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Articles for December 2019

Orchid Care for the month of December
Orchid Care for this month (December). Winters cool
Cooler temperatures are already here. cooler nights and gradual reduction of humidity would signal many of the orchids to go dormant and some would trigger setting of spikes.1) Most of the species reduce their active growth during this time, reducing the frequency of watering would help. Allow them to dry a bit before watering. alternative days watering would help

2) Some of  the Oncidiums, Cymbidiums would start spiking, stake the spikes so that they present themselves well. Some of the Paphiopedilums would be in spike. avoid watering the leaves and pouch

3) Angle of Sun and cooler temperature could cause some of the genus to produce more anthocyanins and cause reddish pigmentation on leaves

4) Supplement Magnesium sulphate and Micronutrients to ensure that plants get atleast 1 dose of Magnesium and Micronutrients during this month

5) We might still get sporadic rains in this month and cooler nights and water is a bad combination, ensure that water don’t collect in the crown and buds, & sheaths

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

8) Cooler weather is also a season for fungal infections to take down plants that are not in good health, trim dead leaves, roots of Vandas and give them a dose of systemic fungicide would help cater to infections in cooler weather

Species of the Month
E andamanensis
Eulophia andamanensis Rchb.f.
 E andamanensis
Eulophia andamanensis Rchb.f.
Eulophia andamanensis – The Andaman Eulophia

Distribution: A medium sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial in grass or wastelands found in the Andaman Islands, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Sumatra and Malaysia, at elevations around 700 meters as a medium sized, grass-like, acute, keeled leaves
Plant: This is a deciduous, terrestrial orchid, with a clumping growth form. Flowers are borne in racemes which originate from the base of the pseudobulbs. Flowers are formed during the dry season. The pseudobulbs carry grass-like, pointed, keeled leaves with the lower ones smaller than the upper. The pseudobulbs are stout and elliptical in shape, the leaves drop off at the start of the dry season
Culture: Fairly easy growing terrestrial. grow in terrestrial mix with lot of organic content. grow in bright light and provide a lot of water and nutrition in growing season and withheld fertilization during Oct-Feb and start fertilization when the new growth begins in spring. Idea is to feed it well so that the newer pseudobulbs to be growing bigger than the older pseudobulbs. It is not common in cultivation.

Pictures and Article: Sriram Kumar