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FENNELL’S ORCHID NEWS 

FENNELL’S ORCHID NEWS 
From The Orchid Jungle 
Published By 
FENNELL ORCHID CO. 
Homestead, Florida 

CULTURAL HINTS 
I had an interesting experience the 
other day. I visited an orchid grower 
who had his plants in a hot, close 
greenhouse. The sun was shining bright- 
ly, it was warm outside but this man had 
his ventilation barely cracked—the glass 
was covered with several thicknesses of 
paint and he had a man busily wetting 
down the greenhouse with a mist spray. 
I asked the reason for this and he told 
me that the orchids grow in hot steamy 
jungles in the tropics and that he has to 
imitate those conditions. 
This is a common misconception. 
I have collected orchids all over the 
West Indies, Central America and good 
parts of South America and I’ve never 
seen a large flowered, good type orchid 
growing wild in deep shade in a wet 
steamy jungle. Most of them, Cattleyas, 
Laelias, etc., on the contrary, grow in 
open woods in regions where it is normal 
to have definite wet and dry seasons. 
They are generally found on the upper 
branches of trees that provide a very 
light shade and quite often they may be 
found growing in full sunlight. 
Watering—Don’t keep your plants wet 
all the time. Any orchid that produces a 
pseudobulb is capable of standing a 
rather considerable dry spell. We believe 
that they prefer to be watered rather 
heavily then allowed to dry out before 
they are watered again. 
Light—We believe that all orchids do 
“best in as much light as possible. Many 
of them will sunburn but any of them 
will take more light and benefit by it if 
they are accustomed to it gradually. 
The more light you give the more food 
the plants can assimilate and the more 
growth you can get. 
More light plus regular feeding will, 
almost certainly, improve your plants. 
Potting—lIt’s time to look over your 
plants for those that need re-potting. 
Any plants that are shrivelled, or that 
are loose in the pot should be examined 
(Continued on Page 7) 
An Invitation 
ORCHID JUNGLE—wWhile we charge 
admission to the Orchid Jungle with 
competent guide service, for casual vis- 
itors, customers and members of any 
orchid society are admitted free. Just 
show the attendant at the gate your 
membership card or mention that you 
are a customer and give him your name. 

C. Mascotte, Fennell’s variety 
A very strong, heavy, beautifully held flower. Flowers about 8 inches across, light s&p 
dark lip with brilliant yellow throat. Flowered at Christmas. Should make an 
excellent parent. 
FURTHER REPORT 
(Continued from Page 1) 
primary and secondary plant foods, espe- 
cially if from high grade sources, are 
very effective. The secondary plant foods, 
calcium, magnesium and sulphur seem 
particularly important to orchids prob- 
ably because osmunda is low in these 
materials. 
8. The application of dissolved chem- 
ical fertilizer in weak concentrations (1 
to 2 teaspoonsful of a 4-7-11 formula to 
the gallon of water) has never burned 
even on small seedlings fresh from the 
flask—on plants of the following genera 
—Cattleya, Laelia, Chysis, Oncidium, 
Vanda, Phalaenopsis, Spathoglottis, Epi- 
dendrum, Diacrium, Calanthe, Phaius, 
Dendrobium, Cymbidium, Cypripedium, 
Coelogyne and many others. 
The dry powder when sprinkled on top 
of the osmunda around the plants has 
sometimes resulted in severe burns. Sev- 
eral plants have been killed in this way. 
4. There is a very close correlation 
between light—plant color—and plant 
food requirements. If the plant is deep 
green in color it is probably getting all 
the food it can assimilate under its pre- 
vailing light conditions. If it is yellow 
or light yellow-green it is not getting 
enough food for its light. The best color 
seems to be a light bright green provided 
it is obtained in bright light with plen- 
tiful food. This color is usually accom- 
panied by heavy growth and very free 
flowering of most orchids, 
5. Fast vegetative growth in the terete 
and semi-terete leaved vandas is pro- 
moted by the liberal use of fresh cow and 
chicken manures provided these mate- 
rials are not used so heavily as to cause 
heating by fermentation. However, these 
plants are likely to flower very sparingly 
when grown fast with plenty of water 
and animal manures. Heavy flowering 
can be promoted in these plants by the 
addition of regular applications of com- 
plete chemical fertilizers. 
% * * 
Have you ever seen a flower bed of 
terrestrial orchids—they are beautiful. 
* * * 
The orchid business has its amusing 
side at times. We have a small, clear 
yellow Brassocattleya which we have 
named Daffodil (B. Glauca x C. Auran- 
tiaca). Several days ago two elderly 
ladies nearly got to the hair pulling 
stage over one of these planits we had 
on exhibition. One insisted that it must 
be a daffodil because it had a label say- 
ing “Daffodil” on it, while the other 
retorted that she had “known and 
grown daffodils” all her life and that 
was not one. Finally ‘the first lady 
had an inspiration and suggested that 
this must be a new and rare kind of 
tropical daffodil—the other agreed— 
and once again the peace of the world 
was preserved by diplomacy. 
