naoki
Well-Known Member
3 of the books are focused on describing hundreds of different varieties (some history is included there), so there aren't much culture info. The other is focused on culture (monthly cares etc), but it is focused on growing in Japan.
A lof of them are basic, but here are a couple points from the book. Masahiro Hirami 2005. "Shun-ran Kan-ran" NHK publishing (Amazon JP link)). He is based on southern Japan (Kagawa, the place I grew up), so the culture advise is probably toward this kind of warm climate.
In winter, keep 2-10C. The flower buds could die if the day time temp goes too high. Reduced water. If you water every 4 days in water, add 1-2 more days, i.e., water every 5-6 days. No need for light.
In March, if the flower shoots start to extend, resume the normal watering (i.e. every 4 days) ONLY while they are extending. This help them to increase the flower height (one of the criteria in judging, I think).
April, beginning of growth (roots might start to move before shoots). Resume normal watering. Start fertilization. Every 3-5 days is good, but as long as you keep it consistent it doesn't matter much. They will develop the growth pattern which will accomodate your watering schedule.
April-May best time to repot. Every 2 years or so.
May, the new shoots should start to come above the ground. Watch out for too strong light. Exception is tiger variegated varieties. If you don't give enough light just before and around the time when the new growth start to appear above ground, you don't get good leaf pattern. Fertilization is critical in May and June.
June, by this time, 80% shade clothe is recommended. In Japan, it becomes rainy season (tsuyu), so the media doesn't dry quick. But stick with the watering schedule.
August, since it is hot, need to pay attention to the shade clothes. Something like 50% + 80%) to target 10000 lux. Same watering schedule, but water early in the morning or after 7PM.
Sept. The new bulbs should start to fatten up and should complete around Oct. It is the time for the flower buds to form. Fertilization in Sept.-Oct. is important again to get better flowering. Go back to 80% shade clothe.
Nov. they should stop growing. The timing to stop fertilization is when the day temp goes below 10C.
Dec. go back to the winter care, no light needed.
Potting media, they frequently use koushitus-kanuma (hard version of kanuma), Yaki-akadama (baked akadama, which doesn't break easily), gravel, pumice like pebbles. Probably, Leca, perlite, pumice etc. are similar to what they use. They use tall pots, then start from larger diameter pebbles at the bottom, and gradually make them smaller as you fill the pots up.
To get color for the flowers. Chinese variety can develop red, orange, or other colorful flowers without much help. But you have to have special treatment to see the color of many Japanese red flower. Different varieties requires slightly different timing. But here is a general method.
July:
Make a ring with 4cm wide rain gutter guard like material (or fine chicken wire) Make the diameter of the ring same as the top of the pot, and put it around the plant. Put this ring in July, and fill up with potting media. Basically you are covering the pseudobulb region.
Sept. remove the additional potting media which is covering the pseudobulbs. Make tubes with aluminum foil, diameter around 1-2cm. Put the tubes on each flower buds, so they will not get any light.
Feb. - march. The timing of removing the tube is the key to get good color.
Red-orange. remove them around the time when the bud started to extend. So they get light during the extension period.
Yellow: don't remove the tube until the flowering time. To get the best yellow, you might need to move the entire plant to dark area after you remove the tube just before anthesis. If you get the light on the bud before anthesis, it becomes greenish, and not clear yellow.
In Dec or Jan., you can peak inside of the tube. If it is white (or sometime pinkish), then it is going to succeed. If you can see a bit of green, it is a failure.
Then there are adjustment of flower shape. If you give too much light during the bud development, the lateral sepal may reflex back. If the cold temperature during the winter wasn't enough, they flower at the low position. They want to have the flowers open just above the top of leaves.
