| April Culture Notes..... For the Wairarapa region (New Zealand) |
| In General..... |
| CULTURE CORNER |
| At this time of year you need to reduce the amount of humidity, feed & water that your warmer growing plants receive. Your other plants should all be their “Wintering” areas by now. As you get your plants ready for the winter it is good practice to take out any leaf husks & debris that may have collected on the surface of the pots & check that there is no scale or other pests that may have missed earlier inspection. A spray of All Seasons Oil at polish strength, both over & under leaves will help kill any pests missed & will also give the plant a nice healthy look. Keep plenty of fresh snail & slug baits out around the plants, as these pest are about in numbers at present. Watch that the pellets don’t settle in the crowns or leaf axel where, if dampened they can set up rots. Morning watering is still best at present, if the media is soaking wet the roots will get chilled & die with these colder night temperatures. Washing down walls, benches etc with “Jeyes” & a bug killer in the water helps keep pests at bay, once you have finished cleaning, a of with a spray of fungicide, under as well as on top of benches etc is a good idea. CYMBIDIUMS need less watering & feeding now, but still good ventilation,. Remove any dead or dry matter & spray for both pests & fungus. As you are cleaning up plants, check for spikes & mark these with a stake to help prevent them from being knocked off when the plants are being moved about. By the end of March these plants should be well out of the reach of frosts. Make sure that plants are off the ground, so as to get air movement all around them, & this also helps to discourage pests from entering the mix from the bottom.. If you do have cymbids in spike DON’T under any circumstances take them inside a warm room, as this will cause the buds to yellow off & ruin this seasons flowering. A spray of “Jeyes” around the top of pots will drive out any woodlice etc. It is still not to late for a watering with Epsom Salts at a mixed at a rate of one teaspoon to five litres of water, as a stimulant for flowering size plants. PHALAENOPSIS need to be kept above 12oC otherwise their flower buds yellow & drop. Make sure that water is not left in the leaf centres, as this could rot the plant over night if the temperature drops low enough. PAPHIOPEDILUMS can have their feed reduced to almost nothing over winter, but aswith all fine rooted plants, they should not be allowed to dry right out. These plants do not like the temperature to drop much below 8o C for the green leaved type & about 12o C for the mottled leaved ones. CATTLEYAS & VANDAS To help encourage flower formation, these plants like good light at this time of the year They do not like their temperature to drop much below 8oC . Give a weak feed after each second watering over the winter period. NOBILE type Dendrobiums need plenty of light, but reduced water & feed which should cease altogether by the end of the month to encourage them into flowering. Mist spray only to ensure that canes don’t shrivel. These plants need to be kept only warm enough to stop frosts settling on them. Don’t feed or water again until you are sure that the swollen buds are showing flower points, or other wise all you will get is a nice crop of Keiki’s DENDROBIUMS (Aussie types) need to be kept damp, but as the weather gets colder these plants will get away with only being misted. Keep up plenty of air movement as this helps to stop rots setting in on any new growths. If you notice the corms being chewed back, it might be prudent to set a mouse trap in the orchid house, but put it somewhere that your fingers don’t inadvertently find it one day. |