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Posted on 6:58 PM by Wanto and filed under
By Johnny More
Damping down is a daily routine carried out throughout the year. It is best done by using a garden hose connected to the mains water supply. With a spray nozzle attached, soak the floor area beneath the staging, wetting the plants that grow there, and wet the staging between the orchids.
If you cannot get any form of shading into position soon enough, it can be a good idea to provide your orchids with temporary protection by placing single sheets of newspaper over their leaves by day. This will ensure that they do not suffer until you can get the summer shading into position. However, it will not help to reduce the temperature, and the covering up of the leaves should only be used as a temporary measure.
At the height of summer, you can repeat this again towards late afternoon. As evening falls, all surplus water will have dried up, but as the temperature drops, the humidity will rise naturally and remain at a good level for most of the night.
During the summer, this will be good for your orchids, but as winter approaches, together with lower temperatures, you will not want to add further humidity by damping down after midday. In winter, it is necessary to damp down the floor and between the orchids only once a day, in the morning.
Overhead spraying of the leaves should be discontinued at this time of year, because the leaves will take too long to dry up, and this may result in rots and blemishes. Also, as many of the orchids will be resting at this time, their foliage should be left dry.
During spells of wet winter weather, damping down can be dispensed with altogether: there will be sufficient moisture to balance the low temperature and light levels, as well as spilled water from the watering of those orchids that need it.
Orchid bark is slow to decompose and will not break down when fertilizer is added. It will remain in a good state for several years, slowly releasing its nutrients. It retains just the right amount of moisture for the roots, but without remaining too wet after watering. It can be used on its own or other materials can be mixed with it as required. If you find that your orchids are suffering from dryness, and you have difficulty in keeping the bark compost (growing medium) sufficiently moist, add about a third of sphagnum moss or other fibrous peat to the mix.
Modem labour-saving devices make the pleasures of orchid growing much easier than they used to be, when hand-stoked boilers had to be made up late at night and roller blinds were constantly needing manual adjustment, according to the immediate weather conditions. These automated greenhouses take all the strain out of orchid growing, but they are still only as good as the person in charge. Labour-saving devices should be an asset, not a liability, so use them to the best advantage, always making sure that spare parts are readily available, especially with fan heaters. Do not wait until anything breaks down before finding a replacement. Two fans used alternately can be a good idea.
If you cannot get any form of shading into position soon enough, it can be a good idea to provide your orchids with temporary protection by placing single sheets of newspaper over their leaves by day. This will ensure that they do not suffer until you can get the summer shading into position. However, it will not help to reduce the temperature, and the covering up of the leaves should only be used as a temporary measure.
At the height of summer, you can repeat this again towards late afternoon. As evening falls, all surplus water will have dried up, but as the temperature drops, the humidity will rise naturally and remain at a good level for most of the night.
During the summer, this will be good for your orchids, but as winter approaches, together with lower temperatures, you will not want to add further humidity by damping down after midday. In winter, it is necessary to damp down the floor and between the orchids only once a day, in the morning.
Overhead spraying of the leaves should be discontinued at this time of year, because the leaves will take too long to dry up, and this may result in rots and blemishes. Also, as many of the orchids will be resting at this time, their foliage should be left dry.
During spells of wet winter weather, damping down can be dispensed with altogether: there will be sufficient moisture to balance the low temperature and light levels, as well as spilled water from the watering of those orchids that need it.
Orchid bark is slow to decompose and will not break down when fertilizer is added. It will remain in a good state for several years, slowly releasing its nutrients. It retains just the right amount of moisture for the roots, but without remaining too wet after watering. It can be used on its own or other materials can be mixed with it as required. If you find that your orchids are suffering from dryness, and you have difficulty in keeping the bark compost (growing medium) sufficiently moist, add about a third of sphagnum moss or other fibrous peat to the mix.
Modem labour-saving devices make the pleasures of orchid growing much easier than they used to be, when hand-stoked boilers had to be made up late at night and roller blinds were constantly needing manual adjustment, according to the immediate weather conditions. These automated greenhouses take all the strain out of orchid growing, but they are still only as good as the person in charge. Labour-saving devices should be an asset, not a liability, so use them to the best advantage, always making sure that spare parts are readily available, especially with fan heaters. Do not wait until anything breaks down before finding a replacement. Two fans used alternately can be a good idea.
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