So Often The Question Is Asked 
Can IJ Leally Raise Orchios Wy Ny Ftome? 
Well, maybe not but there are millions, yes, literally millions of people doing it today. We 
had such an interesting letter from a lady in a northwestern state telling us of her pleasure 
in raising orchids in her living room beside her African Violets and other house plants. Really, 
she said, they are the easiest to grow. 
How many of us really know how to take care of children 
before we have them? Yet, because we really want to, we find 
we can and most people do a good job, too. The main thing is 
the DESIRE and applying ourselves to understanding them. 
Althought the wealthy man may be able to have an ‘Auto- 
matic” greenhouse with all of the latest devices, his results 
may or may not be as successful as the man who raises his 
orchids with makeshift equipment. The grower’s success will 
depend on his ability to understand the NEEDS of his plants 
and supply them in the best way he can. 
Temperature, light, moisture, air and food combine to 
meke our plants what they are. The mixture, like a cake bat- 
ter, must be balanced. Conditions vary so much from location 
to location, environment to environment, and grower to grow- 
er that definite rules are impossible to set down. Therefore, to 
be really successful, we must learn to look at our plants and 
know what they need. By color we soon learn if they are get- 
ting too much light or too little light with the amount of food 
and moisture they have available; plenty of fresh air without 
too much draft. 
For the beginner in orchid growing, we will list a few 
general requirements. 
Desirable Temperature—58 to 60 degrees farhenheit minimum 
at night with a 10 to 15 degree raise during the day. 
Light—As much filtered or reflected light as possible without 
burning. A shading of cheese cloth or “glass” curtain is ideal. 
Water—Once a week, water the piants thoroughly; then allow 
them to completely dry out before watering again. In dry 
weather spray with a fine mist spray about twice a week. 
The kitchen sink or the bath tub will serve nicely for this 
purpose. Additional humidity may be supplied by placing the 
pot on a container of pebbles approximately 212” deep. An 
inch of water should be kept in the pebbles but DO NOT allow 
water level to come up to the top of the pebbles and keep the 
bottom of the pot moist. 
EPIDENDRUM FRAGRANS 
Potting—Cattleya orchids and some of the other genera are 
CATTLEYA MARIE FERRIERA usually potted in Osmunda fibre, the root mass of the Os- 
CYP. MAUDIAE munda fern. Detailed instructions for repotting orchids are 
given in the many available books on Orchid Culture. Two 
such books that we have in stock are listed on back page of 
th:s folder. 
