This is a statement of our current cultural practices & theories – it is important to note this is a statement of what we do, what we like and what we believe. It is not an attack on anyone or anyone’s cultural practices – we all have different orchid houses, in different areas. Different watering regimes and different potting mixes – this is what makes orchid growing fun. If there was one right way to do it then it would be boring.
- We do not grow using hydroponic methods, we use traditional mixes of bark, charcoal & pebbles (perlite in place of pebbles in 50mm tubes) as well as sphagnum moss in some Genus.
- We fertilise – other than the middle of winter when we don’t water much we fertilize throughout the year. We currently use Peters Excel, Seaweed and some osmocote slow release.
- Where possible we choose premium products for example heavy duty port pots from 150mm and up, black treefern over brown, live sphagnum over freeze dried.
- As a general rule we use previcure fungicide once on deflasking all genus with cyms getting a second dose 2 weeks later. No further fungicide is used in our orchid house, there is clear research showing over time fungi are developing resistance to fungicides and it is now considered bad practice to use fungicides as a prevention of disease in the greater horticultural world. There is also evidence that plants grow in a low fungi environment do not develop adequate resistance to fungi leaving them more susceptible to attack.
- Pesticides are used in our nursery – we do not like to use pesticide (who does) but occasionally use it when pests are present and causing damage. This is still not too bad with some nurseries treating weekly with pesticides. If you do not like to be exposed to pesticide we recommend washing any plants bought from us or any nursery before handling.
- We do not use coconut peat products except occasionally as mulch on the veggie garden – it seems it may work well further north for orchids but it gets way to wet and soggy in Melbourne’s cold. There is nothing better than a premium quality piece of pine bark to really make most orchids happy.
- Every plant sold on this site & on ebay is grown in our greenhouses – we grow our plants in temperate southern Australia here is a link to government weather data at the closest observation station BOM We do not use heat.
- We have never cloned one of our plants and you will not find any clones offered for sale commercially but us – I am a little undecided on clones and personally am one of those that would rather flower a whole flask of seedlings than flower a single clone but then we are lucky in that we have no real commercial pressure and perhaps if we did we would feel differently. I can see how using proven varieties and cultivars say in the pot plant or cut flower trade could be the go but we do not play in these markets.