A lecture on orchid plant care at the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley, Surrey, UK gardens.

The Royal Society of Horticulture's garden at Wisley is two miles down the road from my home, an irresistible place for a plantaholic such as myself. I probably visit it two to three times a month; consequently I am a member. Unfortunately I am rarely organised enough to book tickets for their lectures and walks, only noticing I have missed something I would have enjoyed after the event. January 2000 became something of a first as I managed to coincide with one of their specialist orchid days (Orchids for all from the 15th January to the 23rd January).

I love orchids, flashy flowers with the mystic of 'hard to grow' thanks to our Victorian predecessors. Over the years I have managed to gather together a small collection of cymbidiums, phalaenopsis, miltonias et al; some of which thrive and some not. So it was a pleasure to discover that I had turned up on a day when there had been a lecture in the morning 'Orchids for beginners and beyond' (which I had missed) and a demonstration of how to rescue distressed orchids in the afternoon. Luckily pre-booked tickets were not required so I strolled into the shed allocated to the proceedings. It was hidden away behind the large glass house in which the RHS' orchids are exhibited to the public.

The event was called 'Plant surgery' and was being given by Brian Rittershausen of Burnham Nurseries, an elderly gentleman of grizzled appearance, reminiscent of Great Uncle Bulgaria of Wombles fame. He proved to be very knowledgeable on his subject and imparted the information in a pleasant and welcoming manner. He was very patient with the embarrassed owners of the failing plants handed to him for rescue. The public had been asked to bring their disasters for him to talk about, resurrect, and in most cases repot. Had I been more prepared I too could have brought a sad specimen for his tender care.

I listened and watched as he took each specimen, examined it, whipped it out of its pot, whacked off excess roots, shredded off dead pseudobulbs, nipped off dead leaves and then put the dazed plant into a new pot of the correct size for its needs, thumbing down his special potting compost mixture. We gasped at the speed and lack of tender loving care accorded to them after all we are all used to the idea that orchids are delicate plants to grow at the best of times. Once over our gasps of astonishment we asked him questions regarding their future care so that we could avoid making the same mistakes again.

I took careful notes regarding problems I knew my own collection was having. I have quite a few cymbidiums that had not flowered for some time. I had followed all the correct procedures of repotting in orchid rockwool, putting them in the garden in the summer months in a shaded spot and returning them to the house as October draws to its close. None had died on me, yet they had not flowered. I had been patient thinking that I had repotted them in too big a pot, that encourages growth and not flowers. Yet once filling the pots they had still not flowered. I watered them only with rainwater from my butt, I knew I was not feeding them enough. Mr. Ritterhausen confirmed me in my suspicions; the problem was the growing medium. He assured us that artificial growing mediums are fine for experienced growers who know what to feed the plants, and when, but for us amateur growers the best medium to use would be something closer to their natural habitat. He had created his own compost for the orchids to mimic it, warning us to be careful which wood-chippings to use as sappy wood like pine would not have the desired results. The hardwood chippings and peat mixture he had developed produced a happy plant. Repotting need only be done every other year.

He went through a selection of phalaenopsis explaining that as they had but one plant per pot it was important not to let water sit in the base of the leaves. That promotes basal rot, the main killer of these types of orchid by the inexperienced (I know this to my cost having killed my first phalaenopsis in just such a manner - now I keep them fairly dry and they respond beautifully growing new shoots and flowering regularly). He promoted the use of his specialty compost mixture in the re-potting of these beauties. As they are small plants the size of the pot was rarely an issue, just the need for new compost for feeding purposes.

The vast majority of the orchids brought to his attention were cymbidiums and phalaenopsis as they are the easiest of the orchid families to grow for the inexperienced. As I have now branched out into miltonias I was sorry that this type was not brought to his attention.

Odontoglossum St. Clements, on display in the Singapore Airlines glasshouse at Wisley, January 2000.

My attention began to wander from the proceedings as he was going over the same material each time a similar sorry specimen was thrust into his hands, and found a new resting place on the wonderful display his company had brought to gladden our senses. The right-hand side of the shed had a long series of tables upon which stood hundreds of glorious orchids of many sizes, shapes, colours and types. It was an irrisitable magnet for my plantaholic tendencies. I drifted over and walked the length of the display. Trying desperately to limit myself to two or three plants I had to have (I could have taken away most of the table had I had the funds available and a greenhouse to store them in). I had seen the plant stand Burnham Nurseries mounts at Chelsea flower Show for many years, and last year I had bought two on the Friday afternoon. I knew that the quality of his plants were such that I could grow and maintain the plants. So I picked out a miltonia (Miltoniopsis Red Woodman), an Oerstedella Centradenia, and a Pleione Praecox which are supposedly hardy out doors in the South of the country. I queried the lady in charge of the stall, one I had talked to at Chelsea although she would not remember me from there, she indicated that although they are supposedly hardy out-doors she could not recommend it.

This visit inspired me to try and make more of an attempt at visiting the special events at Wisley. If you are not a member of the RHS and want to find out about the events they have, I can recommend searching their website at www.rhs.org.uk.

© Judy Farncombe 2000

Links:

Royal Horticultural Society

Burnham Nurseries website

Garden index page

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