Tuesday, November 6, 2012

An Abusive Parent Tries to Make Amends...


One of my horticulture professors used to tell us that we should know all the plants in our garden like they were our children.

Didn't really catch on to what he said at the time but now I understand. I know each plant intimately, although I have to admit, I like some more than others and tend to play favorites sometimes.

 


Such is the case with my zygopetalum orchid. Not that I don't like it...I do. It's got spectacular flowers with an amazing scent but a few years ago we had the worst freeze in my memory. Two weeks of sub-30 nighttime temperatures with most nights getting to 27-28 degrees. These guys don't like that.

I had two plants, one didn't make it and I didn't think the other one did either but it eventually came back.  I left it alone to see what would happen.

Nothing.  It grew but went from being a consistent "bloom every Halloween" to never even thinking about throwing a spike.  


I neglected it and moved on to other things.



This year, after another year of no blooms, I decided to return and show it a little more love by repotting it.



Pulling it out of the pot, it came like this...no soil whatsoever. I'm surprised that it still grew.




The plant naturally fell into two pieces when I took it out so now I have two plants to repot.

Since it's an epiphyte, the process is exactly the same as when I repotted our phalaenopsis orchid.



Now to just water in, put back on the bench, and see what happens.

Darryl
Copyright 2012- Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

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