How to grow Calopogon (grasspink orchid species)
Jun 6, 2022 15:27:24 GMT -5
partisangardener, nclarkii, and 4 more like this
Post by meizzwang on Jun 6, 2022 15:27:24 GMT -5
Here's a super beautiful orchid that I've been experimenting with, and so far, it seems to be relatively easy to grow! There's a bit of diversity within the species, and these orchids appear to be quite widespread in parts of North America.
These plants form underground corms (kinda like bulbs but not really) and readily reproduce asexually by forming more baby corms when the plants are happy! If you let the flowers set seed, the corms will shrink in size drastically, and conversely, if you cut the flower off, the corms will be much bigger the next season! If you just let them bloom but not form seeds, some of the corms will stay the same size as the previous year, while others may shrink just a tad.
Even more interesting, you can sow seeds ex vitro on peat or sprinkle the seeds into any of your Sarracenia pots, and the seeds might sprout! I have a few that germinated in my venus flytrap pots! Thing is, out of a gazillion of seeds, I got 3 to pop, so the survival rate is low, but every single pod produces tons of seeds, so why not give it a shot!
Cultivation-wise, I have them in 100% peat moss, and the soil is kept fully hydrated at all times but never waterlogged. If they can tolerate waterlogged conditions, that's news to me, I just haven't had the ba....uhhh, guts to test that! They receive a weak feeding of maxsea once every month or so (when the pots need to be watered, I fill the tray up with fertilizer water and let the pots sit in them for a few hours, and then drain out the remaining water in the tray). Any water they receive deionized/reverse osmosis water, since they're relatively sensitive to nutrients in the soil much like Sarracenia.
When do you fertilize them? Wait a few weeks after they emerge in the spring before you start fertilizing. This is because right when they emerge, they're translocating nutrients from the corm into the growth point. As the leaf gets bigger, that's when I start feeding them. Stop feeding in late summer to avoid potential rot issues.
During the fall, the leaves will turn brown and die down to the corm. At this stage, these absolutely need a cold winter dormancy period to come back in the spring. During the dormancy period, I like to keep the corms in their pots, but just slightly damp at all times. The top layer of soil did dry out completely this past winter, but the soil underneath was still slightly damp. Can they tolerate completely dry conditions? Maybe....some people dig them up, put them in dry peat and place them in the fridge during the dormancy period, but I have no experience with this, so that's as much as I can tell you about it!
Tired of reading? Onto the pics! Here's a beautiful white form of Calopogon tuberosus, pics taken 6/5/22:
True story: I was taking these pics in my overgrown lawn and Ellie (my daughter) came up to me and asked me if I was going to mow the orchids down. I then picked up the pot and she said "oh! They're not growing in the ground." These pics almost look like insitu shots, but they were taken in my lawn:
During the middle of the day, these orchids give off a light perfumey, maybe girlie scent! You have to have the equivalent of "20/20" smell to detect the fragrance, but it's really nice. This is Calopogon tuberosus:
The show can last for weeks, since the flowers don't all bloom at once. Even so, each flower lasts a while:
Here's Calopogon tuberosus Leon Co, FL, from a different population than the ones pictured above. Notice the slightly rounder shape, that's diversity for ya!
And here's a really tiny species, Calopogon pallidus...I think that's the species!
These plants form underground corms (kinda like bulbs but not really) and readily reproduce asexually by forming more baby corms when the plants are happy! If you let the flowers set seed, the corms will shrink in size drastically, and conversely, if you cut the flower off, the corms will be much bigger the next season! If you just let them bloom but not form seeds, some of the corms will stay the same size as the previous year, while others may shrink just a tad.
Even more interesting, you can sow seeds ex vitro on peat or sprinkle the seeds into any of your Sarracenia pots, and the seeds might sprout! I have a few that germinated in my venus flytrap pots! Thing is, out of a gazillion of seeds, I got 3 to pop, so the survival rate is low, but every single pod produces tons of seeds, so why not give it a shot!
Cultivation-wise, I have them in 100% peat moss, and the soil is kept fully hydrated at all times but never waterlogged. If they can tolerate waterlogged conditions, that's news to me, I just haven't had the ba....uhhh, guts to test that! They receive a weak feeding of maxsea once every month or so (when the pots need to be watered, I fill the tray up with fertilizer water and let the pots sit in them for a few hours, and then drain out the remaining water in the tray). Any water they receive deionized/reverse osmosis water, since they're relatively sensitive to nutrients in the soil much like Sarracenia.
When do you fertilize them? Wait a few weeks after they emerge in the spring before you start fertilizing. This is because right when they emerge, they're translocating nutrients from the corm into the growth point. As the leaf gets bigger, that's when I start feeding them. Stop feeding in late summer to avoid potential rot issues.
During the fall, the leaves will turn brown and die down to the corm. At this stage, these absolutely need a cold winter dormancy period to come back in the spring. During the dormancy period, I like to keep the corms in their pots, but just slightly damp at all times. The top layer of soil did dry out completely this past winter, but the soil underneath was still slightly damp. Can they tolerate completely dry conditions? Maybe....some people dig them up, put them in dry peat and place them in the fridge during the dormancy period, but I have no experience with this, so that's as much as I can tell you about it!
Tired of reading? Onto the pics! Here's a beautiful white form of Calopogon tuberosus, pics taken 6/5/22:
True story: I was taking these pics in my overgrown lawn and Ellie (my daughter) came up to me and asked me if I was going to mow the orchids down. I then picked up the pot and she said "oh! They're not growing in the ground." These pics almost look like insitu shots, but they were taken in my lawn:
During the middle of the day, these orchids give off a light perfumey, maybe girlie scent! You have to have the equivalent of "20/20" smell to detect the fragrance, but it's really nice. This is Calopogon tuberosus:
The show can last for weeks, since the flowers don't all bloom at once. Even so, each flower lasts a while:
Here's Calopogon tuberosus Leon Co, FL, from a different population than the ones pictured above. Notice the slightly rounder shape, that's diversity for ya!
And here's a really tiny species, Calopogon pallidus...I think that's the species!