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Awesome orchid
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNANCHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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Growing a wild orchid in the garden is easy. It is aslo a rewarding venture
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SOME ORCHIDS grow all by themselves in the jungles. Their growth however, depends on the rains, and they flower and even produce seeds in the season.
A small orchid that is often seen growing under bushes and produces a metre or more with long flower stalks and brown striped green flowers with white and mauve hairy labellums is Eulophia Apidendraea. The plant has conical pseudobulbs and grass-like long green leaves.
The plant produces leaves soon after the first monsoon rains in May-July. New leaves and flower stalks appear from the sides of new pseudobulbs. Flowering goes on till March.
Pseudobulbs can be collected from the wild and planted in shallow pots in leaf mould mixed manure and kept in semi shade. New pseudo bulbs planted in pots may take an year to produce new growth for flowering.
Watering the plant in the growing season produces large flower stalks and bigger pseudobulbs. Flowers also appear earlier if the paint is watered well. Watering should be stopped before flowering is over and the plant should be allowed to rest.
When the plant is in flower the pot can be brought out and kept in a prominent place in the garden for display. The flower stalk can be staked to make it stand straight.
Growing orchids, people fear, is a troublesome job but if you know the plant's water and other needs, growing a wild orchid like Eulophia Apidendraea is easy. The plant can also be easily propagated through division of the pseudo bulbs in the dormant season.
This is also one of the orchids that is now-a-days rarely seen in the wild. By growing the plant in our gardens we can help the species thrive and not become a rarity.
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