FENNELL’S 


ORCH 
ID 

NEWS 
Published Quarterly by FENNELL ORCHID CO. a’ -Reutes j Bor 230, Homestead, Florida 
Orchid Importers, Growers ana Hibtidists 
For Over 40 Years 


Vol. 3 
SUMMER—FALL—1949 
o7 See 

Food and 
Feeding 
LL GREEN plants 
require inorganic 
food (nitrogen, phospho- 
rus, potash, calcium, iron, 
manganese, etc.); Water 
in which the food is dis- 
solved and with which it 
is assimilated by the 
plants; and light with 
which the plants manu- 
facture the inorganic 
food into organic products 
such as starch and sugar 
which are used by the 
plant in its growth pro- 
cesses. This manufactur- 
ing process is carried on 
in the presence of light by 
the green coloring mattez 
in the leaves. This ma- 
terial is called chlorophyll 
and the light-chlorophyll 
interaction in the plant is 
called photosynthesis. 
Light requirements of 
plants vary with the spe- 
cies but as a simple rule 
the more light the greater 
the photosynthetic action, 
the more food used and 
the more the resulting growth. 
Almost all of us have been misled by 
considering epiphytic orchids “air 
plants” because they have adapted 
themselves to growth on trees and rocks 
where very little food is available to 
them—because of this we have thought 
they didn’t “need” food, at least not 
very much food, and many of us have 
even believed that artificial feeding is 
detrimental to them. 
Some three years ago we noticed that 
while orchids would grow very well in 
osmunda as a rule, occasionally one 
would do much better than average for 
a while after repotting. This we thought 
showed that the plant received more 
food for a while and therefore grew 
better. So we decided to try a large 
scale experiment, under our light con- 
ditions, to see if feeding would be bene- 
ficial to us. 
(Continued on Page 2) 

Cattleya St. Petersburg var. Snow Queen 
This is one of the many varieties of St. Petersburg which we have flowered. 
We have carried these seedlings as B200—C. Clementine Goldfarb x 
C. Eucharis. 
COMMUNITY TRAYS 
E HAVE had many changes at the 
Orchid Jungle during the past six 
months—Tom, Jr., has graduated from 
Harvard and has decided to spend full 
time with the orchids; after four years 
of experiments we have decided to feed 
all our plants; we have installed an over- 
head sprinkler system over all the larger 
plants; we’re enlarging our physical 
plant, ete. But chief among our changes 
is the adoption of a tray designed by 
Tom, Jr., for community plantings of 
seedlings. 
This tray is 2” x 6” in size and has 
the same area as a 4” community pot— 
for our purposes it is superior to a pot, 
however, as it is easier to remove the 
plants from it and the plants grow bet- 
ter in it because of its superior aeration 
and drainage. We now have over 20,- 
000 plants growing well in these trays. 
(Continued on Page 3) 
They are all very fine pure whites. 
Vandas 
Again 
gt in April, 1948, 
"we published an ar- 
ticle entitled ‘““Vandas, the 
Orchid of the Future.” 
Ve thought then and we 
think now that it is one 
of our duties to find, try 
out and propagate new 
orchids and to pass on to 
you our findings. We feel 
it is good business to be 
of service to you, the or- 
chid growers. In any case, 
in that article we tried a 
little prophesying with 
rather astounding results. 
Our prophesy of in- 
creasing interest in Van- 
das, of their wider and 
wider acceptance was 
based on our realization 
that most of them are 
easily grown, their flow- 
ers keep well, they’re dif- 
ferent and very fine. And 
they sell—both plants and 
eut flowers. Our proph- 
esy has certainly come 
true—interest in Vandas 
grows daily. 
We had an interesting telephone call 
regarding Vandas when the manager of 
one of the largest and finest wholesale 
houses in New York called us for “blue 
Vandas” and said that they were wanted 
for some of his exclusive customers for 
wedding work . We are constantly sold 
out of these blooms and the blue hybrids 
have averaged us over 75¢ net for each 
flower this year. 
We are now offering 17 fine Vanda 
hybrids and more are on the way—fine 
blue Vandas that are easily grown, not 
cranky, like the old species Caerulea. 
By the way, we have bought about 25 
fine Caeruleas of which only three 
bloom regularly—just to provide our- 
selves with pollen for some of these 
hybrids. We have bought also many 
other fine hybrids and species of Vandas 
and related genera in order to provide 
the latest and best in fine Vandas. 
(Continued on Page 3) 
