Dendrobium culture: A shade house for Dendrobium anosmum

Dendrobium anosmum needs exposure to full sunlight to bloom well.   But too much sun burns the plants.   I build this wooden shade house so that I could grow my plants in a place where they got the right balance of sun/shade.   The shade house was oriented so its longest axis was perpendicular to the sunrise in the spring/autumn equinox.   It was eight feet tall so that the long canes of the Dendrobiums could hang down without touching the ground.  It was 10 feet long and four feet wide.  To shield the orchids from the harsh midday sunlight a camo fabric was used.   In places I also used black shade fabric.  Notice the camo fabric has a multitude of holes.  This made a pattern of sunlight and shadow that moved across the plants during the hottest parts of the day.   The desired effect was to achieve something similar to the way sunlight is naturally filtered by the leaves in the forest.

 But the key thing of the shade house was its open sides.  To the east of the shade house there were few trees, so the Dendrobium and other plants would get full strength sunlight from about 8 am to 11 am.   The west side of the shade house faced the closed canopy of the forest, so after midday, the plants were in the shade.   This mimics what happens in the natural habitat, where a plant that is growing in the side of a tree can get plenty of sunlight during part of the day and its on the shade after that.

 I used to have many of plants of Den anosmum.  So many plants that when the shade house was full, I could grow plants that needed lower light levels under the Dendrobium.    I hung the Den anosmum in the east side of the shade house and in the center of the structure, these were the areas that received the most intense sunlight for the longest time.   Under the Dendrobium, in the ground I grew Phaius, Calanthe, Phaiocalanthe, Cymbidium, Paphiopedilum, Vanda and Angraecum.   The shade was narrow to maximize the plants exposure to light while protecting them from the midday sun. 

 During the rainy season, in the afternoon the sky would get cloudy and it would rain, this would reduce the intensity of light in the afternoon.    But in the dry season there would be very sunny days, uninterrupted by any clouds, and this threatened the plants with sunburn, even those that were in their resting phase.  To avoid this, I would put a few old dry palm fronds on the roof of the shade house.  This reduced the level of light to tolerable levels.

When the Dendrobium were ready to bloom, they were moved to the terrace.  You can see the result in the photo below.

The wooden shade house was destroyed by a tropical storm.  It was rebuilt, much stronger, now made of two inch metal pipes.  This one lasted until Hurricane Maria dropped the top of a Teak tree on it.

Brassia culture: Brassia Edvah Loo, how I lost a specimen plant

I used to have an enormous specimen plant of Brassia Edvah Loo ‘Nishida”.   When it was in full bloom, it was something to behold.  The flowers were more than 30 centimeters tall, and the plant produced dozens of them in six large inflorescences.   Sadly, I lost my plant.  How?  I decided to divide it in several smaller pieces.  Up to that point my experience with Brassia was that they rarely got sick, grew fast and were problem free.   But this Brassia showed me there are exceptions to everything.

Because the lead growths were growing over the edge of the pot, I divided the plant in pieces with two to three pseudobulbs and a lead growth.   I gave some pieces away, others I potted some I mounted in fern poles.  To my horror every single piece died.  They didn’t all die at the same time.  What happened was that they stopped growing vigorously.   Some rotted away, others produced smaller and smaller pseudobulbs until they died.  To this day I cannot figure out what happened.  By the way I sterilize with fire every tool I use to cut the stems of the orchids, so it probably wasn’t a pathogen that was accidentally introduced to the plant during the process of dividing it.  

After that depressing experience, I no longer divide specimen plants that way.  What I do is I take a piece from the specimen plant and pot it separately So I have a spare in case it gets sick.   My experience with specimen plants is that as they grow larger, they can naturally divide themselves into pieces as the older parts of the stem die off.   In some cases, like my experience with Paphiopedilum, the stem can divide in separate pieces and yet the roots are joined in a hard root ball so that they cannot be separated without doing horrendous damage to the roots.  In those cases, I take out the old decayed potting material from the root mass and fill the spaces with fresh material.  

Growing an orchid specimen plant takes patience, dedication and consistent care.  It is a huge investment of time and effort.   Damaging the roots of specimen plants should be avoided.  It can severely set back the plant or even kill it.    On a closing note, don't give in to people begging for pieces!!  Send them to a vendor.

Dendrobium culture: No, its not dead.

For most orchid growers nowadays, Phalaenopsis are the gateway drug to bigger and more expensive plants.  But the Phalaenopsis that are now widely available are the product of many decades of hybridizing toward producing a plant that will survive in the average home even when (shudder of horror), watered with ice cubes.   Orchids species are an entirely different beast.  With 30,000 species (at least) species orchids show growing patterns and seasonal cycles very different from your average hardware store Phalaenopsis.   That is why it is important to read about the plants you buy.  A lot of orchid growers do impulse buying and then are bewildered by the way their plants react. 

 An example of a plant that can confuse a novice grower that is trying species is Dendrobium devonianum.  It produces slim canes that can be almost a meter long.  Unlike the leaves of Phalaenopsis, the leaves of Den. devonianum are slim, delicate and are soon deciduous.   During the growing season a cane of this species has leaves near the growing end of the cane with the rest quite bare.   When the cane stops growing, it eventually sheds all its leaves and for months afterwards it looks like its dead.    If the canes have been exposed to strong light and have developed a purplish color, they can look even worse.

This is an adaptation to the cold dry season when the trees lose their leaves and it rains little.  The orchids then have to endure months of drought and harsh sunlight.   My plant blooms in April, just before the local rainy season starts.  For months it looks like a mass of dead and shriveled stems.   But this is deceptive.  In the nodes of those leafless stems the flower buds are maturing.  A well flowered plant is quite impressive.

If you look at the top photo, the orchid looks like its in a wretched condition, ready to be thrown into the trash can.   But if you look closely, you can see the remains of many inflorescences in the second longest cane.   Note the very small root ball.  That is not unusual, if a plant is well fed and watered it will produce just the minimum of roots it needs to fill its needs.   In the bottom photo you can see the cane covered with flowers.

Bulbophyllum scaberulum (Rolfe) Bolus 1889, on a basket. The irritating problem of long internodes between pseudobulbs

 

I love the genus Bulbophyllum.  It has an enormous number of species with curious and eye-catching flowers.  But they are also the source of much frustration.  The reason is the long internodes between pseudobulbs.  You put an orchid with long internodes in a pot and before you know it, all its new growths are out of the pot and hanging in the air.  This is not good as pseudobulbs that are not attached to something tend to be weaker than those that are mounted of growing in media like bark or tree fern. 

I have tried many things to tame these uncontrollable plants.  Two things have worked, tying them to a long tree fern pole and tying them to a wire basket full of water retentive media.  With Bulbophyllum scaberulum I tried a wire basket filled with media.  I worked wonders, and in a relatively short time the orchid have covered the outside of the wire basket.   The thing is these plants need constant attention to bend the long internodes back toward the wire basket and tie them so that when the pseudobulb develops the roots will easily find the media.   It is very annoying that they tend to grow in every direction except toward the media.

 As long as I kept a constant watch for new growths and tied them to the basket, everything was hunky-dory.  But since this plant was doing so well, my attention wandered.  What an error.  The next thing I knew all the new growths were in the air.   If this is not corrected, the plants become several chains of pseudobulbs hanging from the basket that are not full size and will not bloom.   This is very irritating.

 My recommendation if you have one of these orchids.   Buy a long tree fern pole and attach the plant to it.  Buy U shaped nails in the hardware store. When this pesky plant starts producing new growths, as soon as you see the new pseudobulb emerging from the internode, use the U shaped nail to attach the growth to the fern pole.  Be careful not to harm the internode as in this stage its not that hard.  So, don’t damage the internode when affixing the U nail to the fern pole.   I have lost several of these Bulbophyllum due to their tendency to gallop across and escape from even the largest pot before you realize it.   Take pieces of your plant and start new plants on other mounts so that if one deteriorates you will not lose the orchid.

Encyclia plicata culture: Caring for a newly purchased plants with few roots

 A few months ago, I brought an Encyclia plicata.  The plant was somewhat dehydrated from its from its journey (it came from an orchid nursery in Jamaica) but otherwise it was in a fairly good shape.   The plant was sold bare root and has very short roots because they were cropped for transportation.  This presents a bit of a challenge, Encyclias that have lost their roots need a high humidity environment to recuperate, and yet in my experience the are intolerant of media that remains wet for a long time.  My sad experience with Cuban Encyclias is that they can rot away if keep too wet.   I have lost Enc moebusi and Enc. Phoenicia.   I think Enc moebusi died from its mount staying wet too long in the climatic chaos after hurricane Maria.  The reasons for the loss of Encyclia phoenicia are not clear.

So, what I have done is I have put the plant in an empty wire basket with no media.  I am lucky that in my locality the climate offers a level of environmental humidity that is good for tropical orchids.  Once or twice a day, depending on the weather, I soak the plant.  In hot, dry, windy weather, I soak it twice a day.  Before soaking, I check it to make sure it is perfectly dry.  For two months the plant stayed inactive.  But in August I saw three basal buds start developing.  Also a few roots have started growing.

 If this one was one of my other Encyclias, I would have put it in a terracotta pot with coarse potting media.  But with this one I plan to keep it in the basket with no media to see how the roots develop.  If all the new growths mature successfully, I might mount it on a tree fern plaque.  This has worked well in the past with Enc alata, Enc bractecens and Enc Borincana.   Or I might decide to fill the basket its in now with large pieces of tree fern.   Given that the plant has a limited quantity of roots, I don’t expect the new growths to reach blooming size but to stay smaller.  Once the new growths they developed a root system, I will decide what to do with it.  

  

The Orchid a book by Lauren Gardiner and Phillip Cribb, a beautiful book with 40 botanical prints

 

This book is my birthday present to myself.   Why I brought it?  Because its beautiful.  The authoritative text is the frosting on top of the cake.  Along with the book there are 40 botanical prints.  The orchids in the prints are described in the text.  The prints are suitable for framing. 

Myrmecophila brysiana culture: The free spirit

Myrmecophila brysiana When I received my plant of Myrmecophila brysiana from an online vendor, it was a tiny thing on a 2 inch pot. I made a custom-made wire basket for it. The plant spent the next few years producing a line of increasingly large pseudobulbs that were tightly clustered. So far everything was unremarkable. Last year, I noticed that it was producing its largest pseudobulb yet, but it was growing sidewise, into the side of the basket (large red oval). I made a hole for the pseudobulb to grow through. A few months later I was startled to discover it was producing a new growth, downwards directly into the media (red circle). I had to remove most of the media in the basket, as well as one side, to allow the new growth to enlarge and expand to full size. Then a few weeks ago, It started a third new growth, this one points straight up (small red oval). Given that the plant seems determined to grow in all directions at the same time, I will eventually let it hang from a wire and grow in whichever direction it wants.

Myrmecophila grandiflora culture: The well behaved one, that stays, mostly in the basket

When I brought this plant, many years ago, I decided to put it in a basket. I have other Myrmecophilas growing on trees, I wanted to be able to bring the plant into the house when in bloom. I put the seedling in the middle of a custom-made basket, with big chunks of bark. The plant has been growing in the basket for many years. It has been producing closely set pseudobulbs in a pattern that has been slowly growing around what was the body of the basket. I have had to remove parts of the basket to allow its pseudobulbs to grow out. Even though I used the most durable kind of media I could find for this plant, it has been in the basket for so long that all the media decayed and was washed away. The plant is now growing on its old dried pseudobulbs and roots. You can see in the photo the old hollow pseudobulbs. The inflorescence of this plant is quite tall, so if I put the basket on the floor, the flowers can be enjoyed at eye level. This plant needs heavy fertilization and plenty of watering when producing new growths. Failure to give this plant the fertilizer and water it needs in this part of its growth cycle will result in stunted pseudobulbs that won’t bloom. This plant is hung close to the shade cloth so that it gets the brightest light. I only move this plant when the inflorescences are developing. I use long hanging hooks, so that the inflorescences don’t scrape against the shade cloth and become damaged. When the inflorescences are growing, I take care that they don’t get tangled with the other baskets that are also hanging from the top of the shade house. This is also a problem with other genera that produce long inflorescences such as Encyclia.

Encyclia culture: Some notes on root initiation

One of the most important events in the seasonal cycle of Encyclia is root initiation. It At this time of the year, in early February I am expecting my plants to start growing their inflorescences. Most of my plants finished the growth of the new bulbs at the end of last year. A few, are doing their own thing. Encyclia Borincana started producing a new growth for an old, small pseudobulb, a newly brought Encyclia alata is showing new growth. A few roots with green tips can be seen here and there. This pseudobulb of Encyclia Renate Schimdt (Enc. Orchid Jungle x Enc. Alata) decided to produce a massive growth of roots. Locally, it is the start of the dry season, not a time I find desirable for a plant to increase its water needs to nurture root growth. But you got to do what the plant needs. Because I grow my orchids outdoors this mass of delicious, tender green tipped roots is a very tempting target for insects and other critters. To stop the roots from becoming food, I give the plant a spot application of a systemic insecticide. Systemic insecticides tend to concentrate on new growths, making then inedible to any insect that might be tempted to nibble on them. Protecting the roots at this stage is vital for the future survival of the plant. The loss of the root system of its newest pseudobulb can severely set back an orchid and might even endanger its survival. Note the length of the green part of the root. A very short green tip is not a good thing, it means the plant is not getting enough water. the lenght of the green in this orchid shows it is getting the right amount of watering to promote good root growth. Root initiation in many types of orchids is not like other plants, it can only happen a specific time of the year. So when it happens the plant has to be given the care it needs to produce a strong system of roots capable of sustain the next year growth, there will not be a second chance. On some instances a plant whose lead growth is damaged will produce a secondary growth a bit back in the stem, but that doesn’t always happens. Observing the long-term growth pattern of my Encyclia I have noted that they tend to rise slowly raise they stems away from the media. After a few years the pseudobulbs are sitting on a mass of roots a few inches tall, rather than directly on the media.

Dendrobium anosmum var huttonii

I have cultivated this particular clone of Dendrobium anosmum var. huttonii for many years. It has several peculiar traits that make it distinct from other anosmum plants. But first let’s mention which trait defines var. huttonii as a distinct variety of Dendrobium anosmum. The defining trait of var. Huttonii is a pure white flower with purple color on the lip. If a plant has any color, no matter how pale, outside the lip, it is not Huttonii. There are many, many named varieties of anosmum, but only two have been scientifically described, var. dearei, the alba form and var. huttoni. The other variants, and there are probably dozens or even hundreds of them, get their names from commercial growers or from informal descriptions in popular literature. To mention just a few, anosmum from the Philippines sometimes are called superbum, also there is var. delacourii, var. velutina (both very hairy flowers with flowers that look squashed), “touch of class” and the “thai” type. Also, there are many hybrids of anosmum and parishii, cucullatum, primulinum and rhodopterygium that are sometimes sold as anosmum. Hybrids sometimes sold as anosmum are Nestor, Supernestor, and Little Sweetscent. There are several traits that are characteristic of this huttoni clone. For example, my plants start producing flower buds and showing basal growths in the middle of January. A six to seven weeks before the type form of the species does the same in my locality. The clone I have is less vigorous than the type form of the species. It takes dedicated care to coax this plant to produce canes more than two feet long, and none of my plants have produced canes larger than three feet. It is common for anosmum to produce plantlets near the tip of old canes that have lost their roots. Huttonii produces plantlets near the tip of canes, but it also produces them, at the middle of the cane. Huttonii plantlets separated from the mother plant will tend to remain small unless they get fertilized regularly during the growing season with a fertilizer that has a high nitrogen number. In December, I reduce considerably the water my plants get and they start shedding their leaves. By the end of January most of my plants are entirely leafless. My huttoni bloom from leafless canes. Normally, anosmum plants produce their flowers along the length of the cane. If the only few flowers are produced they tend to cluster at the tip of the stem. In huttonii, the flowers can appear near the tip of the cane but also at random spots near the middle. Sometimes small plants will bloom if they have several canes. I have seen plants with canes that are less than eight inches long produce a single flower at the tip of the cane. The huttonii clone has never been as floriferous as the type form which can produce dozens of flowers if well cared for. I am happy if any of the canes produce eight flowers simultaneously. Sometimes a cane will only produce two to four flowers. And here is the most bizarre thing about this clone, sometimes a cane that bloomed early in the year will bloom again, weeks or months after it first flowered. No other anosmum variety I have has shown this peculiar trait. The flowers are highly fragrant. When this plant shows the buds of the flowers and the new growth, I return to a normal watering and fertilizing schedule. I cultivate my plants in baskets because during the rainy season it can rain heavily, every day for months. This, and the heat and the insects tend to turn most organic potting media into slush in a bothersome short time if the media stays saturated all the time. Baskets allow for fast drainage and at bit of drying in between rain events. This also means that the media can get very dry during the dry season and will need several good soakings before it starts retaining water. These plants are heavy feeders and will not grow to a good size unless regularly fertilized. At the beginning of the growing season, I remove the plantlets from the older canes. Sometimes I cut a sizeable section of the cane around the plantlets to them a better head start. The critical part is the time period when the plantlet is sending into the media the roots of its first cane produced after separation. If anything happens to the roots, this will be a considerable set back to the growth and will endanger the survival of the plantlet. A plantlet that is well cared for can start blooming as soon as two years after being separated from the mother plant. There is more information on the culture of Dendrobium anosmum elsewhere in this blog.

Encyclia culture: Mounting on wood. After a decade and two hurricanes, Encyclia Borincana

Encyclia Borincana

New growths and aerial root skirt

The spot where the orchid was originally attached.  

I like growing Encyclias attached to pieces of wood or to tree fern pieces because the plants can grow in them for a very long time with no need to repot.   This Encyclia Borincana (alata x bractecens) has been in this piece of teak for more than eight years.   The wood is teak, which is a very tough wood and it is still in good shape.  Many other woods would have been turned to slush a long time ago by insects, bacteria and fungi.   I attached this Encyclia to the wood piece some time in 2014 or 2015.   When mounting orchids, it is very, very important to make sure the plant is firmly attached to the mount, if it can wiggle it will die because the roots will never be able to achieve a firm hold.   

                I hung this plant inside an ornamental croton bush whose leaves provided light shade from the sun and a cooler, moister microclimate for the plant.  The bush was about five feet tall, the plant was four feet from the ground.   In September 7 a category 5 hurricane Irma passed very close to the island of Puerto Rico, in September 20 Maria a high end category 4 hurricane did a direct hit on the island of Puerto Rico. 

                The Encyclia, as well as other plants that were in the bush spent the hurricane outside since I was away from my garden and could not move them to a sheltered spot.   The hurricane ripped the leaves of the bush and when the skies cleared after the hurricane all the plants that were in the bush were exposed to full sun.  They burned and died.  Fortuitously, the Encyclia was covered by some fallen brush and survived.   Weeks later, when I finally was able to get back home, I rescued it and moved it to a shade house that had survived the hurricanes (the shade house was designed to do so, I will write about that in another post).

                The Encyclia has been slowly recuperating and growing larger after the damage it suffered in the hurricane.  It has developed a skirt of aerial roots.    Most of the year I don’t fertilize this plant.   Local rainfall is enough to cover its needs outside its growing season.  When it is growing I fertilize it weekly and water it several times a week, always making sure that the mount is dry before watering it again.

                As you can see in the photo, the pseudobulbs that were in the original attachment site have long ago decayed completely, but there is still an untidy mass of the remains of its dead roots.   I don’t remove them as they retain water and that makes the mount dry slower, allowing more time for the living roots to absorb the water.  I expect in the future that this plant will grow even larger and will start producing branching inflorescences. 

Encyclia Rioclarense, a hybrid of Enc. cordigera and Enc randii

Encyclia Rioclarense

This hybrid of Encyclia cordigera and Encyclia randii has adapted well to my garden.   It is grown under shade cloth that gives it protection from the sun while allowing bright to pass through.  It is grown in a pot full of coarse media composed of limestone rocks, charcoal, bark, river pebbles and Styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of the pot to improve drainage.    It is watered twice a week.   The new pseudobulb it produced under my care, is much larger than the ones it had when I purchased it.  It has produced a few flowered unbranched inflorescence.  I expect that as it gets older and have several mature pseudobulbs it will produce larger inflorescences.   

Encyclia culture: On getting plump pseudobulbs

Encyclia Rioclarense

Encyclia Rioclarense

Encyclia bractecens

              To grow Encyclia orchids to their best potential, you need to be familiar with their growing patterns in the wild.   The Encyclia that are available in the market come from tropical climates in which there are two seasons instead of the familiar four.   These seasons are the dry and the wet season.   When the year starts, plants have mature, full grown pseudobulbs that will produce flowers in the dry season.   When the wet season arrives, the plant will initiate new growths.   To get the best out of your plants you need to make sure the plant is regularly fertilized and watered when it is producing new growths.   Personally, I don’t apply fertilizer to my plants when they are not producing new pseudobulbs.

                New growths arise from the base of the newest pseudobulb, some species on occasion produce two growths from the lead pseudobulb, but this varies from species to species.    This new growth will initially elongate until the leaves are at their full length, then it will start to get fatter.   It is at this stage that I give my plants regular doses of fertilizer.  I fertilize them weekly with 20-20-20 fertilizer.  I use a teaspoon of fertilizer per gallon.   It is important not to over do the concentration of fertilizer, this might burn the new roots the plant will produce.  On plants that I know are particularly heavy feeders I put bits of very dry cow manure in tiny metal baskets over the roots so that when I water, a slight amount of organic fertilizer reaches the roots.  But never put the manure in contact with the roots or allow it to clog the pot when it decays.  Some people use small bags of slow-release fertilizer for this purpose, but I have never done this. 

                Encyclia plants like strong light but not full sun.   Some species develop a reddish tint on the leaves when it is getting the right level of light.  This is completely normal.   Deep green leaves are indicative of too little light, this will produce weak growth and the plants will not bloom.

                I pot my plants in a coarse mix of stones, bark, charcoal and bits of Styrofoam in the bottom of the pot to improve drainage.  Some species are intolerant of even the slightest stale and decayed media.  Those I cultivate in metal baskets so that the roots always have access to oxygen and that any decayed media will be washed away during baskets.   In my experience some species are intolerant of media that becomes waterlogged.  For that reason, I grow my Encyclia alata in basket of river pebbles.   Some plants I grow mounted on logs or of fern plaques.   I do this mainly for aesthetic reasons since I like the way the inflorescences and flowers are displayed when they orient in a horizontal manner or hang under the plant.

                Temperatures in my area vary little during the year.  Most of the year, temperatures go from around 75F during the night to 85F during the day.   In January and February temperatures can dip into the sixties briefly and in the height of summer it can get up to 90F.   Plants that come from cool, wet high elevation cloud forests don’t do well in my garden.

                A thing that has to be kept in mind is that different species and hybrids have different adult sizes.  Encyclia bractecens pseudobulbs, even at they largest, are much smaller than a full sized Encyclia cordigera pseudobulb.  You need to do some research to get to know your plant so you can gauge your success or lack of.     Then there is the issue that some hybrids can produce many new growths that instead of blooming produce more growths, so you end up with a large plant with a multitude of small pseudobulbs that never bloom. 

In the photos you can see the huge difference between the pseudobulbs Encyclia Rioplatense had when I brought and after one growing season under my care.   You can also see the media is coarse and the roots grow over it.  Encyclia bractecens is growing on a fern plaque.   An important final note, when the pseudobulb matures it will produce many roots at the same time, these have to be protected from snails and insects, the loss of roots can weaken a plant prevent it from growing large.  If the orchid roots are damaged or lost repeatedly, the plant can eventually die.