TheMondayGarden.com

TheMondayGarden.com, Eco-gardening at its best

July 23, 2006, Issue 213 (part 2)

Exclusive TheMondayGarden.com interview with Molly Dugger Brennan , of Brennan's Orchids, LLC

PICTURE: tubular Phalaenopsis. Note how the flower stem comes out of the center of the leaves, rather than from between the leaves, like the roots. Note also the baby orchid growing to the lower right. It's called a "basal keiki"; 'basal" meaning "at the base of", and "keiki" being Hawaiian for "baby". Photograph courtesy of Brennan's Orchids, LLC.

TheMondayGarden.com: Molly, how can we tell if a Phalaenopsis has "gone tubular"?

MOLLY: "Tubular is when the plant puts up a bloom spike from the center growth point on the crown instead of sending out a new leaf. When the plant has done this, it cannot send out any more new leaves. This is not always a bad thing. Some species put out new keikis (baby plants) and spread that way, so it doesn't matter that the plant is not going to be able to put out more leaves on any specific crown. Mostly, though, the plant will put out pretty flowers but its growth is terminated."

TheMondayGarden.com: Molly, how should a tubular Phalaenopsis be handled after flowering? Should the flower stalk be cut back?

MOLLY: "Tubular Phalaenopsis spikes needn't be cut at any certain point. Phalaenopsis that have gone tubular are finished. In order for them to bloom again they have to grow a whole new plant, usually a basal keiki, get that keiki to a mature point and then that keiki will bloom. If you own a tubular Phalaenopsis and it is not putting out any keikis, you now own a foliage plant."

TheMondayGarden.com: What's the best way to handle the keikis?

MOLLY: If a Phalaenopsis puts a keiki out on the bloom spike, you can leave it on the mother plant for up to 2 - 3 years. You must remember to feed the mother plant regularly because she's eating for two, just like pregnant women. The keiki will also put up a bloom spike and bloom while still on the mother plant so you need to support its weight by staking it. If the mother plant starts to "wean" the keiki by not sending nutrients up the spike to it anymore, the stem starts turning brown and drying. Then you must twist the keiki off and pot it up independently. If you want to pot the keiki up prior to that you certainly can, just wait for it to have three roots that are at least three inches long (3 x 3) so it has enough of a root system to feed itself.

TheMondayGarden.com: Why do we call this condition "going tubular"?

"We call the condition we have been discussing "going tubular" because when the spike first appears it looks like the leaf is rolled into a tube. The actual scientific term for it is: "the apical meristem of the stem is consumed in the production of an inflorescence that initially bears large, basal, subfoliaceous bracts toward the base." This scientific definition is from Phalaenopsis: A Monograph, by Eric A. Christenson."

CLICK HERE for more about Phalaenopsis
CLICK HERE for more about orchids generally

TheMondayGarden.com, Eco-gardening at its best

July 30, 2006, Issue 214

Molly Dugger Brennan and her husband, Patrick Brennan, are the owners of a small commercial plant nursery in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. About 20 years ago, Patrick received his first phalaenopsis orchid as a gift. One orchid has a tendency to lead to another, and another, resulting Brennan's Orchids, LLC being in business over 16 years now. It prides itself on having carefully built a reputation for selling well-grown, beautiful, vigorous plants. Their four greenhouses hold a thriving collection of orchids, African violets, streptocarpus, and other tropical house plants. The Brennans have 75,000 to 100,000 orchids in the greenhouses at any given time.

Mollys current mission in life is "to serve as orchid advisor to the nervous, the neophytes, and the negligent plant parents so all can become orchid lovers whose plants love them back".

This article gives you my perspective on the essential ingredients for successful phalaenopsis care. These observations are based on my experience as a consumer and grower of orchids. There is not one true path to orchid nirvana, but this is what has worked for me in the past and what I know best. Understand that the definition of an orchid expert is someone who has killed more plants than you have.

TheMondayGarden.com, Eco-gardening at its best

March 30, 2003, Issue 53
Updated March 13, 2005, Issue 155
Updated July 23, 2006, Issue 213

picture: “Kevin’s orchid” a Phalaenopsis blooming in my dining room March 2005. My friend Kevin sent me this fuchsia-colored orchid in October 2001, at a time when its beauty was sorely needed. It was a big, healthy plant in full bloom, and it continued blooming until May 2002. It then took a well-deserved rest until February 2003, and started over.

THE TRICK IS TO GET QUALITY PLANTS. Not everyone agrees, but for me, while many mass-market plants do fine, mass-market orchids have not done as well for me, over the long-term, as better quality plants. From what I know, I believe that the mass-market orchids are often young plants that have been pushed quickly into bloom, weakening the plant. For the same or a little more money, you can get a healthy, mature plant from a reputable dealer. A mature plant will naturally have about 4 to 6 leaves; the young ones are more likely to have only 2 or 3 leaves.

TheMondayGarden.com, Eco-gardening at its best

July 23, 2006, Issue 213
July 30, 2006, Issue 214

Once orchids were for the rich. Today, thanks to tissue cloning, you can buy them at the grocery store. But what do you do with them once you get them home?

PICTURE: Phalaenopsis for sale in a garden center in Stamford CT, 2006.

With the generous assistance of Phalaenopsis expert, Molly Dugger Brennan, of Brennan's Orchids, LLC, TheMondayGarden.com's section on caring for Phalaenopsis orchids is being updated via Issue 213 and Issue 214.

CLICK HERE for Issue 213, an up-date on "MOTHS (PHALAENOPSIS): THE EASIEST HOUSE ORCHID;

CLICK HERE for Issue 214, Molly's own "PHALAENOPSIS CARE: A PRIMER", and lastly

CLICK HERE for Issue 213, Part 2, "HAS YOUR PHALAENOPSIS GONE TUBULAR?", an interview with Molly about a condition which affects some Phalaenopsis orchids.