Orchids Part 3

CHAPTER VIII

WATERING EPIPHYTAL ORCHIDS

Success or failure with any cla.s.s of Orchids depends largely on the exercise of discretion in watering. While it may be said that more specimens are lost by having too little water, especially among the smaller-growing species, than by over-watering, at the same time much mischief is caused by a system of giving a little watering frequently all the year round, and without any regard to the period of growth or rest through which the plants are pa.s.sing. Such treatment does not provide for strong growth during the growing season, or adequate rest after the growths are finished; consequently the plants decline in health and the flowers are not satisfactory. Rain-water is the only suitable water for Orchids, and the growers who can command a supply of it all the year round possess a great advantage over those who have to use water from any other source.

During the period of growth and root action, too much water at the root cannot easily be given, provided the material in which the plants are potted is sufficiently porous and the pots or Orchid pans have a sufficient drainage. The rule should be to water thoroughly when watering at all, making sure that the whole of the potting material is moistened well, then not to give more water to that plant until the effect of the watering is seen to be pa.s.sing, the plant being still moist but approaching dryness, when the thorough watering should be repeated. Nothing is more misleading than to pour a little water each day on the surface of the material in which the plant is potted. This is often considered to be careful watering, but it results in a large number of the plants never getting thoroughly moist at the root, while others in a retentive compost, or where the drainage is defective, become soddened. Such cases may arise occasionally under any conditions, and, where a thoroughly dry plant is found at a season when it should be moist, it is better to plunge the pot or basket in water until it is perfectly soaked. In the case of a plant which is too wet with stagnant moisture, it should either be repotted after the wet potting material has been removed, or placed on a shelf to remain without water until it is again in a proper condition to receive it.

In all cases a spouted watering-pot should be used. The rose watering-pot and syringe are necessary things in the Orchid house, but the use of them should be rigidly restricted to some definite work, such as watering Orchids for the first time after repotting, sprinkling the floors, staging, and brick walls, and other work which cannot cause mischief. It used to be a common practice to water Orchids overhead with a rose watering-pot, but the plants so watered made but few roots, and the foliage was generally unsightly, owing to deposits from the water.

It is therefore best to make a rule against watering overhead in a general way.

The syringe may be used among Dendrobiums and some other warm-house Orchids during the height of the growing season; but it would be safer to arrange for such work to be done by means of a sprayer and at shorter intervals. The sprayer is a very useful and beneficial contrivance, and, in the hands of a careful operator using clean rain-water, it affords a valuable aid in maintaining a healthily humid condition in the atmosphere of all the Orchid houses, especially during the heat of the summer.

Equal in importance to the giving of sufficient water during the growing season is the observance of the dry, resting season, which, in a varying degree, is required by all Orchids, whether they come from hot or cold habitats, and whether they are epiphytal or terrestrial species.

WATERING TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS

These, like the epiphytal Orchids, may be divided into two main cla.s.ses, namely, those which lose their leaves annually, and those which are more or less evergreen. Some of the genera contain both of these cla.s.ses, and notably the Calanthes. In _C. vest.i.ta_, _C. Regnieri_, _C. rosea_, and their varieties and hybrids the leaves turn yellow after the growths are fully made up, a sign which gives a good indication as to the necessity for withholding water for a lengthened period; while _Calanthe veratrifolia_ and others of the cla.s.s retain the last-made foliage green all the year round, the loss of foliage being in the old leaves, which should be removed at the first sign of decay. With these latter may be cla.s.sed the Phaius, Zygopetalums, Cymbidiums, Cypripediums, and many others of evergreen habit, which require much care to be exercised in the matter of withholding water during the resting season, otherwise the plants will decline in vigour. After the growths are finished, most of these plants are benefited by removal to a cooler and more freely ventilated house for a few weeks, during which time the supply of water should be restricted, but they should never be allowed to suffer by being thoroughly dried. For Zygopetalums and other Orchids which it is customary to place in a rather drier atmosphere during the time they are in flower, such an interval would be sufficient rest.

CHAPTER IX

MANURES FOR ORCHIDS

It should be distinctly understood that, in the case of true epiphytes, there is no need for manures, and, that artificial chemical manures are almost certain to bring about disastrous results, the final collapse being in proportion to the potency of the stimulant used and the recklessness of the grower. Where rain-water can be obtained and stored for use throughout the season, it is safest and most satisfactory to rely on this alone, except for some terrestrial Orchids. The chief difficulty in recommending the use of manures for any cla.s.s of plants, Orchids especially, is in the fact that, once the practice is commenced, even those cultivators who begin cautiously frequently lose discretion in the course of time and ruin their plants by excessive applications.

It is for this reason that the growers of plants for market purposes, whose secret of success almost entirely depends on the use of manures, are careful to give out the supplies to the men who have to use them, or, with the very best intentions, they would often destroy a crop.

Indeed, it is not uncommon for foremen, or men in charge of departments in large nurseries devoted to growing plants for market, to resort to unfair means to get extra supplies of manure for their plants, and frequently with bad results. There is another curious feature about the use of manures in market-plant gardens, namely, that all concerned observe the greatest secrecy in the matter, and rarely admit that they use "anything but water"--that being the common expression. The same secrecy is observed by the Orchid expert in most cases. Another thing is that there is no common formula accepted by all pract.i.tioners. Each seems to have his own opinions as to materials, quality, and strength of the stimulants used.

One thing is certain, that even where artificial manures are used, the time of application and its discontinuance has more to do with success or failure than the nature of the manure itself. Even in cases where the administration of a mild stimulant is of use during the period of active growth and free rooting, if the manure is not discontinued after growth is completed much mischief is done.

It is not necessary to go into the relative merits of chemical manures, which are not recommended for use, but it may be stated that some growers do use small quant.i.ties with apparently good results, restricting the use of the manure to the active growing season and during the time the flower-spikes are forming. Aerides, Saccolabiums, and Vandas seem to be exceptions, as they represent the highest development of the epiphyte. Odontoglossums and some similar Orchids have been treated to a very small quant.i.ty of Peruvian guano sprinkled in the water used for watering them in spring while the flowers were forming, and without a bad effect; but the quant.i.ty used was very small, and the water was not allowed to touch the leaves or pseudo-bulbs. One grower on the Continent was in the habit of sprinkling a handful of nitrate of soda in the gutter of the house, especially before, or during heavy rain, in order that a little solution of it might be carried into the rain-water tanks in the Orchid house. His plants throve well, and this shows that even with epiphytal Orchids there is a field open for experiment; but the operator must not lose sight of the fact that he is "playing with edged tools." We will now state what has been proved to be beneficial when carefully carried out. Those who grow batches of the showy Dendrobiums such as _D. n.o.bile_, _D. Wardianum_, _D. Phalaenopsis_, and others of the cla.s.s, and who, at the growing season, place them in a warm, moist house, suspended from the roof for preference, frequently give them weak doses of liquid manure during the season of growth, and the plants make very fine growth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE IV

CATTLEYA TRIANae

VAR. "HYDRA"

(The plant bore 88 flowers.)]

The liquid from farm-yard manure, or from a stable, should be avoided, as its strength cannot be known; sometimes it is very weak, and at others fatally strong. A large tub with liquid manure made of cow-dung, and in which a coa.r.s.e bag of soot has been sunk, is a safe manure for any plant, and if properly diluted can do no harm to plants requiring such a stimulant.

Terrestrial Orchids such as Calanthes and Phaius can scarcely be grown to their best without a liberal application of this, or some other manure known to the operator to be safe, during their season of growth.

Cymbidiums, Zygopetalums, Peristerias, and other strong-growing Orchids have also been treated to weak liquid manure from the commencement of growth until the flowers expanded, with advantage so far as evidence is available.

An occasional watering of liquid manure, or slight sprinkling of guano, may be given beneath the staging in the evenings during the growing season.

The structure of the roots of Orchids does not favour the idea that they are suited for taking up stimulating liquid in the manner common to fibrous-rooted plants.

On the general question of the use of stimulants in Orchid culture many clever men have carried out experiments. The late Dr. A. H. Smee went into the question, basing his experiments on the chemical const.i.tuents of the plants themselves, which is not an infallible guide.

The late Norman C. Cookson carefully studied the subject, and he recommended for experiment the following formula:--

Pota.s.sium nitrate (saltpetre), 3 oz.

Ammonium phosphate, 2 oz.

Dissolve in a three-gallon jar of soft water, and when watering growing Orchids, or those perfecting their flowers, add one ounce of the solution to each gallon of water.

Again it must be urged that those experimenting with manures must do so only on growing plants, and when growth is completed it must be stopped.

No Orchid grower should undertake such experiments without first obtaining his employer's concurrence.

CHAPTER X

RESTING ORCHIDS

Whilst we may definitely say that all Orchids require a resting season in some degree, the cultivator must be careful to arrange the resting season, in the matter of its duration and other particulars, in accordance with the nature of the plant, for in some cla.s.ses of Orchids it is very easy to do much mischief by subjecting them to a too prolonged and rigorous resting time. Seedling Orchids, as a rule, require little or no resting season until after their first flowering, and Cattleyas, Laeliocattleyas, and other evergreen hybrids require a rather shorter period of rest than deciduous species.

Bulbophyllums, Cirrhopetalums, and many other small-growing Orchids are frequently killed by attempting to give them a dry resting season, although there is a section which lose their leaves in winter like the deciduous Dendrobiums, and these are benefited by being dried off in a cooler house when the leaves fall, keeping them dry until growth starts again, in the same manner as _Dendrobium n.o.bile_, _D. Wardianum_, _D.

cra.s.sinode_, and other deciduous Dendrobiums.

The evergreen Dendrobiums of the _D. densiflorum_ and _D. Farmeri_ cla.s.s require a short rest in a lower temperature, and should be watered a little occasionally, especially if they show a tendency to shrivel, which is not a good thing for any Orchid.

Aerides, Vandas, and Saccolabiums require a lower temperature in winter, and less water. Many of these begin to grow in March; after that season they require heat and moisture more liberally.

As a rule, the plants themselves give the best indication when the resting season has arrived, and, in the case of those which lose their leaves, they show how much rest is necessary. The starting of the new growth indicates when growing conditions should be restored. In respect to the very small-growing species, and especially evergreen kinds, it is much better to ignore the resting season rather than to lower the vitality of the plants by a severe drying off.

CHAPTER XI

SPECIALLY RARE AND VALUABLE PLANTS

While every plant in the collection should be given the best possible care and attention, it is advisable to keep the more rare and valuable specimens immediately under the eye of the grower. It is often the case that albinos, rare varieties, and new species are allowed to get mixed up in the general collection, and a plant that could not be replaced may be hidden by the commoner things which are not of so much consequence.

In the case of the best spotted varieties of _Odontoglossum crispum_, albino Cattleyas, and other exceptionally rare things, it is a good plan to arrange a batch of them together in the most suitable part of the house, or to place each on an inverted flower-pot at intervals along the staging, thus bringing them into prominence and facilitating the inspection of each at all times. Some use wire plant stands instead of inverted pots, but the moisture-holding flower-pots are preferable, if they are inspected occasionally to see that they are not harbouring insects. Albinos and fine varieties of Cattleyas and Laelias could be grown in suspended Orchid pans or baskets, to take them out of the general collection, and so grown they would make better progress than if placed on the stages. In the case of any plant not making satisfactory growth it is often beneficial to place it on an inverted pot to bring it more prominently under notice.