Growing hints-July-August.
 by Alan Merriman - Phone (02) 4739 5141
In case you didn't know- we are now in winter! If you live in a frost prone area, make sure you protect your plants fom damage. In the old days we would cover our plants every night with news paper or hessian. You would cover all  plants around 3pm-4pm, hope a wind would not spring up,then next morning pick up all the frosty papers or roll up the hessian ready for the next nights frost. Yes, we did that for many years. Now things have changed. We now have ENVY®.
   I first came across ENVY® around 12 years ago. Remember, ENVY® only keeps the frost from settling on the plants. It does not stop, say phalenopsis, from dying from cold. In other words- hot house plants still need a hot house.
   When using ENVY® you must make sure you cover all of the plants surface,i.e. the upper and lower leaf surface as well as the pseudo bulbs. The rate for frost protection is five to ten litres mixed in one hundred litres of water.Apply before minimum temperature drops below freezing. Reapply every two to four weeks, depending on temperature, concentration and growth. Remember, wash your spray pump out after use or the nozzle will block. For deflasking, spray or dip plants in a solution of 100ml ENVY® to 10 litres of water. If you would like the latest fact sheet on ENVY® send me a stamped, self addressed envelope.
  I have just received the latest list of plants susceptible to Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and you guessed it! CYMBIDIUMS are on the list. Remember,  TSWV is spread by aphids and western flower thrips. (W.F.T.) I have not heard of any grower that has seen W.F.T. on his cymbidiums, but the virus has been picked up on cyms. so be vigilant. Did you go to the Royale Orchids 18th Annual Orchid Fair?? This year it was blessed with nice sunny weather and above freezing temperatures. As usual there were plenty of vendors with lots of goodies ranging from the usual tube stock to recent imports from Brazil- top class paphs from our one and only specialist paph grower (in case you do not know
who it was, it was Wal Rhodes from Camira Orchids) with plenty of orchid books. Kevin Hipkins of Royale had a lot of top class plants in bloom for us all to look at. This event must go down as one of the premier events in the New South Wales orchid calendar. Many thanks must go out to Kevin and merry band of helpers! Thanks Kevin!

       FROSTY NIGHTS-FROSTY NIGHTS
   Did you know that potassium helps your orchids through times of low night temperatures? Yes, you can use the famous K-D-L. to help protect your plants from lower winter temperatures. Low temperatures during winter can damage
our orchids in two ways. Firstly, low temperatures disrupt membranes of cells that will result in the leakage of solutes. Secondly, under extreme cold conditions the growing medium can behave like a dry mix. Under such conditions a healthy deep rooted system with a high sugar content and reduced transpiration are the best physiological adaptations to withstand winter injury. Good potassium nutrition favourably influences all these factors and decreases winter kill! Low temperatures reduce root respiration and thereby decrease the supply of K to plants. This is particularly so in times of drought where we have frost and moisture stress occuring at the same time
   Adequate K supply to the plants helps protect them from frost injury and winter kills. With higher availability of K to the plants there are sufficient carbohydrates and proteins in the cell sap to lower the point where freezing will take place.
   Don't forget we at Miriam Ann orchids are the Sydney stockist of K-D-L® and ENVY®.