Orchids for everyone . cess. Large specimens are very rarely importednowadays, consequently large pots will not be required. Thesize of pot to use is one that will just comfortably accommodatethe plant to be dealt with. Three inch (6os), or four and a halfinch (48s), will usually be large enough for the Odontoglossumsobtained to start with. Use clean pots, and if the pots are new ones, they must besoaked in a tank of water for at least an hour or two (and thendrained and dried) before being used. When established, andespecially when growing freely, Odontoglossums need an abund-ance of moisture
Orchids for everyone . cess. Large specimens are very rarely importednowadays, consequently large pots will not be required. Thesize of pot to use is one that will just comfortably accommodatethe plant to be dealt with. Three inch (6os), or four and a halfinch (48s), will usually be large enough for the Odontoglossumsobtained to start with. Use clean pots, and if the pots are new ones, they must besoaked in a tank of water for at least an hour or two (and thendrained and dried) before being used. When established, andespecially when growing freely, Odontoglossums need an abund-ance of moisture, and as the material in which they are potted has,with very few exceptions, to be kept moist all the year round, itwill be readily understood that there must be ample drainagebeneath the compost to permit the water applied above to passquickly away. If the water does not pass away readily, thecompost will become sour, the root tips be killed, and the plantdie or become seriously weakened. The old practice was to place. A YOUNG ODONTOGLOSSUM PLANT (WITH NEW GROWTH) THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 129 one potsherd concavely over the drainage hole, and cover this toone-third or one-half the pots depth with smaller potsherds orcrocks, but the modern method is to place a large crock in thebottom of the pot and cover it to the depth of an inch or so withsmall pieces of the rhizomes of the common Bracken fern. Theserhizomes are found in the turves of peat supplied by the nursery-men, or they may be purchased separately, provided one has noaccess to a Common or Heath or Woodland where this mostcommon of British ferns is abundant. The rhizomes must besterilized before use, otherwise they may grow and cause trouble. Sterilization is easily managed by putting the rhizomes in avery hot oven long enough to kill them, or by placing a quantityin a copper full of boiling water for a few minutes, and thenspreading them out to dry. A great deal might be written about the material or materialsin which t
Size: 1377px × 1816px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1910
