Steven A. Frowine - Orchids For Dummies

Awarded orchids are the crème de la crème of the orchid world. They’ve been deemed this distinction by trained, discriminating orchid judges. The American Orchid Society, a nonprofit educational organization that is dedicated to the study of orchids, has established the judging criteria. Similar organizations serve the same function in other parts of the world.

At each accredited orchid show, a covey of judges carefully examines orchids that are exceptional. They use Internet connections to check all existing records of the orchids being judged. They look for ones of the same grex or similar parentage to see what has been awarded in the past to serve as a benchmark of excellence. These records will reveal which of their parents have been awarded, what size and number of flowers were on the awarded plants, and so on. They then use the criteria to decide if these specimens are indeed superior to others of this type and whether they’re worthy of awards. The three award categories used by the American Orchid Society that you’re most likely to encounter are (from highest to lowest):

First Class Certificate (FCC): This is the coveted highest award that only a handful of orchids (10 or 15!) receive every year.

Award of Merit (AM): Usually a few hundred orchids win this distinction every year.

Highly Commended Certificate (HCC): Another few hundred orchids are given this level of award.Of course, other countries also have their own award designations, and these award-winning plants are equally exceptional and worth searching out.

Very few orchids make it through this gauntlet. Because of modern cloning techniques (see Chapter 2), you can now obtain these prize winners for your own collection at very reasonable prices. Some types of orchids, like the slippers, are rarely cloned, so in that case, picking out those hybrids with awarded parents is a good idea. Remember: It takes the same amount of space to grow a high-quality orchid as it does a poor one, so why not grow the best?

Orchid hybridizing can produce plants with quite complex names, especially in some of the exceptionally large groups like the cattleyas (see Chapter 11) and the oncidiums (see Chapter 13). In these chapters, I deal with their names in more detail. Appendix Aprovides a pronunciation key of many of the orchids I discuss in this book.

You don’t have to be an expert in orchid names in order to enjoy and grow orchids. You’ll catch onto many other name nuances after you’re drawn further into the orchid web. For now, don’t worry about them much — they’re only names!

Various orchid societies have developed their own systems of deciding when an orchid is a winner.

Much of it’s based on comparing the existing champion and of this particular type of orchid to the one being judged. Thank goodness for existing orchid databases complete with pictures and specifications. Does the one being judged have larger flowers or more flowers? Are its flowers better shaped, fuller, brighter, or better marked? There are just some of the primary criteria.

Of course, the truth is, all that really counts is you think your orchid is a winner. One thing that judging rarely takes into consideration is the vigor of the plant. Is it easy to grow and flower? Those qualities are particularly important to me and what good is it if your plant is an award winner if it isn’t a robust grower and is a reluctant bloomer.

Being crazy about orchids isn’t new. In fact, this orchid mania, also known as orchidelirium, seems to have reached its peak in Victorian times. It was similar in its extreme to Dutch Tulip Mania. During these times, some wealthy folks mostly in England spent vast amounts of money to send plant explorers to all parts of the world in search of new species of orchids that were then brought back to auction houses in London to be purchased for vast sums of money. These explorers risked life and limb to find new treasures. They faced tropical diseases, poor or nonexistent roads, steamy insect-infested jungles, and civil unrest in some of the countries they explored. The explorations were extremely competitive and cutthroat.

The explorers kept the locations where they found the orchids as a guarded secret, and they made very few efforts at leaving any plants behind to reestablish themselves in the wild. In fact, some accounts reported that the explorers burned the grounds where the orchids were originally collected so no one else could collect them. Unfortunately, not much information about growing and transporting orchids was known at that time so many if not most of the orchids died in transit or withered in greenhouses that didn’t replicate their native environments. Some species of orchids probably went extinct because of these practices.

To be successful in growing orchids, just follow these suggestions:

Know the environment you have to offer your orchids and match this with the orchids that fit. See Chapter 5for more information on your growing environment.

If necessary, modify your growing area to help your orchids perform to their best. Chapter 5also addresses this.

For the most common questions and problems, check out Part 4.

Beyond choosing the right orchid for your environment, you must pay attention to the time of the year to know what your orchid needs. In the following sections, I give you a rundown of the year, month by month. Note: You can’t be too exact with the timing of this care schedule because the United States is a vast country with climates from the cold north to semitropics. Also, these guidelines are for the Northern Hemisphere. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, take that into consideration. For example, January in the Northern Hemisphere corresponds to July in the Southern Hemisphere and so on.

This is a period of cold, short days and low light, so orchids don’t grow much in such times. Fortunately, many moth orchids, slipper orchids, and some other cattleyas and their relatives will be budding up getting ready to show off their splendiferous blooms very soon. Consider the following: