Bewdley Orchids
  • Home
  • About us
  • Catalogue of plants for sale
  • Looking after your orchid
  • Seed cultivation
  • Contact page
    • Payment by cheque
  • Talks
  • Orchid blog from Bewdley
  • Orchid Gallery
    • Frost sensitive orchids

Just about to flower

2/6/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
This enticing bud is from a Pyramidal Orchid and will soon be in full flower and very lovely it will be, too. This one will be the traditional very dark shade, although we do see pale forms occasionally. We will be keeping this one, along with one other, for this years seed, but also for our exciting project of repopulation of a hillside meadow.

These plants have been grown by us in the usual way, in sterile culture and then introduced to potting compost. But we have started a rather interesting way of doing this. We keep a sample of soil with the appropriate symbiotic fungus labelled and ready to use. Actually, when I say a sample I really mean a lot, enough to do a lot of potting from. When the stock starts to run down it can be replenished with a suitable potting compost and mixed in, whereupon the fungus populates the entire mixture. This seems to introduce a symbiotic fungus which will invade the adult plant, or at least be available in the close vicinity for seeds to get started.

This approach seems to work well and we haven't had any failures yet. However, we are about to try this on a 3.5 acre south facing site on very light sandstone derived soil. This is very poor soil which drains almost like a colander, so it is something of a risk putting these orchids in. We shall see if the idea works in principle quite quickly as the healthy plants should put out their over-wintering leaves towards the end of the year. If they don't we will be surprised, but more than that, rather disappointed because the next step would be the introduction of Bee orchids to go with them. 

0 Comments

    Author

    Dr Wilson Wall, grower of orchids. A scientist by inclination and training.

    Archives

    May 2020
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Website content  © Bewdley Orchids 2019
Proudly powered by Weebly