Maintenance throughout the year
Summer
- During summer, very lightly water surface of pots weekly to prevent tuber desiccation especially if dormant seedlings are in the pot.
- Divide overcrowded pots in summer. Tip out and break into slices like cutting a cake. Stand a slice in a new pot & fill spaces with fresh mix. Take care to keep the surface layer at the surface of the new pot.
- Add fresh leaf litter to surface layer in January to February to March.
- If surface moss gets too thick, peel it off and discard in summer.
Autumn
- Start heavier watering of pots weekly from mid March.
- Mix seed with fine dry sand and sprinkle on mother pots in April.
- Water as required in autumn, winter & spring so that pots never dry out during the growing season yet are not soggy wet.
- Leaves appear from Anzac Day to June.
Winter
- Look for flower buds down inside the largest leaves from mid July onwards.
- Look for new seedling leaves from August to October.
Spring
- Enjoy and photograph flowers September to November.
- Hand-pollinate flowers in September – October. Flowers collapse within days of fertilisation.
- Collect seed pods as they turn brown just before they split open in November – December.
- Dry & store seed over summer in paper envelopes kept indoors.
- Allow pots to slowly dry out in mid – late November to induce dormancy and ripen tubers. Plants die down completely in summer to underground tubers.
For further information on growing fungus – dependent orchids refer to:
- ‘Orchids Australia’ February 2006, P58, or ‘The Orchadian’ Vol 15, Number 3, March 2006, P100.
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Caladenia latifolia cultivated by LN (Fast Multipler) |
NOSSA 