Monday, June 1st, 2009...6:04 pm
Orchids
A few days ago I noticed quite a number folks vending orchids along the streets of centro, some dressed in colorful traditional clothing. I thought initially the folks were selling flowers, but eventually realized they were selling plants. I’m a bit slow on the uptake.
Yesterday I began reading about orchids at numerous internet sites, and later hit the street. I stopped to quiz one of the orchid vendors, a very pleasant, rather short and squat women dressed in a very colorful, billowing dress. I asked about planting media and cultural requirements. She, and other of her customers, patiently answered my questions, though I didn’t understand all I was told. I bought a very young, with only a couple emerging roots, pink flowered orchid plant for $10. pesos (about $ .75 USA).
A couple blocks away I encountered a younger woman, similarly dressed, who is the daughter of the women from who I had bought earlier. The young woman had yellow orchid plants, more mature than the pink plant I bought, with quite an array of healthy roots. I bought one for $20 pesos. Both the pink and yellow orchids, as best I’ve been able to determine, are of the Cattleya orchid genus; and both, it seems, had been cultivated by the family. 
Later in the day I encountered a women selling a variety of orchid with longer leaves, longer flower stems, and bunches of delicate flowers. I bought one for $15 pesos. It seemed that the vendors stock had been harvested from the wild. The women and a couple of folks looking were very patient with my questions and offered lots of good advice.
So I am the proud owner of three orchid plants and am determined to learn how to keep them from dying, though being on the ground floor of an apartment building poses challenges.
Almost all of the internet sites I consulted are aimed at those growing orchids in other than the plants’ native habitats. The sites indicated that orchids should be placed in pots with a growing medium such as pumice stones, fern roots clusters, ground fir or pine bark, and other such commercially produced medium. The sites also provided precise information on what the temperature and humidity must be and just how much sunlight each variety needs and can withstand.
But the orchids I bought are epiphytes, that is their roots never contact soil. They grow as benign parasites on trees, taking nutrients from the rain, air, and organic detritus which might serendipitously alight within reach of the roots. There are also a number of epiphytic orchid varieties which grow on rocks. The roots of the epiphytes are exposed, so are quite tolerant of drought and quite intolerant of continual wet conditions. The folks here I have questioned all pretty much told me not to worry about it, just put the plants in a pot full of pumice or attach the plant to a piece of wood.
This morning I headed out to look for some sort of growing medium for the plants. I visited the local mercados and a few store fronts but found no medium. Considering that the orchids grow wild, attached to tree, and that they are easy to grow, I imagine now that the folks I have asked about growing medium probably were thinking “stupid gringo”. As usual, though everyone I had asked was very patient with my questions and sometimes insufficient Spanish.
Walking back to the apartment, after my unsuccessful foray to the Los Sauces market, I was thinking well, shucks, the orchids grow wild on trees so why not just find a piece a tree to which attache the orchids. I was cutting through el Parque Bicentenario when I spotted a pile of tree limbs, some with epiphytes attached. I sought out the park’s grounds keeper and asked if may take one of the limbs for my orchid growing project. He readily acceded.
Having found what I considered the preferred branch I headed the few blocks to home, garnering looks from others, wondering, I imagine, what this crazy gringo, carrying a tree branch, was up to.
I have placed the branch in the small patio off of my apartment (being on the ground floor, my apartment includes a little patio at the base of a well to provide light to the abutting apartments), and tied the orchids to the branches with pieces of loofa sponge tied around the roots to provide support to the plants until their may attach to the branch. The loofas will also, I hope, keep the roots from becoming too dry while readily allowing the water to drain away from the roots.
I will keep you posted as to my success,or otherwise.
UPDATE: As my luck would have it, shortly after reporting the above I left on my brisk evening walk; and not too far from home I happened upon an epiphyte, just about to blossom, which had been dislodged from its host tree by the afternoon downpour. Having looked a bit through the internet I think it may be a Tillandsia baileyi, a type of bromeliad . I picked it up, brought it home, and kind of pushed it down onto the end of one of the forks of my branch. Amongst the mass of slender leaves is entangled lots of leaves and even a twig the diameter of my little finger. It’s like the plant has its own little composting system.
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9 Comments
June 1st, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Cool.
An old farmer woman in west Michigan who showered over a floor drain in her basement with a toad hopping around to keep her company told be about 30 years ago: “plants don’t like a lot of care.”
Good look with those fine orchids.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Thanks John.
Being, for no good reason, convinced that mounting the orchids on the branch will work, I went out this morning and bought three more plants.
Two I bought from three children, a boy of about 10, a girl of about 11 dressed in a colorful dress, and a younger girl of I suppose about 6. When I asked what was the price of one of their offerings the boy said $10 pesos at the same time the older girl said $15.
I paid $15, gave the girl a $20 peso bill and she indicated she didn’t have change. The boy, however, pulled $5 pesos out of his pocket.
I thanked the youngsters, who throughout the transactions were asking how to pronounce various English words, with fist bumps all around. The young fellow told me to “watch this” as he and the youngest girls went through and elaborate ritual of hand slapping, fist bumping, hand tickling, arm locking, elbow bumping, and finished up with a hip bump. The youngster girl raised her hand to slap mine and we commenced the ritual. It took me a couple of attempts to get the proper sequence down. It was all very cute.
As I was leaving I turned to check for on coming traffic and noticed a transito policeman in his motorcycle helmet, who had been observing my interactions with the kids, smiling widely.
I also bought a predominately white orchid from the woman from whom I bought a pink orchid on Sunday. I asked if she had other colors and she indicated that on Friday she will be back with orange and brown orchids.
I will post updated photos.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I hate to tell you this, but it is possible that the orchids are illegal. There’s a black market in wild orchids….they are considered endangered. The orchid guy at the botanical garden, Phil Brewster (English) would probably be happy to give you some help with identificatin, some care tips and some education and I don’t think he’d take what you’d bought away from you should the plants turn out to be endangered. You can email him at philatinecol.edu.mex. You can put orchids in a woody mix. They do take water from the air. We took a class in orchidaea at the botanical garden which he and others gave maybe a year ago. It was very interesting. We all got babies to take care of and all of ours (sob) died. But he still speaks to us when we run into him.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Hi Esther,
Thanks for the heads up and the information.
I spoke today to the woman from whom I bought an orchid Sunday and she told me that she and her family buys them from a nursery. Though one orchid I bought Sunday, I’m assuming, was harvested from the wild.
I’ll stick to the nursery raised orchids in the future. It certainly mustn’t be illegal to grow orchids in one’s garden. There was a report in the Diario yesterday, I think, of the police stopping and detaining a fellow with wild plants in his pickup truck.
As for the growing medium, I’m thinking that as long as I can keep them outdoors that there should be no reason that they won’t grow on the branch I salvaged. However, I know almost nothing of the subject.
I’ll let you know how things work out.
Saludos
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I’m sure you’re right on the growing. I know my housekeeper is nagging me because we have some orchids in soil which is bad for them I know from her and from Phil. Orchids are a mystery to me, but my stepson who is visiting now has an orchid that is thriving with great negligence.
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
According to what I’ve read, there are terrestrial orchids, but the ones native hereabouts are epiphtyes and can not survive with their roots in soil.
The epiphytic orchids, it seems to stand to reason, should be able to survive with their roots attached to anything which approximates the trees, or rocks in the case of many orchids, upon which they normally grow.
I do remember, from my two visits, that at the renowned orchid gardens in Soroa ,Cuba, many of the orchids on display were mounted on a small limb, or other such woody material, and located in a structure which provided shade but lots of light. I have also seen orchids growing on coconut husks.
I’ll find out, and let you know.
June 21st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
[...] Please keep in mind that I’ve been seriously looking into orchid growing only for about that last couple of weeks when orchid vendors showed up on the streets and I decided to give it a try. Basically I don’t know squat of the subject. However, I am seeing new root and shoot growth on the plants I have mounted on pieces of tree branches, so figure my. My initial report may be found here. [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 4:09 am
Hey Gringo….stumbled on to your orchid posts while google searching for some specifics of how to attach some of my orchids on to pine and/or oak trees in my yard.
Your orchid tree is very cool. I especially liked your very original idea of using the loofas for attaching them to your “tree”. Clever!!
Now I can raid my closet of “Christmas Pasts” and the long forgotten bath sets to make my own “trees”. Thanks for both your posts and the pics of your quite unique and original project. BTW, are you an artist?
Thanks again for sharing!
Terri
Florida
July 29th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Hi Terri,
I very glad to hear you found the orchid posts useful. I intend to post an update soon showing healthy roots of mounted epiphytic orchids look like.
I have removed all the loofas as I wanted to observe the roots in order to determine just how much watering of the plants is correct.
Everyone here who I asked about mounting material tells me to use “Maquique” (spelled phonetically), which appears to peat, and many have told me where to find it. I have not yet found any.
I’m pretty much feeling my way along in learning the proper care of the plants and seem to be succeeding, with just about all of the plants putting out new roots and some new shoots.
I have learned to reduce watering when roots begin to become gray or brown near their tips. If the pseudo bulbs are nice and plump that plant is getting enough water.
No I am no artist, from it, really.
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