a hobby you will find membership in the American Orchid Society most rewarding.
Here you will get reports from fellow orchid growers, the latest in orchid news, and many tempting and helpful advertisements—all in the monthly bulletin published by the Society. (American Orchid Society, Dr. Wesley Davidson, secretary. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.)
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