19HOR212 – Lecture 6

Protected cultivation of Orchid

Dr. S. Kumaresan
Asst. Prof. (Hort.)
 Introduction

 Species and habit

 Classification of Orchids
 Suitable environment for growth and flowering
 Propagation
 Containers for ephiphytic and terrestrial orchids
 Potting and Repotting
 Nutrition
 Pest management
 Disease management
 Harvesting
 Post harvest handling
 Orchids

Family : Orchidaceae
Important cut flower in Monocotyledons
Distinctive plants and highly priced in the international
florist trade
 due to their intricately designed spectacular flowers,
brilliant colours, delightful appearance, myriad sizes,
shapes, forms and long lasting qualities
Only cut flower grown in pot – epiphytic nature
Ground beds – Vanda Hawaii
Arachmis Singapore
Aranda Thailand
 800 genera
 35,000 species
 India – 1300 species ; 140 genera
 More than 80,000 hybrids

Distribution
NW Himalayas - 200 species
NE India - 800
Western Ghats - 200
Others - 100
Export potential of orchids
- Cut flowers
- Potted plants
- Tissue culture orchid plants
- Medicinal orchids
- Vanillin
- Pressed orchids
- Hybrids
 Global Orchid Production
Production in Asian Countries
Tropical Orchids:
Country Units (Million) % Production
Thailand 31.6 83.0
Singapore 1.7 4.5
Others 4.7 12.5
-------- --------
38.0 100.0
-------- --------
Temperate Orchids:
Country Units (Million) % Production
Japan 2.0 33.0
Korea 2.0 33.0
Taiwan 1.5 26.0
Others 0.5 8.0
------- --------
6.0 100.0
 I. Classification based on Habitat
(i) Terrestrial (or) Ground Orchids eg. Rhizanthella
(ii) Epiphytic Orchids eg. Tillandsia
(iii) Saprophytic Orchids eg. Gastrodia
(iv) Lithophytic Orchids eg. Paphiopedilums
(v) Subterranean Orchids eg. Rhizanthella
II. Classification based on temperature requirements
Day (0 C) Night (0 C)
(i) Cool orchids 15.5 – 210 C 10 – 12.5 0 C
(ii) Intermediate 18 – 210 C 15.5 – 18 0 C
(iii) Warm orchids 21 – 290 C 18 – 21 0 C
 Epiphytic Orchids

Terrestrial (or) Ground Orchids

Lithophytic Orchids

Saprophytic Orchids Subterranean Orchids

 III. Classification based on Growth Habit

Vanda, Phalaenopsis,
Renanthera and Vanilla
Cattleya and Symbidium
Temperature
Cymbidium
Highest percentage of plants with visible flower initiation - lower
temperature with full ventilation
Paphiopedilum
Chilling (0-40 C) for 30-120 days - new shoot growth
Maximum growth and flowering - 50 days & 40 C
Phalaenopsis
 Low temperature (night temp < 70 C)
 One or some leaves become yellow to tan and then to black (similar to
viral infection finally)
 Cold water applied on mature leaves also causes this disorder
(mesophyll cell colapse)
 Temperature maintenance (150 C) and preventing use of cold water is
the remedy
 Light
 ‘Light gardening’ is important in orchids

 Arachnis, Cattleya, Dendrobium, Vanda - 2400 to 3600 fc

 Paphiopedilium - 1800 to 2400 fc
 Phalaenopsis - 1500 fc

Artificial lighting - nightfall to 11.30 pm and 6.30 a.m.

Phalaenopsis seedlings – best response (Springer, 1962)
Cattleya responded poorly (Perata, 1981)
Both fluorescent and incandescent bulbs are used
Ratio between the two types of bulbs is also important in
flowering
Combination of red and blue fluorescent bulbs with 5-10%
visible radiation from incandescent bulbs – best results
Increasing PPF (Photosynthetic photon flux)
Increased number of florets
Inflorescence length and diameter
Higher axillary bud development and flowering rate
Days to flowering is shortened (Kim et al., 1999)
 Photoperiod
Mostly day neutral (Holdson and Laurie, 1951)
Cattleya: Both long day and short day plants
Eg. C. warneri – LD
C.labiata – SD
Dark treatment of pseudobulbs - sprouting of lateral buds
and root growth in Cymbidium cultivars
(Zheng and Matsui,1998)
Day length of 16 h - higher flowering rate Oncidium cv.
Gower Ramsey (Lin et al, 1998)
CO2
At 200 C and PPF 180 µmol m-2 s-1, daily CO2 uptake increased in
Phalaenopsis hybrid Higher night temperature increased respiration rate and
lowered daily CO2 uptake.
An increase in CO2 concentration from 380 to 950 µl/l increased CO2 uptake.
CO2 uptake increased with higher light intensities (35000 – 58000 lux) in
Dontaneopsis (Kim et al., 2001)
Humidity
Prefer high humidity, varying with species.
Phalaenopsis 70 %
Odontoglossum 75 %
Vanda 70-75 % (Bose, 1980)
Cattleya, Lalia 40-55 % (Bose, 1980)
Night - not be < 30%
Day - not above 80% (Mukherjee, 1982)
Temperature of Oncidium can be reduced to 280 C with ventilation at 1.2 m /s.
Spraying of water at every 8 minutes was the most efficient cooling system.
 Optimum environmental conditions for different orchid genera

Genera Temp (0C) RH (%) Light (fc)

Cattleya 15-18 40-75 2400-3600

Cymbidium 10-21 40-70 Partial shade – Full sun

Dendrobium 10-21 40-70 2400-3600

Oncidium 15-21 40-70 2400-3600

Paphiopedilum 18-21 65-70 1800-2400

Phalaenopsis 21 40-70 1500

Vanda 15-21 40-70 2400-3600

Sheehan and Sheehan (1979)

Sympodial orchids
 4-5 years - clump have 8-10 canes and divided to 4-5 individual units with
2 canes per division (Arora et al, 1975)..
Eg. Dendrobium, Cattleya, Epidendrum, Oncidium etc
 Generally after flowering, when new shoots are healthy, robust and with a
cluster of fresh roots they should be separated with a clean knife without
damaging the roots.
 Treating the pseudo bulbs with several chemicals proved effective in
promoting root formation.
 Increase in shoot and root growth of Cymbidium improved was reported
with application of IBA at 100-200 ppm. (Nagabhusana, 1982).
Off-Shoots (Keikis)

Keikis are small off shoots (little plants with root) developing from the
nodes of Dendrobium and Epidendrem.
Separated and set in small pots with the media
Paphiopedilum – BAP increased keikis
Application of cytokinins like BAP 1g/litre will stimulate new offshoots in
Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum etc. (Flamee and Boesmaun,
1981)

Cuttings
Monopodial orchids - Vanda, Phalaenopsis
Stems should be cut into sections of 3-4 nodes
Placed in moist and or sphagnum moss
Flower stalk cuttings - Phaius, Phalaenopsis (Mukerjee, 1979).
Goh (1983) - 100 percent rooting in Ananda cuttings - NAA (10-4µ).
Air layering
Vanda and some other monopodial orchids can be
propagated by air-layering (Bose, 1980).
Micropropagation
Commercial method – cut flowers
Dendrobium hybrid Sonia 17 – Infloresence segments
(Indhumathi et al., 2002)
Containers and supports

 Climbing orchids and terrestrial orchids can be generally

planted on the ground

 Epiphytic orchids are grown in some type of container or

supports
• Pots
• Wooden baskets,
• Coconut husks
• Tree fern rafts
• Pieces of wood etc.
Orchids thrive well under a wide range of growing media.
 Most common mixture consists
-charcoal,
-coconut husk pieces,
-dried tree fern roots,
-sphagnum moss,
-broken pieces of bricks,
-perlite pieces etc.,
 Mixture can be used either singly or in combination.
 Medium should have good drainage and water retention.
 Micro climate and aeration within the pot will favour the healthy
growth of the plant.
POTTING MIXTURE
 MOSS

STONES
CLAY POT PIECES

BRICK PIECES CHARCOAL

 Potting and Repotting
Orchids need repotting regularly, usually every two to three years.
 When the plant grows large and overgrows its container.
 When the potting material deteriorates
 When the plant has to be split or divided
 It is better to repot epiphytes every year.
 The best time for repotting - Fresh roots emerge at the bases of the
previous year’s growth.
 In monopodial climbers, repotting or division has to be done when
 new leaf growth shows at the top and there is new root growth.
 Nutrient Management
 In their natural habitats - no special nutrients
 N,P,K @ 17:17:17 or 20:20:20 dissolved in water @ 1-5g/l
- twice a week
 To promote flowering, a higher proportion of P and K at
10:20:20
 Organic fertilizers like cowdung, chicken manure, groundnut
cake, neem cake etc. can be moderately used.
• It must be soaked in water at 1:10 or 1:20 for 2 to 3 days to
allow decomposition of the fertilizer.
• The supernatant solution is used for spraying once / twice a
month
Nitrogen
 Deficiency of N - yellowing of leaves and stunting (Bose, 1986).
 Over dose of N -rooting of bulbils and roots in Cattleya (Fast 1970).
 Ratio of NO3 and NH4 - 6:1- the flowering quality of Gower Ramsey was
best (Lin et al. 1999).
Phosphorus
 Important in improving flowering (Bose, 1986, Bhatacharjee, 1981)
 Deficiency causes stunting of plants, leaves become dark green. Production
of flower stalk was completely inhibited (Yonedera et al. 1997).
Potassium
 K deficiency - dwarfness with leaf edges scorched and dead (Chin 1966).
 Plants produced few flowers and higher incidence of brown spot disease is
noticed (Chen et al. 1994).
Armoured scale
Mealy bug
Thrips
Snail
 Control measures
Scales
• Spraying of fish oil rosin soap at 1 kg in 67.5 l of water
• Green lace wing larvae Chrysoperla carnea feed on the
immature stage of scales. Lady bird beetles Cryptolaemus
montrouzieri and Scymnus sp. are known to attack scale
insects
Mealy bugs
• Lady bird beetles Cryptolaemus montrouzieni and Scymnus
sp. are known to feed mealybugs
• Spray Malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/l or Phosphamidon 85 WSC
@ 0.5 ml/l of water
Mites
• The predatory phytoseiid mites, Amblyseius sp. and
Phytoseiulus persimilis will keep the spider mite population
in check
• Spray dicofol 18.5 EC or dimethoate 30 EC or methyl
demeton 25 EC @ 2 ml/l of water

Slugs and snails

• Apply 15% metaldehyde dust or 20% metaldehyde liquid
• Sprinkle 5% metaldehyde pellets around the infested plant
• If the population is low, collect and destroy
 Black spot
Heart rot
Petal blight
Anthracnose
Wilt

Bacterial diseases - spray antibiotics

Viral diseases - proper sanitation
Rotting - spray systemic fungicide - Potassium
phosphonate
 Harvesting and Handling
 Proper time and method of harvest controls vase life and the
quality
 Harvesting during cool hours is preferred
 Harvesting during high temperature, causes stress in flowers
(Rij, 1979)
 Dendrobium flower fully matured only 3 or 4 days after it opens
 Dendrobium (from 2nd year) : 1.5 / plant - 1st year
8 / plant - 4th year
 A spike can be cut at last 1or 2 buds are yet to open or 20 per
cent of flowers are in bud condition