Orchid Culture - Motes Notes
by Dr. Martin Motes, from his monthly newsletter and book Florida Orchid Growing
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Monthly advice for orchid growers in South Florida. There's lots of information pertinent to North Florida growers too. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter so it will be delivered to you via email each month.
Progress of the Season
An exceptionally dry December has come to an end in a deluge. Dry is always good for our orchids and particularly so in the short days of winter. It is always better to be able to add water when it is truly needed. A heavy soaking is also the prescription in winter, so nature has served us well. As the pattern of weather seems to be dictating weak fronts that deliver relatively little rain, topping up with a heavy watering immediately after the front’s passage is advisable.
Temperatures have also been above average. These higher temperatures coupled with low humidity have been producing very high drying potential, a factor to be reckoned with for all our orchids but particularly our vandas. Vandas should be maintained in continuous growth whenever possible. When temperatures are warm enough for sustained growth, they should also always receive sufficient water. Water is best applied to vandas with a water breaking device at hose end. At least two applications of water, to the point of runoff should be provided. If necessary, a third application should be made if the roots have not turned overall dark green after two applications. Observe the root tips. If the root tips are shrinking while temperatures are in the 70’s, the vandas are not getting enough water. This winter will have periods closer to what we typically experience in early spring.
Also as in early spring, there may be intervals when it is warm enough, long enough for Thrips to appear. When temperatures approach or exceed 80 degrees, scout for these pests in the early morning and apply soap or the other recommended chemicals.
Even in a warm winter, damaging cold periods are possible. Consult the chapter on cold tolerance in Florida Orchid Growing to protect cold sensitive genera.
January is somewhat like December but in reverse, with each succeeding day bringing longer hours of sunlight until days are long enough that afternoons return at the end of the month with extra sunshine to warm us after the extra sharp cold snaps. January, like December, is cold and dry, in fact even colder and drier. Dry is good, cold can be very bad. We need to accentuate the positive by especially...
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Despite the bloom on the avocados and the burgeoning new leaves on the live oaks, February is not spring in South Florida. Danger of freeze continues past mid month and frost can occur still into March. Even if the weather is balmy, it's too early to let down our guard or take down any protection we have mounted against the cold. The trend however is toward the positive as each lengthening day brings extra hours of warming sunshine...
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Whilst March never comes in like a lion in South Florida, occasionally it slinks in like a bob cat. Frost is not unheard of in the first few days of the month. The more cold sensitive genera, hard cane dendrobiums, phalaenopsis and vandas may well need some protection even into the middle of the month. Overall, however, March brings us some of the most ideal orchid growing conditions...
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Far from the cruelest, April is the kindest month to South Florida orchid growers. The weather in April is definitely settled into warm, even deliciously hot, with passing cold fronts only adding the delight of a pleasant change in temperature. The clean, bright days brimming with abundant sunlight and the low relative humidity create the high drying potential that orchids love...
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May is a month of transition in South Florida. Early in the month we can expect the driest weather of the year. Because of the clarity of the air and lack of cloud cover, temperatures rise rapidly in the late morning and can reach the upper eighties or nineties by mid afternoon before cooling substantially in late afternoon. Fortunately, over night radiant cooling rapidly dissipates the previous day's...
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June is the most dramatically tropical month in South Florida. As the southeast Trade Winds blow cool moist air off the Gulf Stream daily, as surely the heating effect of the center of the peninsula percolates up massive thunder heads. The increased cloud cover drawing a veil across the afternoon sun provides much cooling relief for our plants...
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Although it mostly passes unnoticed to millions locked in their air-conditioned bubbles, July in South Florida is quite different from June. While the pattern of afternoon showers built from the moisture of the morning's sea breeze persists in July, the thunder-storms are sharper and shorter. The clouds linger less and the foliage dries more quickly. Less quantity of rain falls in July than in June...
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July and August are the two most similar months in South Florida. Most of the advice on watering, disease and pest control in last month's calendar still apply but subtle changes are taking place. Although it may not seem so, as temperatures climb into the low nineties most afternoons, summer is in retreat: each day a little shorter, each night a little longer. With shorter days the importance of watering as early...
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September looms as the only truly dismal month in South Florida. Even without the prospect of the unspeakable 'H' word, September disheartens since it is easily the dampest, dullest month in the year. Although more inches of rain fall in June, more hours of rain occur in the often slow, seemingly endless drizzles of September. Frequently a day or two can pass without so much as a solid hour of truly bright...
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October is a month of change in South Florida. If the Romans had lived here where
we do, they would have named this month for their two faced god Janus. Usually
around the middle of the month, and certainly by the end of the month, the first strong
cold front pushes into South Florida bringing to a close the monolithic heat and damp
of summer and ushering in weather as most of the continent knows it, alternating
periods of warmer and cooler...
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In November we can no longer afford to be dominated by the illusion, so easy here at the northern edge of the tropics, that summer will never end. Although Indian Summer persists for the whole winter in South Florida, November is the month to prepare our plants for those short sharp blasts of cold which are inevitably coming as each successive cold front pushes the overall temperature a little lower...
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December marks the beginning of the serious dry season in South Florida. While this additional dryness provides relief from the autumnal rains that can bring so many fungal problems, December is also the month of shortest day lengths. This contracted period of light, on the contrary, reduces severely the drying potential for our plants. Nature thus both gives and takes away from us in December. We must...
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