Orchid Care for the month of June |
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| Orchid Care for this month (June).
Greetings and good day. Wish and hope everyone is safe during these unprecedented times of epidemic. Monsoon is just around the corner and monsoon is always a time that orchids are buzzing with activity. A few things to do this month 1) Review the watering frequency. water them when the media gets dry. Vandas and mounted plants can be watered daily. 2) Days where it rains, ensure that there is sufficient air movement as persistent dampness would be ideal weather for bacterial infections. 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 picking up growth and hence water and start feeding them well. more robust roots they put out they would help pickup vegetative growth. 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) Deciduous species like Catasetum, Thunia, Lycaste, Habenaria, Calanthe would be waking up/woken up already from dormancy. Water little when they are just started growing and start increasing the watering and fertilization as they start growing fast. 7) Start feeding NPK and micronutrients at a full dose. Calcium and Magnesium can be fed alternative weeks 8) Watch out for pests (Caterpillars, thrips, aphids). Preventive spraying of neem based pesticides would help but best would be to be keep a close watch on a daily basis and act immediately on the out break. 9) Days when it rains,. collecting rain water and using them would be the best you can do to your orchids. 10) Orchids that are putting out new roots are best candidates for repotting. If you are think of repotting then new growths/rooting is the best suitable Stay safe and Happy orchidding…its a wonderful day to grow orchids |
Species of the Month |
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 Dendrobium crumenatum Sw. |
 Dendrobium crumenatum Sw. |
| Dendrobium crumenatum Distribution: Small to large sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with spindle shaped, swollen basally for a few nodes, ridged, yellow with age stems that can branch, carrying, 4 to 19, thick, leathery, eventually deciduous leaves that will flower any time of the year on the upper nodes of the leafless older canes with several to many fragrant flowers but are very short lived (1-2 days max) Culture: It is a tropical species and can be watered and fertilized throughout the year. It can be grown in a variety of medias and usually is not fussy.Fairly easy to grow in Bangalore.Grow the plant in bright light and exposed to rain as only drop in temperature and cold rain water triggers blooming/. Could be grown as mounted or potted but does well potted as it can become huge specimen Pictures and Article: Nalini K and Sriram Kumar |
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