The Old Mandurah Yacht Club was transformed into a glasshouse paradise last weekend, thanks to the annual Peel Region Orchid Society show.
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Bob Aurich won grand champion for his white phalaenopsis which was heavy with flowers, but members showed of an impressive range of cymbidiums, cattleyas, Australian native orchids and more.
Each orchid was judged based within both the orchid’s genera and the grower’s experience level.
Society president Anne LeFevre said the judging was far from subjective, and became quite technical.
“The judges look for particular things like shape of flowers, and whether they are sticking up properly, or turning inwards, whatever is the desired shape, and just the general health of the plant, and general presentation,” she said.
The judges, representing the WA Orchid Council, travelled from Busselton to award members with a range of ribbons and trophies.
Ms LeFevre said the main challenge people faced in growing orchids was trying to replicate the environment from which the orchid originated.
“They might put something that wants high humidity where there isn’t any humidity, and they’ll wonder why it doesn’t flower,” she said.
“So you’ve got to understand where the orchid is found naturally… and take into consideration what its natural habitat is.”
She said many of the society’s members specialised in just one or two genera so they could control the environment and get really good at one thing.
Grow your own
I asked Ms LeFevre what advice she might have for us ultra-novice orchid growers: those of us who were maybe given a phalaenopsis as a gift, or bought a cymbidium at a garden show on a whim.
She said the main thing was keeping the orchid’s area clean, and giving in the right environment for its genera.
“For example you must keep air flowing through,” she said.
“If you don’t keep air flowing through then you get fungus and insects, which can come and mess up your flowers.”
She advised putting fans in the greenhouse or hothouse, though for some of us that may just mean ensuring your orchid isn’t too crowded by other plants or furniture, and opening a window every so often.
“Say the phalaenopsis, they’re the very popular house plant,” she said.
“In Europe, they’re bought, then when they’re finished flowering they chuck them… whereas here, we try to get them flowering again.”
She said to help your plant flower again, you had to switch from a high nitrogen fertilizer, which helps more with foliage growth, to one with a higher percentage of potassium or phosphorus.
Temperature and humidity are also of great importance.
“A Phalaenopsis has to be kept inside, in summer in Australia, in Perth anyway,” she said.
Then there are people who have a cymbidium, and they just leave it out under the trees, and it will produce a spike every year!
“Cymbidiums are pretty resilient, pretty tough, that’s why a lot of us grow them,” she said.
“But see the results are really staggering, if you give them some TLC.”
She also reminded me that giving your plant a rest from flowering was important in the long-term.
“The flower spike is going to take all the plant’s energy... If you want to keep the plant growing nicely, it’s good to give it a rest, so maybe cut the flower spike off at the base, and let another new one come later on after it’s had a chance to regroup”