Episode 279: staking moth orchids

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Transcript

[0:00] Music.

[0:16] Jane Perrone

Or not to stake? That is the question. Hello, my name's Jane Perrone and this is On The Ledge podcast and in this week's episode I'm talking about whether you need to stake your moth orchids. Plus I answer a question about houseplants in the movies. And we hear from listener Helen.

[0:42] Jane Perrone

Now this is an episode that may ignite strong opinions in you. So I don't know whether this issue is particularly controversial to you, but some people get very het up about staking and orchids. In this episode, I'm going to offer up my view, some of the alternatives, the pros and cons, and you can weigh up for yourself what's the best way for you to proceed with your orchid collection. So whether you're a fan of them or not, they are something that comes into your life every now and again. You're bought one or you pick one up in the garden centre and 99 times out of 100, they will be staked. You'll find that the flower spikes are held at 12 o 'clock or there or thereabouts by either a plastic or a bamboo stake and the spike will be attached to that stake with little tiny clips. They're often called butterfly clips. They sometimes actually have butterflies on them and these are almost always made out of plastic. And why is this the case? Is it for aesthetic reasons? Well, maybe partly, but the main reason is for the growers' convenience because they want the footprint of each individual pot to be as small as possible. And unstaked flower spikes tend to sprawl out and are at risk of greater damage than flower spikes that are held at the vertical position. So they can pack more plants into their growing areas into delivery vans and onto shelves in the shop.

[2:23] Jane Perrone

Of course in nature this is not how moth orchids grow. There are around 80 species in the genus Phalaenopsis and they all come from tropical and subtropical southeast Asia, so everywhere from India to Queensland, Australia, and among these 80 species are a number that have been hybridized endlessly, repeatedly, extensively to create the hybrid Phalaenopsis that we buy in the store. If we went out to look at Phalaenopsis growing in nature, of course, they wouldn't be showing flower spikes going straight up in the air. Moth orchids are epiphytes, so they're clinging onto a tree and the flower spike will usually be drooping. It'll be pendant and the flowers will be dripping down. And this is actually sensible from the plant's point of view in that if you imagine the flower spikes were pointing straight up, that sort of sets up a bit of a vase effect in the way that the leaves sit and the flower spike sits and the plant with the amount of rainfall it's likely to be getting could rot. By having that flower spike extending outwards rather than up, the water's just gonna run off it. So there's another sensible reason for that to be the case. The difference between the Phalaenopsis that grow in the wild and the Phalaenopsis we buy is that breeding.Phalaenopsis from the store come in a massive range of colours but also sizes and the really meaty Phalaenopsis flowers that are so popular are the result of tons of breeding work and these are the plants where if you take the stake out of a plant pot, when you get it home, there is a risk that that spike will break because the flowers are just so huge. There's also a risk of the pot tumbling over, particularly if it's only in a plastic pot. So again, a reason to have those plants staked.

[4:24] But we have to kind of think about the environmental cost of all this staking. If you imagine the millions of orchids that are sold around the world every year, all of the millions of stakes that are produced and most likely thrown away afterwards. Likewise, those plastic clips, I would imagine that both of those are single use plastic that are quite hard to recycle unless you reuse them extensively at home. My personal view is I prefer the look and the sustainability of orchids that are never staked. If buy an orchid, unless it's a massively huge one, I will try to remove the stakes because I want to look at an orchid, I don't want to look at a piece of plastic. So if I can, I'll take the stake and the clips away. This does require a bit of experimentation. You need to make sure that you've got it in maybe a heavy cash pot so that the plant won't flip over when you take that stake away. Support the spike as you remove the stake and the clips and just have a go, see what it looks like, see if it can be supported without breaking. If you have any orchids that are less than huge, it will be absolutely fine to take that stake out. You, as I say, you may need to do a bit of adjustment, bit of jiggling around and the only possibility is that if you are just about to repot that orchid as well, then you may need to make sure that it's well situated in the pot so the whole thing doesn't kind of tumble out.

[6:06] Jane Perrone

Why might you be repotting an orchid that you've literally just bought? Well, this brings me to another matter I wanted to discuss, which is the things that orchids are planted into. And this is another example of an occasion when nurseries do something that suits them perfectly well, but does not set you up for success as a grower. And you'll often find when you start to take a newly bought orchid out of the pot, that you might either have an outer layer of bark, chipped bark, pine bark.

[6:42] And that may go all the way through and then that may just be it and roots and that is fine where you want to investigate though is when you find at the center of that bark or sometimes behind a layer of sphagnum moss you get a plug and sometimes there's a plastic basket sometimes it's just literally a little plug of organic material it's usually peat moss or coir or a combination thereof and that is at the center of the plant where the actual plant is coming out and the main plant is growing out of that point and this is something that's put in place by growers when the plant is really young and it needs loads of moisture and when it's in the very highly controlled conditions of the nursery this helps the orchid to grow well but once you get it home into your conditions, you've then got this plug which holds a lot of moisture surrounded by usually bark, which doesn't hold a lot of moisture and it just sets your plant up for root rot. I guarantee you if you've had an orchid for more than a couple of weeks and you remove that plug, you'll find that a lot of the roots inside it are dead or dying or rotting. So always check for a plug, carefully remove it, wash off those roots. Chop away with sterilized snips any roots that are damaged and then re -pot in pure orchid bark. I cannot stress enough how many orchids die because of this. I've had it happen when I've forgotten to check and assumed it would be okay because you can't see that plug from the outside, all you can see is the bark, but if it's there, it's going to cause problems to your orchid. The second thing to say is if your plant is planted either in sphagnum with a central plug or just in sphagnum, again, think about repotting into bark. Sphagnum moss holds a lot more moisture. It's not impossible to grow orchids this way. If you're a good orchid grower, you shouldn't have too much problem. But if you are just a regular grower, just got orchids part of your collection, sphagnum is best replaced with pine bark, orchid bark, that's the thing to use. So I really want to get that message across now. I can understand why the growers do it, but for us at home, it results in a massive, massive amount of waste and orchids that are thrown away because they just won't last with this plug of organic material around the roots that ends up eventually holding on to too much water once the plants are mature and in our homes. So that's my little warning about those plugs.

[9:28] Music.

[9:37] If you have a huge orchid or an orchid that you just want to stake and you want to use something other than plastic or bamboo and clips, there are a few alternatives. I think the best of them is using pieces of wood from your garden, driftwood, woody prunings that you might take off a tree or a shrub. Make sure the leaves are gone and that they're reasonably well dried out, particularly ones that have got little side branches, you can poke these in around an orchid and then use those little side branches to hook the flower spike of the orchid into position. It looks really good particularly if you've got say three or four phalaenopsis grouped together and then you can insert these pieces of brush and the orchid will be supported. It will look good, you won't be looking at plastic. So that's one way of doing it.

[10:38] The other thing you can do if you've got a flower spike that's just developing is train it up wire and you can shape this wire any way you like. It often is a hoop or a curve, and you can put that in position just as the orchid spike is starting to develop before it's got anywhere close to being at the bud stage and then clip the spike onto that wire. You're still gonna have some form of clip. You could use a little bit of plant Velcro or a bit of wire instead of those clips if you want to, but attach it to that wire and you can train the orchid in a particular shape. Again, it's aesthetics. I don't like the look of that as much as I like the natural option of little pieces of branches, but it's all in the eye of the beholder.What I like about both of these is that the materials you're using can be recycled easily. So once you finish with those pieces of branches, they can just go back outside and break down. And similarly, the wire can be recycled or used over and over again.

[11:46] It's also absolutely fine to leave the stakes in for the flowers that you've got if you just don't want to mess around with them drooping all over the place, but then once the flower spike is over, you can then remove those stakes and the next time the plant puts up a flower spike, it's up to you whether you decide to put those stakes back in or not. Generally speaking, unless it's a massive, massive, massive flower, the plant will sort itself out and the flower spike will come out sideways and look far more natural which, in my opinion, is the look I'm going for.

[12:24] If you do want to put the stake back in, then start staking it from quite early doors. Don't leave it until the flower spike is already completely grown and budded up. Do it when the spike is just emerging and you've got a 5cm growth on it. You can put the stake in and put the first clip on and then as the spike grows up, you can add further clips as necessary. So there we have it, my thoughts on orchid staking. If you've got a view, I'd love to know what you think. Do drop me a line to ontheledgepodcast at gmail .com and if you've experienced one of those death plugs, I feel for you. and the campaign starts here to ban the death plug.

[13:12] I should say also, they don't just exist in orchid pots. You may find them in lots of other house plant substrates. I've seen them in things like begonias and arrowheads. They do get around. So something to look out for if your new plant is not doing well, check for a death plug.

[13:35] Jane Perrone

Now on to question of the week. Now I'm afraid that my brain has managed to mislay who asked this question but I did have a question from someone somewhere asking about a plant that appeared in the background in the movie Oppenheimer. I haven't seen it. I did see Barbie but I didn't see Oppenheimer because right now I don't think I can take that level of sadness but apparently there is a scene where the plant Monstra adansonii is visible in shot. Good spot to whichever listener took the time during the watching of that movie to spot a particular species of houseplant. So this film is set in 1939, just in case you're unaware of it, it's a biopic that tells the story of Robert Oppenheimer who invented the atomic bomb.So yeah, that's the reason why I wasn't quite ready for that level of sadness. Anyway, 1939, is it accurate that a Monstera adansonii, sometimes known as a mini Monstera, or the Five Holes plants, or Adanson's Monstera, is it realistic for that plant to be pictured in 1939? Now, I have a lot of old houseplant books dating back over the years, and I spent some time this afternoon, looking through all of them and none of the ones that I had that dated further back than the 1980s included mentions of Monstera adansonii. I don't think this was a popular houseplant at that time.

[15:13] That's not to say that it wasn't known to Western botany at that moment. It was first scientifically described in 1830. This is, by the way, a plant that's native to Mexico and also Central and South America. It's a plant we've known about for a really long time, but I don't think it would be something that a general person in America would have in their home at that date. I did have a look on Google Books to see if there were mentions of this species.

[15:48] In the houseplant books that I may not have a copy of. I did find it mentioned in things like herbarium documents from the 1970s. But it was all very specialist academic works rather than anything of the more widespread, you know, general interest houseplant books. And I should say also that I looked under its other now defunct scientific names which include Monstera pertusa, Calla pertusa, and Dracontium pertusum, so I couldn't find any further hints that this was a popular houseplant by searching under those names either. I'd love to see a still of this plant actually in the film, but maybe some sharp -eyed listener can supply that. But I suspect that this is a case of plants being supplied for the set and nobody taking the time to figure out that that plant just wouldn't be in circulation on that date. I mean, I'd love somebody to prove me wrong. If you know that I'm talking absolute codswallop, Please do get in touch and tell me, but I'm really glad that there are listeners out there who, like me, while you're watching a film, will be looking at the plants in the background and saying, Nah.

[17:07] I'm sorry, but Zamioculca zamiifolia, you just wouldn't be having that in a 1980s sitting room because it wasn't in general circulation at that time. You know, these are the kind of things that I love to bore my family with, and indeed can now share with you. Well, that's question of the week done and dusted. If you've got a question for me, please do drop me a line on theledgepodcast at gmail .com is the best way of getting in touch. Love to hear from listeners. And now it's time for meet the listener. This is the feature where one of you gets to answer a set of questions that reveals more about your planty life.

[17:52] Music.

[17:58] Helen Kilcoin

So to Jane's listeners, I'm Helen, I'm a 44 year old mum of two living in North Devon in England.I have a very large houseplant collection and I am particularly into propagating. My houseplant obsession was taken to a whole new level last year when I was lucky enough to be able to open my very own houseplant shop in my local high street. When did you get into houseplants and why? So I always had quite a few houseplants sort of hanging around the place. Jade plants, a couple of orchids, a couple of Tradescantia. They never really did a lot for me but unfortunately a few years ago my mother passed away. I found during that time that I was drawn to my plants a bit more. I was taking care of them a bit in the evening, doing a bit of propagating, a bit of repotting and I just found completely by accident that it would just switch off my brain from all the stress and grief that I was going through at the time. So I started doing this more and more. I found it incredibly therapeutic and then the big sort of boom time was when I discovered Facebook swap groups. So in that way I've made some lovely online planty friends. So I started propagating everything I owned and then just fell down a massive propagating rabbit hole. I was swapping like mad. I also during that time started collecting Tradescantia and ended up with probably about 55 different varieties, it all got a bit Pokemon and now that my life is a bit more settled I think it's so special that when you look after a plant and you try and give it everything it needs. Just the fact that it actually rewards you by putting out beautiful growth. I just find that so, so rewarding and incredibly satisfying.

Jane Perrone

What's the latest addition to your houseplant collection?

[20:00] Helen Kilcoin

I've been after a sweet little Hoya for a while, but I did neglect a few Hoya cuttings I got in a swap while I was trying to get my shop open. So I said to myself, you're not allowed to get it until you have revived all your little Hoya. So they're all now doing brilliantly. So it's a Hoya Houshkilania, I think is how you say it. And it's the variegated one. So I got myself a little baby recently for about 15 pounds, I think. They were quite pricey up until the last few months. So I've been also keeping an eye on the price because I wasn't going to pay 50 pounds for a tiny three leaf cutting. I understand it's not the fastest growing hoia in the world, but we shall see. I'm very happy to get it because it's such a cute little thing. The Love and Rewards of Caring for Houseplants

[20:46] Jane Perrone

Complete the sentence, I love my houseplants because...

Helen Kilcoin

Oh gosh, there are so many reasons why I love my houseplants. I think mostly because I could never have predicted how much I have learned from them, all the mad tangents I've gone off on, and also the effect they could have had on my life and my well -being. As I said, I find them incredibly therapeutic and they are so incredibly rewarding the way they give back to us when we look after them correctly. For example, I love a rehab plant. I find that so satisfying from the process of doing the research to find out what's wrong with the plant and then how to put it right and then hopefully seeing the plant come good again.

Jane Perrone

Who is your Houseplant Hero?

[21:37] Helen Kilcoin

So I've got a few houseplant heroes but if I had to name one it would have to be the lovely and charming Sydney Plant Guy. You can find him on Instagram and his very informative videos on YouTube. So I find him absolutely fascinating because he puts all his aroids on huge moss poles, they grow to the most incredible height and they get these enormous huge split leaves like they do in nature going up, because we all know they're epiphytic, so they grow up these huge trees, getting closer and closer to the light. And the way he manages to replicate that in his home, I think is just incredible. And what I really love is that, yes, there's quite a few rare plants, but mostly he's doing these with really commonplace plants that you could buy for £5 or £10, chop and prop them a bit, get them up a pole.And he does this amazing chop and extend method which I know that there's a few content people on YouTube who do that but it's absolutely fascinating to watch and he is so infectious and enthusiastic as well so he's an absolute pleasure to watch.Struggling with Variegated Swedish Ivy

[22:46] Jane Perrone

Name your plantagonist, the plant you simply cannot get along with.

Helen Kilcoin

It's a bit of a strange one because I'm sure it's nothing people would consider to be tricky or diva -ish.It's actually variegated Swedish ivy, Plectranthus coleoides, I think it's called, so the variegated form. I have no problem with the green one, but I have tried a few times now to keep it at home as a house plant. Whether it just really wants to be outside, I don't know, but I always find it's fine for a while and then it starts to go brown at the edges and it starts to get sadder and sadder. I've tried everything, I've tried more water, less water, more light, less light, really free draining soil or more water -retentive soil and I don't know what it is. I know one of had thrips so I binned that and a couple of months later got a new plant but it did exactly the same thing again so I think finally now I am giving up on having a variegated Swedish Ivy because it's clearly not going to happen.

[23:58] Jane Perrone

Thank you Helen and I love the idea of things going a bit Pokemon and that's something I think I and probably a lot of other houseplant collectors can relate to. If you'd like to put yourself forward for meet the listener, I would love to hear from you. Interested in being a guest on the show?

[24:13] Drop a line to ontheledgepodcast at gmail .com and tell me a bit about yourself, where you're from, what you like to collect, and how you feel about your plants and we'll get you on the show. And don't forget to subscribe to The Plant Ledger, my weekly email newsletter about houseplants. It's not just an email version of this podcast. this week I'm talking about the new John Lewis ad which stars a very strange Venus flytrap and in a couple of weeks time I'll also be bringing you some of my favorite Christmassy planty things for those festive purchases you might be making in the next few weeks so do go and subscribe it's janeperrone .com forward slash ledger and you get a free yes that's free in -depth and I do really mean in -depth guide to fungus gnats that looks at the things that do work and don't work for getting rid of this very pesky house plant pest.

[25:12] Music.

[25:24] Jane Perrone

That's all for this week's show. I will see you very soon and in the meantime have a fabulous week with your plants. Bye!

[25:34] Music.

[25:40] The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by The Joy Drops, The Road We Used To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku, Chiefs by Jahzzar and and Enthusiast by Tours. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons. Visit the show notes for details.

[26:02] Music.

To stake, or not to stake? I look at the arguments for and against staking moth orchids (aka Phalaenopsis) plus I answer a question about houseplants in films, and we hear from Helen in Meet the Listener.

Chapters
0:00:42 Controversy Surrounding Orchid Staking
0:02:23 Natural Growth of Moth Orchids vs. Staking
0:04:24 Environmental Impact of Orchid Staking and Alternatives
0:06:06 Repotting Orchids and Issues with ‘death plugs’
0:09:37 Orchid staking using natural materials
0:12:23 Orchid Staking: When to Stake and When Not to
0:17:58 Meet the Listener - Helen
0:25:40 Music credits

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CREDITS

This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, The Road We Use To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Enthusiast by Tours.