Terrestrial orchids 2011 to 2014

[Nova]

Thank you Maggi, it is a gem isn't it?

[Maggi Young]

It really is - elegant  plant and intricate flower- I admit a  lot of these orchids are new to me so it's exciting to see them.

[goofy]

hello friends,
not so common:

Dactylorhiza fuchsii albiflora


enjoy

[Graham Catlow]

Graham, you would be sadly disappointed by my garden. Much of what I grow is in pots -in frames, in a greenhouse and in an open shadehouse structure. There are a few small enclaves in the open garden with the occasional interesting thing but the bulk of my garden comprises of untidy, overgrown, leggy rhododendrons and other shrubs. The whole lot needs re-vamped but this will have to wait a few years until I retire. Meanwhile I take close-up images from carefully chosen points of view that create the false impression that I am a plantsman of some skill when the real truth is very different!   

Steve
The plants you show tell a very different tale. There are some I would kill in their first year let alone get to flower. So what ever your set up you do extremely well.

[Steve Garvie]

Neottianthe calcicola
A bonny wee terrestrial Sino-himalayan orchid

[hud357]

My mix is a whole lot more easily available!  Equal parts John Innes number 2, horticultural grit, and perlite, perhaps a little fine bark for those that experience tells me like it a little damper. I use clay pots, and I am using a plunge bed as well, but when that is full I move onto benching, with no obvious down side.  I tend to put my bigger pots on the benches, those with several plants in, as I guess these are less likely to dry out.  I feed very very little, perhaps once a month if the conditions are suitable, that is warm and bright enough for the plants to actually be growing and I tend to use miracle grow early in the growth period and tomorite after Christmas, both very weak, perhaps 1/8 strength.

Moles seem to be very rare around here, either the ground is too dry and sandy, or heavily agricultural.   I have given up trying to make leaf mould.  I'd always been told to use beech or oak leaves but the damn things just don't break down.  I have some which are three years old now, sliced up in the mower, put into perforated black plastic bags, kept a little damp, and still totally unusable, plus full of all manner of wee beasties.

I think apifera is one of the more difficult Ophrys, its later flowering time means that it is more susceptible to drying out if we have a hot spring.

I have had them in JI No.1 so this is OK, I just need to open it up? They don't get fed  perhaps I've just discovered why they keep on shrinking! I figured that they might react badly living, as they often do, on 'barren' land. They can go on a regular feeding schedule once they sprout.

They have also been kept on the dry side. I take it this was also a bad idea. A more open mix will allow me to change that too. 

My experiences aside, I would have thought the sort of plants you post pics of would be the difficult end not our humble apifera.

As a side note - One of the places I always see them growing is on very heavy, very wet clay. The stuff that if you walked on it would stick to your footwear in such a way that you would need to get out quick and cut the stuff off with a knife.
 

[hud357]

I believe in plant names the word "Common" just means abundant, wide spread, easy to find etc as it used to be before we covered the countryside in chemicals - oh dear, mustn't go there. No class distinction here, methinks.

Locally common is probably a better term in that I had never seen a wild Orchid in the UK until a few years ago. Like buses I can't stop seeing them now (when I'm in the right places at the right times).

In a few weeks I'll be out hunting down Boletus edulis. Odd that I can see a patch of land, even from a speeding (legal speed of course) car, and know that they will appear there at some point. I can now do the same thing with some of our native Orchids. It would be very difficult to explain to someone why they would be in one place but not another but, as far as the mushrooms are concerned, I'm never wrong, even in the middle of a town.

[hud357]

A few common orchids (in the wild)  ...






In clay, in shade ... Just about any place ...


by the water ...


and ... 'locally common' ....


Orchids eh? Is there any subject author they can't make look foolish?

[hud357]

The Orchids get photographed, the edulis get dried and eaten. mmm mushrooms ...

[SteveC2]

They have also been kept on the dry side. I take it this was also a bad idea. A more open mix will allow me to change that too. 

My experiences aside, I would have thought the sort of plants you post pics of would be the difficult end not our humble apifera.


[/quote]

These open mixes allow most of the water to drain through so that after watering they are not much heavier than before.  Keeping them on the dry side is certainly better than keeping them too wet. 
Others may disagree with me but I find all the native Ophrys to be harder than their Mediterranean cousins.
I am a recent convert to feeding my Ophrys, but this is an attempt to get a higher proportion to flower rather than increasing tuber size.  I find the key to getting big tubers is to  start them into growth early and to keep the plants growing for as long as possible.  The lack of winter has resulted in some whoppers this year, and more than ever before doubled up, but it was not all good.  As always some flowered their hearts out but failed to make a replacement.  I feel that this is just something you have to accept, but it is very frustrating.

[hud357]

Using an open mix for certain plants has given me a lot more confidence. I recently acquired Cyp. calceolus and being in mostly Perlite I just don't worry about how much or how often. If I think it may need some water then it gets some. (I may well come to regret this attitude at some point).

As to starting them early, I'm not sure how I would go about it. I had assumed that apifera just started when it started. Is there a way of triggering growth? I could understand triggering a Mediterranean type using cooler temps (easy in the UK!) and water, will this work with apifera too? Perhaps put it into the fridge for a week or two?

   

[SteveC2]

 I know that some people disagree with me but as soon as I have finished repotting, which is now in full swing, I will gently water the plunge. 
Even now, without water, some of my Wintergreens, (not Ophrys) are starting to move.
On the subject of repotting below is a photo of possibly the world's most boring orchid collection  Unless of course you have a thing about pots.

[johnralphcarpenter]

My tulip collection may be as boring!

[SteveC2]

Possibly even more so, as all the pots are the same!

[Matt T]

Ralph's pots don't appear to have any labels in, so that adds an element of interest. Guess the tulip, anyone?