Steve Howard regularly writes orchid cultural notes for various orchid clubs in South Australia. His notes are tailored specifically conditions in Adelaide. The following are his notes for both epiphytes and terrestrials for the month of July.
Epiphytes
- Water mounted native epiphytes daily; pots weekly and small pots twice weekly depending on the weather. Hot cold types require drier conditions. Generally none to once monthly for me.
- Colder weather slows down their metabolism in winter. Foliar feeding is beneficial.
- Keep water out of new growths to avoid rot. Clones prone to this need to be moved under hard roof cover to keep drier.
- Check under leaves for scale.
Terrestrials
- Weed pots as the weeds appear and ensure that they don’t get too wet.
- Remove rotted growths.
- Start baiting for slugs and snails as spikes emerge from protective sheaths.
- Provide hard cover during wet weather to stop botrytis spotting and rotting out spikes.
NOSSA 