Orchid Care for the month of September |
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| Orchid Care for this month (September). We are getting into a month where the day length has started reducing and weather has started to cool down.
Change in position of sun and decrease in the day length are a few key parameters that influence some of the orchids to stimulate flowering, gaining more mass 1) Most of the deciduous species would have already finished or nearing maturity and getting ready for their winter reason in a months time . 2) Peak rainy season would be over this month and we might have some odd showers. cool temperatures and wet conditions increase the incidents of diseases. keeping a close watch on diseases and acting on first onset of symptoms would help significantly. 3) Dampness would also invite slugs and snails and keep a close watch on them. Visit the grow area in the night and catch and dispose. 4) Most of the deciduous species are almost done with their growth for the season and hence can start cutting down on fertilization on them.Allow them to dry out between watering. 5) Most of the Vandas/Aerides would be in spike or about to spike, feed them well to ensure that they have sufficient energy reserves to sustain their blooms. 6) Keep a couple of bottles of hydrogen peroxide handy for any quick bandaid treatments for bacterial and surface treatments of fungal infections. 7) remove dried leaves/sheath during this time as dried material absorbs more water and invite fungal and bacterial infections. Keeping the grow area clean would help. |
Species of the Month |
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 Habenaria crinifera |
 Habenaria crinifera |
| There are a few spectacular deciduous largely terrestrial orchid genera from South East Asia. One of them is genus Habenaria.
Habenaria is the one of the largest genera in orchids and India is home to more than 300+ species They are possibly the easiest to grow once we know their growth habitat and cultural needs. Anyone able to grow normal plants should be able to grow and bloom them in Bangalore. Habenaria crinifera or Doll Orchid is a rare, medium sized, warm to cool growing terrestrial and also seem growing in tree bark crevices on certain specific host trees. Doll Orchid is found in Sri Lanka and South India Pot them in a fast draining media with added humus rich material and top dress them with some Sphagnum moss They start growing around March/April and keep the young shoots dry but keep misting the root zone. once the growth starts the pickup (2-3 inches), start feeding light fertilizer and keep a tray of water below the pot. Habenaria starts growing vigorously around onset of monsoon and keep up the feeding in accordance with their growth. alternate light feeding and flushing with good water. They start to bloom around July-Sep and start to shed their leaves after a few weeks after they bloom. Once they shed the leaves, stop watering and remove the tray of water below the pot. Habenaria crinifera pictures posted here were displayed in August bimonthly meeting or TOSKAR by Nageshwar M |
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