January 2013

Welcome to the reinstatement of the
Parkside Newsletter!

The purpose of the Newsletter will be to communicate anything and everything related to orchid growing: be it growing practices, interesting plants, culture, trip reports, information about shows or judging, or even scholarly articles. I (Greg) will probably be the primary author, but my hope is also to enlist the knowledge and skills of other growers over time.

 
Winter – A Time to Flower and Rest

W inter can seem like a conflicting time in the nursery; we have many plants that are beginning to bud and flower, and many that are beginning to rest in preparation of flowering, or resting to recover from flowering.

As any experienced orchid grower can attest to, cycles are all important in growing many orchids, and understanding how the cycles of different orchids work is the key to growing them well. There are three main parts to every orchid’s growth cycle: active growth, flowering, and resting. These parts of the cycle can arrange themselves in different orders for different genera of orchids, and some even have multiples of each part.

The most common arrangement of the parts of the cycle is growing, flowering, resting, and then growing again. We see this in many of the hybrids of the most common genera, such as Oncidiums, Cattleyas, and Phalaenopsis. There are always exceptions to the rule, but for the most part the hybrids will hold true to this cycle.

The parts of this cycle are often closely entwined with the seasons. Spring is the season when growth begins, as plants finish flowering and resting and the change to more amicable temperatures and light signals the start of the growing season. Summer is often the season of active growth, when the largest amount of water, nutrients, and light is available, and when temperatures accelerate plant metabolisms. As the fall approaches, and temperatures begin to drop, this signals the end of the growing season, and in many cases initiates spiking as growths harden off and mature. (This is especially true of Cattleyas; nearly 2/3 of all of our Cattleya hybrids have been budding and blooming since the start of November). Winter is the time of flowering, and as flowering ends, the time of resting.

This being said, each of the main genera has its own alignment that is slightly different from the rest. For example, our Oncidiinae hybrids usually begin spiking towards the end of summer into November, resting early, and beginning growth as soon as the daylight hours increase again. Our crop of Phalaenopsis begin to spike in November, will be flowering from now until March or so, will rest around April, and then begin to actively grow in June (which reflects their love of warmth).

An example of a plant like these is Cattleya percivaliana ‘Christmas Cheer’, which budded towards the end of December to flower around Christmastime. From spring until autumn, this plant grows, with the growths producing sheaths as December approaches. They flower and then rest for a month or two before beginning active growth. We water less in the winter because it takes longer for the pots to dry out, but we don’t intentionally limit the water to this plant, so any incidental decrease in water is naturally occurring. This is a metabolic rest, as opposed to an environmental rest.

But not many of the hybrids from these genera have what you might term as hard rests; meaning that their metabolism slows down, but we do not change the input of water, nutrients, etcetera any more drastically than warranted by the change in weather. There are many plants however, that will rest much harder than these and require cool, dry periods of as long as three months (five months including the gradual decrease and increase of water, nutrients, etcetera) in order to grow well and flower.

Some of the more common of the harder resting genera are: Dendrobium, Cycnoches, Catasetum, Lycaste, Habaneria, and Cymbidium. Many of the plants in these genera (but not all!) will only receive a light misting about once every week or two (or even less), until spring. The two hardest months of rest for us are December and January, using November and the end of February into March as transition months.

A good example of a hard resting plant is Cymbidium Little Black Sambo. This plant requires at least two months of near dryness in order to initiate flowering. From the beginning of December to the end of January this plant will receive nothing more than a sparing misting every now and again to ensure the root system doesn’t die completely and the bulbs won’t shrivel excessively. Otherwise, it will be cool and dry.  It is also an example of a different order in the cycle; it rests before flowering, and then resumes growth directly after it has finished flowering.

At first growing plants that have a harder rest period may seem daunting and intimidating, however these are actually some of the easiest plants to grow as it is obvious when they need to rest and require far less attention during that period. If you have ever been cautious about growing a plant that goes dormant or requires a hard rest, I encourage you to check out some of the literature below and try one of these wonderful, rewarding genera.

The scope of this article is far too small to go into any in-depth analysis of the resting of even the more common genera; however there are some very good books out there that are dedicated to these genera, and are well worth the read. I have listed some that have been of use to me below.

Happy Growing!

Greg

Home Orchid Growing, by Rebecca Tyson Northren
Any of the Books by Baker and Baker, compiled online at www.orchidculture.com
The World of Catasetums, by Arthur W. Holst
Growing Orchids, by J.N. Rentoul
Lycaste Species, The Essential Guide, by Dr. Henry F. Oakeley
Cycnoches, Orchids Magazine Supplement, Multiple Authors
 

 
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