Orchids for double profit

No matter how new you may be in the greenhouse-for-profit business, you need not fear failure with orchids. They are not all costly or difficult, as you may have supposed. Orchids offer double profit-as flowering pot plants and as cut flowers.

There are terrestrial (earth-grown) types such as the cypripe-diums (lady slippers) and calanthes. These are popular collector plants, easily handled by the amateur grower. The bulk of the showy orchids, such as cattleya and its many hybrid forms, vandas with sprays of frilly flowers, and the small-flowered dendrobium are epiphytes-air plants. Cattleyas and vandas make marvelous flowers for corsages, and many house plant growers raise cattleyas at their windows or under lights. The smaller-flowered dendrobium is often purchased by new growers who find this easy to grow. There are orchids for the cool, intermediate, and warm house. Choose the type best suited to your growing conditions, your budget, and your market.

To illustrate how really hardy some orchids are, here is the story of one of mine. One year I received a shipment of orchids from Central America in very hot weather. The bare-root shipping, plus the quarantine period, had not helped. I laid them on damp sphagnum, and before long most of them showed new growth. Some waited 3 to 4 months to send out new shoots. One was held over till spring-nearly 9 months after arrival. It looked so shriveled that I tossed it into the trash can where I discard dead plant material. Some 2 weeks later I emptied the can-and found the “dead” orchid showing promising bits of

80. Growers who enter the retail florist field find many additional opportunities for income. For instance, when you make up corsages- like this wrist type-or bouquets and other arrangements of flowers you have grown, you charge for the flowers and also for your artistry. (Courtesy, Ted Pouliat)

green! I planted it, and it grew and produced nice small green flowers.

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