﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



CULTURE OF PH AL^NOPSIS. 



An article by Dr. R. Schiffmann, St. Paul, Minn., entitled "How to 

 succeed with Phalaenopsis," appears in a recent issue of American Gardening 

 (p- 397)> an d is accompanied by an illustration of part of the interior of the 

 author's Phalaenopsis House. A copy has been received from the author, 

 showing numerous plants in robust health, all of which have been collected 

 by him during the last three years. The following is condensed from the 

 article in question, and may contain some useful hints, though with 

 respect to shading and watering, growers should be guided by the 

 conditions of their own locality. 



No tropical Orchids surpass in magnificence of flowers and tender grace 

 with which the flowers are displayed, the genus Phakenopsis. Another 

 charm is their free flowering nature' if certain conditions in their culture are 

 observed. These supplied, we rind them as easy to grow as Cattleyas, and 

 indeed easier than many of that genus. Being natives of hot and moist 

 countries of the Indian Archipelago, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines, 

 where they are found growing on bare rocks and on the branches and 

 trunks of trees in shady situations on the hillsides, and in the craters of 

 extinct volcanoes, gives us a hint as to their proper culture. Like most 

 Orchids, they have their season of rest and season of growth, correspond- 

 ing to the dry and wet seasons of their native habitat, bearing in mind, 

 however, that in the dry season they are subjected to heavy dews in the 

 night, which prevents their drying out, and furnishes sufficient moisture for 

 the well-being of the plant to tide over the dry season. When the rainy 

 season sets in, they are subjected, first to light showers, and later on to 

 drenching rains, alternated with glimpses of sunshine and moderate 

 breezes, the day temperature being in the nineties to one hundred degrees, 

 dropping to 68° or 70 before daylight. 



The treatment given is substantially as follows: When the plants 

 arrived, they were spread out on a lattice bench in a warm, moist, low, even 

 span greenhouse running north and south, the glass being shaded, yet 

 admitting sufficient light. They were sprayed occasionally with a hose 

 until they showed signs of activity by new root growth. When sufficiently 

 advanced they were placed in pans, pots, or baskets with crocks for 

 drainage, and fixed firmly in a good quality of live sphagnum. They were 

 sprayed regularly with the hose twice a day according to the weather, the 

 last wetting being given early enough in the afternoon to insure dry foliage 

 before nightfall. In cold or chilly weather, wetting the floor and sides of 

 the house is sufficient to keep up a buoyant atmosphere. Heat is given 

 according to the outside temperature, and is kept up until the end of June, 

 and again started up in the fall months. Bottom air is given at all times 



