[Odontoglossums] [Cyrtochilums] [Select Divisions]
[Retired Crosses] [Select Dracula Divisons]
More Information: Orchids@Odontoglossum.com
|
[Odontoglossums] [Cyrtochilums] [Select Divisions] [Retired Crosses] [Select Dracula Divisons] More Information: Orchids@Odontoglossum.com
|
|
ODONTOGLOSSUMS Hybrid Odontoglossum orchids have their ancestry in the
high cloud forests of Columbia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
The temperature rarely dips below 45 °F at night or rises above 75 °F
during the day, throughout the year. The
more closely these conditions can be duplicated in the home or greenhouse, the
better the plants will grow and bloom. All
Odontoglossum seedlings are now grown here in a mixture of one-half coir peat
and one-half horticultural grade perlite. The
coir is available in bricks that must be soaked overnight to expand them, and
then thoroughly rinsed at least or four times to get rid of excess salts.
The resulting fluffy, peat-like coir is then mixed with an equal volume
of Perlite. Seedlings
are planted out of community pots into 3” peat pots and from there into pulp
(paper) pots, which breath much like clay. They are kept evenly moist, which is
especially important if using a constant feed program; letting the plants dry
out will allow excessive salt buildup resulting in root death. An advantage of coir over
peat moss is its longevity. Young
plants in 4” and 5” pots seem happy after two years in the same pots with no
damage to the roots from breakdown of the medium. I
am currently experimenting with one-half coir chips and one-half perlite for
larger pots, again rinsing the chips to get rid of excess salts.
It is too early to tell if this will be as successful as the peat-like
coir and perlite but it looks promising. Earlier
experiments using just chips led to conditions that were too wet and caused root rot, even in pulp pots. Repotting
is done after blooming, when the plant’s new growth is 2” to 3” tall, in
the fall and late spring, but never during the hottest summer months.
Shake off the old mix and remove any dead roots before potting in fresh
mix. Odonts
here receive light at around 1200 fc on bright days. Filtered indirect light ranging from 1000 fc to 1400 fc is
appropriate, as direct sun will burn the leaves and too little light will result
in weak growth and no flowers. Keeping
the humidity up and the air circulating is the key to success during warm summer
days. If plants are grown in the
home, be sure that the leaves do not touch window panes on cold nights and that
the plants are placed away from direct drafts and heaters.
Growing plants on gravel trays and misting on bright days will also help
keep humidity up, as will grouping several plants together, perhaps with foliage
plants as well as other orchids. In
the greenhouse extra shading will help keep the temperature down in warmer
areas. I strive for night time
temperatures in the low 50’s and daytime highs in the low 70’s.
The greenhouse minimum temperature here is 52 °F in winter, while the
maximum summer temperature rarely exceeds 85 °F during the day.
Summer nights never rise above 60 °F. In the greenhouse the plants
receive 100 ppm nitrogen at every watering for most of the year, every other
watering during the shortest and coldest days of winter.
Feed with a balanced fertilizer such as 20-20-20, half-strength at every
other watering, or quarter-strength at every watering.
Orchid food (30-10-10) is not recommended for plants grown in coir; it is
used for orchids grown in bark. With
just a little extra care you can enjoy some of the most beautiful colors and
patterns found in all the orchids, even if you don’t live in a cloud forest. Enjoy and Good Growing! Patricia Hill |
|
Webpage problems? Click Here
|
