Spathoglottis plicata- a Terrestrial Orchid

I enjoy caring for plants the most when that care is simple, when it is easy to figure out when to water and easy to get a plant to bloom or fruit. Some plants have a learning curve, and lately I've been fussing over my small collection of Spathoglottis plicata.

The Spathoglottis genus is known commonly as the Phillipine ground orchid, and the 60+ species live as terrestrials in Southeast Asia. Terrestial orchids, which make up only a small percentage of orchids, live in soil like 'normal' plants. This means learning how to take care of orchids that act differently than every other orchid in my collection (most orchids grow as ephiphytes or lithophytes, meaning they grow on tree limbs and rocks well above the earth). 


Its important, when looking at how to care for and purchase plants, that we try to get plants with similar care requirements. This makes it much more manageable to grow our varied plants. In my experience 90% of the orchids available for purchase, and well over 90% of orchids at a standard garden center or home improvement store, are epiphytes, whether they are hybrids and species. So if you go to a grocery store or greenhouse or home improvement store, you can be more than reasonably sure that the orchid you are buying needs to planted in a bark mix or sphagnum moss. They should not be planted in soil, and if you buy one that is, you should look it up immediately for possible repotting. The Spathoglottis is one of the few exceptions that is commercially available, and something to look out for when purchasing.

The Spath plicata can flower from June through September, these particular varieties have purple two toned blooms. Judging by pictures, it can be worth the effort if I can get these guys to bloom....that means enough light in the winter and early spring to give them enough stored energy to bloom. I potted these orchids in clay pots, with about 2 inches of river stones on the bottom to increase air flow and drainage. This is an important step, since most houseplants die from overwatering, not underwatering. I then mixed standard potting soil in with about 20% extra perlite, once again to improve drainage and also to prevent compaction of the roots in the pot (perlite is available in the potting soil section). They are placed where they get light from both a south facing window and my west facing french doors in the evening. I water them about once a week.

Repotting an Oncidiinae: Odontocidium Wildcat

This is a brief pictorial overview of a repotting job I just completed. When you get any new plant, repotting is necessary, and this is never more true than with orchids. I got the Odontocidium Wildcat 'Bobcat' shown in this post a couple of weeks ago for a steal, it was on clearance as it had already finished blooming. (See a future post about why I buy almost all of my orchids after blooming and plants out of season.) It had been by itself, on its own little windowsill, since then just waiting for me to get a chance to repot it properly. I repot all of my Oncidium and Hybrids (Odontocidium, Degarmoara, Wilsonara, etc...) this exact same way, so I hope it will prove some use to the readers.
I started out by soaking my plant in the sink for a few minutes while I gathered up my supplies. Soaking the plant helps loosen the plant from its pot and makes it easier to remove the old growing media. The supplies I needed were:

1. A clay pot. I prefer clay pots because they are porous and allow better air flow to roots.
2. A growing media. For all of my Oncidiums and Oncidium Hybrids, I use a standard store bought bark mix that I combine with a high quality sphagnum moss. I soak all of this in the sink before potting to allow the sphagnum to expand and to clean off the bark.
3. Kill-bad-stufficide. This is a concentrated fungicide/disenfectant/algeacide/viruscide such as Physan 20 or Consan 20. I mix according to label directions for plants. This is an important step to prevent disease and fungus from spreading from someone elses nursery to your home.
4. Garden scissors or shears. We will use these to clean off the roots.
5. River stones. I use these in the bottom of every orchid I pot to encourage air flow and prevent root rot.
6. New tag. You will want to go ahead and fill out a plant tag with the name of the plant and the repot date for future reference.
7. The plant. You'll need this!
   

Next I am going to remove the plant from is plastic pot. I will then gently work the roots out of the square they have grown themselves into, removing the old bark mix potting media along the way. Some of these roots will be difficult to untangle, just be persistant. I usually, and did in the case, finish by putting the plant in the sink and working free the last roots under running lukewarm water. It helps me get out that last bit of potting media.

Normally at this point I would spend a while trimming off dead roots, but my scissors didn't get a lot of work today. This was one of the healthiest root masses I've seen during a repot, and needed no real trimming work whatsoever. You can tell this by looking for discolored roots that the outer layer of velamin (similar to skin for a root) slides easily off the root itself (the root itself will be small and thin, similar to a piece of thread). Without any major root trimming, I went ahead and began soaking the plant in my Kill-bad-stufficide previously mentioned.



While the plant was soaking, I layered the bottom of my clay pot with an inch or so of river stones, and topped that with a small layer of the bark mix media.

After removing the plant from the fungicide, I thoroughly rinsed it and set it into about the center of the pot. (On top of the layer of bark mix we place on top of the river stones) This plant is in active growth,with new leaves shooting up from one side. To give it some room to grow, I orientated it so the new growth could easily expand into and fill up the pot.

Then, holding the plant in place, I sprinkled handfuls of the bark mix around the roots until I filled up the pot. Occasionally, I tapped the side of the pot to help settle the mix down in between the roots. The finished product should look like this:

I rinsed the whole thing in the sink to help settle the bark mix and make sure the plant is stable in its new pot. Finally, I put my new tag into the pot and set the newly repotted Odontocidium in its new home.

I hope this helps somebody who has never repotted an orchid feel more comfortable with a first attempt. I know the first one I repotted made me nervous, as I was worried I would kill the plant. It is not a difficult process if you swing by the store and make sure you have the supplies you'll need prepared and ready to go.