172 OKOHIDS : HOW TO GKOW THEM SUCCESSFULLY. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



R. L., SOUTH WALES, asks : What is the proper treatment of Odonto- 

 glossum crispum ? I have been told that, like many other Cool Orchids, it 

 requires only a cool frame to grow in and does well when planted out, but 

 under cold frame treatment the leaves of my plants are turning yellow and 

 the plants appear to be dying. 



REPLY. The attempt to grow Orchids in a cold frame or pit invariably 

 ends in wretched failure, and could only be done with any chance of success by 

 someone who thoroughly understands the treatment they require. For a few 

 months during the summer Odontoglossums will do fairly well in a frame 

 facing the north if they are in pots and placed on a stage or inverted flower 

 pots. The planting-out system is a wrong one, and when done the plants 

 should be taken up in March or April and place them in rather small pots, 

 when they get established quicker than in large ones. 



D. A. asks : I should much like to know the proper time of the year 

 when Laelia purpurata should be repotted, and what is the best compost to 

 grow it in ? Also the best way to make established plants of newly imported 

 Odontoglossum crispum. 



REPLY. Laelia purpurata should be repotted any time immediately after 

 it has done flowering, which is about the beginning of June, and then it will 

 again start into growth. The plants always shrivel more or less after repotting, 

 according to its state of health, but soon recover. Repot the plants about once 

 in two or three years, the pots well drained to half their depth, using clean 

 crocks, larger ones at the bottom with smaller at the top. Then pot in fibrous 

 peat and sphagnum moss in equal proportions. 



The best way to establish newly imported Odontoglossum crispum is at 

 first to treat them very carefully, otherwise many may not recover from their 

 long journey, being generally in a very shrivelled condition. Directly the 

 plants are received all dead leaves and old useless matter should be cut away 

 and decayed roots trimmed, the plants then placed upon a layer of damp 

 sphagnum moss placed on the stage of a cool house, placing them one against 

 the other in an upright position. The moss must be kept moist, avoiding 

 watering the plants overhead until reaction has set in. When the bulbs have 

 plumped up and new roots begin to push out from the base, then pot the plants 

 in the usual compost of peat and sphagnum, in rather small pots, and then treat 

 as established plants. The plan of placing newly imported Orchids in dark 

 places under the stage, or suspending them head downwards, as is sometimes 

 done, cannot be too strongly condemned. The plants, however, should be 

 protected from strong light for the first few days until they are more 

 accustomed to it. 



A. B., NOKTH , DEVON, writes : I should very much like to see in print a 

 reply dealing fully with the hygrometer ; for instance, should it not always 



