| RECEIVING AND INITIAL CULTURE FOR "A" SIZE PLUGS We would like to pass on what seems to have worked well in our experience as growers receiving plants, and what we've learned from others. Understanding the conditions the plants have been subject to is a key in how they are to be treated when they arrive at your nursery. Your plants are packed leaf to leaf in the box, and when the box is closed, they are subjected to 100% humidity and darkness. When you open the box notice the documents or paper wrapping inside, you will see the paper is soggy. Most of the time it is warm too. This condition is the perfect environment for the rapid growth and spread of any bacteria or fungus, which is everywhere. As a rule we don't ship any plant that has an obvious infection; but, we all know that pathogens are ever present and under the right conditions will reach the level necessary for inoculation. Given these "in box" conditions, it is prudent to treat your plants on arrival with a thorough shower of cool water. What we have done is water the plants generously and vigorously on all surfaces to wash off any microbes that may be present. This doesn't get them all, but it does reduce the numbers. After your plants have been washed, they can be laid out to dry if they are not going to be immediately potted. If they are not going to be potted for a few days, we would water them a couple of times a day to insure hydration. We wouldn't water them at the end of the day if the night time temperatures drop significantly. Potting is always nursery specific and in some locations a smaller pot is preferred to what is described here. The best results we've seen with our plants have been by local (Hawaii) growers. They take our typical "A" plug and put it, foam cube and all, in a 4-inch (diagonal, 3.25 sq.) pot. They use a rather loose media which consists of 25% washed coconut chips, 25% high quality, long fiber or chunky peat, and 50% #3 perlite, fertigate two to three times per week depending on weather conditions. With 100 ppm of nitrogen in a balanced fertilizer (something like 12-4-8-4-1, N-P-K-Ca-Mg), this can be increased in the long day summer months to 150 ppm of nitrogen. Some growers are bringing our plugs to spike and bud in less one year. With these results, this culture is worth trying. After the plants have been potted, is the time to give the first fungicide/bactericide treatment. Chemicals are regulated at the federal and state level, and what is available in Hawaii may not be available to you, or you may have more effective products than we have.Weoriginally wrote this page ten years ago. We've updated it many times as we have changed and improved our culture. Pesticides, fungicides, and bactericides are changing so frequently that we're reluctant to make recommendations.We suggest you subscribe to a few of the grower's magazines. Most are free and will give you up to date information on chemical recommendations for specific pathogens with efficacy rates, etc. These magazines can be found with a web search. The light levels we have suggested for specific plants are based on what we've seen in typical mainland nurseries. Light and temperature are always tied together. If light levels are lower, temperatures can be higher. If temperatures are cooler, light levels can be higher. Here in Hawaii we've seen very robust and vigorous our plants grown under 60% shade cloth with open sides which is about 4,000+ foot candles. We wouldn't think of trying this under greenhouse conditions in Southern California in a typical closed greenhouse. Imagine, if you will, a warm summer afternoon. If you are under a shade tree, with a breeze blowing it is very comfortable. If you are standing in the sun with a light breeze it will be hot, if the air is still you'll be very hot. And, if you are standing in the sun and you just got out of the swimming pool and the wind is really blowing you may even be chilly. The combination of light, air movement, ambient temperature, and moisture is what makes up the plants internal temperature, and you will need to examine all of these factors in your growing area. After trying a lot of different fertilizers, making many errors, reading several books on plant nutrition, and a couple of dozen articles on fertilizers and nutrition we think we've got it. At least we've got what works well for us. We now use 12-4-8-4-1, N-P-K-Ca-Mg. we're sure the battle of "urea / nitrate/ ammoniacal nitrogen" still rages in some quarters, but not here. Our primary nitrogen source is nitrate with just a little of ammoniacal. This has been excellent for us. We have very clean ground water from our well and need to add calcium and magnesium. After we have added the calcium and magnesium our final ratio is something like 12-4-8-4-1, N-P-K-Ca-Mg, which we think most orchid growers consider optimum. If you have specific questions about fertilizing our plants we will do our best find the answers. We keep getting asked about fungicides and it is difficult to know what is available in every State, which affects making recommendations. What we can tell you is what we use here in Hawaii and how we use it. We spray about every 15 to 20 days depending on what we used last and the expected active longevity of that product. Currently in our chemical cabinet we have: Spectro 90 (Spectro 90 has caused damage to buds and flowers of miltoniopsis in our nursery), Rhapsody, Cleary's 3336, Chipco 26019, Heritage, Terrazol, Terraclor, Subdue Maxx, Medallion, Zero Tol, Dithane, and Banrot. These have all proved effective and safe for us. PLEASE READ THE LABEL AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS! It is also advisable to try a few test plants if you are unsure about a chemicals safety. We want to hear about your successes as well as any problems you may
incur with our plants. Your questions and comments are always welcome.
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