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[jcgodber]

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Orchids-

I have many orchids that we have bought in the past. The orchids are in hanging planters made using a coconut shells as a planter.

Question! How to I get the orchids to start growing on the side of a tree?

I have removed ½ the coconut shell and using some black plastic mesh simply wired the orchid to a tree in my front yard.

Will this work? I have seen similar plants around Thailand in the past.

Thanks for any input,

Jim

[chownah]

My wife (a Thai woman) who is learning how to raise orchids says that she has not done this herself yet but she has seen people tie the partial coconut hull onto a tree (like you did but they used some iron tie wire) and she says that after two or three months you can take the tie off and the orchid with its partial hull will be stuck on and the tie is no longer needed......sounds like you have done the right thing and all you need to do is wait.....you should probably water it when the rainy season ends or whenever it might be getting dry.........

Chownah

P.S. I have noticed that my wife has a tendency to underestimate how long it takes for things to happen in the garden...so she may be wrong on the duration....but then again she may be right.

Chownah

Edited September 28, 2006 by chownah

[sbk]

she may be wrong on the duration....but then again she may be right.

Excellent answer chownah

Tying the orchid onto the tree requires a bit of work:

First you should use half a coconut husk, shred the inside of it a bit, to make it loose. Tie it onto the tree (usually with wire) but on the non-windy side of the tree also, if the tree is tilted a bit, on the side the rain would run down. Fill the husk with some more shredded inner husk (as well as the orchid, obviously) and add some charcoal. Make sure to water it regularly so it has a chance to establish. There is also orchid fertilizer you can buy --I'm lazy so mine don't get it regularly.

[udon]

First time we ever needed "Orchidlady" & she's not here.

[pap]

Interesting. I would love to help but the only thing I have managed to keep alive is bambo.....I think that is only because I have been trying to kill it.....

[udon]

Interesting. I would love to help but the only thing I have managed to keep alive is bambo.....I think that is only because I have been trying to kill it.....

Clumper or runner?

Sounds like a runner.

Did you plant it?

[chownah]

Udon,

I've planted bamboo.....want all the gory details?

Chownah

[udon]

Not if it's a runner.

[chownah]

All of the bamboo I've seen in Thailand is clumping...not running. But then I've only seen some of the native types that grow in the north....are there some decorative types that run or are there some native types that run?

Chownah

[udon]

So, give us the gory details.

Clumpers only,Ok?

[chownah]

If you dig a hole at the edge of an existing clump of bamboo you will see that the shoots rise up from a root like base structure which is about the same diameter as the shoot which comes up from it but this root like thing is rough and is not segmented. Many smallish roots come off of this base....the base is maybe 30 cm deep or more. To transplant bamboo with the highest percentage of success you should trim the culm (the part above ground) to about 1 metre and dig up this base....you probably won't get all of the base but 20 or 30 cm of it should be enough. You will have to seperate the base from its neighbors and cut it at the bottom since it will probably be too long to dig it all up....this will be hard work and a bit difficult...shovels, machetes, and axes. Don't worry too much about damaging the base but try to cut it out as cleanly as possible...with the one metre of culm attached above.

Now just dig a hole and put it in and water it....bury it about as deep as it was before...or if you can't tell where it was just put the rough base in the ground and the smooth culm above ground....its not a critical thing.

Bamboo likes good drainage so you can't grow bamboo in a rice field unless you make a mound to get it up out of the water...most locations other than rice fields should be fine...it grows naturally in most places after all. You can put some well rotted manure or compost in the soil around your new planting but bamboo doesn't need a really fertile soil....I add some to mine as an aid to getting a quick establishment. Keep it well watered (don't let the soil dry out) until you can see good signs of new growth....maybe 3 months...althought this seems to be highly variable depending on where in the growth cycle you took the cuttings, on the condition of the cutting, and on if you remember to water it. After its established and it sends up its first new shoots and they are fully grown (the first ones will be smaller) you probably won't have to water it anymore. Since I took excellent care of my plants and had really good starts my plants started new shoots within 3 or 4 months even though it was the dry season ( I watered them and used mulch to maintain a humid soil.....but if conditions are not so optimal it could take 6 months or more...or maybe not until the rainy season is well underway.

Bamboo does make an extensive root system and this might be a problem in growing things around it but I've never tried growing stuff around the bamboo yet. My wife won't allow bamboo in the yard around the house because it sheds leaves all year long mostly and she doesn't want the work of cleaning them up. I planted my bamboo out in a field so I'm not planning on growing anything between them. It seems like I spaced the cutting on a 4 metre grid but can't remember for sure...maybe it was farther...I'll try to remember to go measure today and then report back.

A less reliable (but easier) method to obtain starts is to find a culm in an established clump that has created a mass of air roots at one of the joints near the base. If you cut the culm off below this joint and keep the roots then you can plant this (trim the top off the culm at about one metre) with the air roots in the ground about 5 or 10 cm in the ground...and for sure remember to keep this well watered until new growth is apparent. It will take a year or so longer to get full sized culms from a plant propogated by this method since evidently it needs a year or so to make a fully established base before it can produce a culm. The advantage is that you don't have to dig out the base. Also, in my experience you get more failures with this method as the cuttings have less vigor initially.

Also, for a faster result (instant landscaping) you can dig up clump of bases...maybe five or six together...and plant them.

I've got three kinds of bamboo planted....mai hruak (5 cm diametre or so, strong, fence rails and rails for gates, shovel handles, job handles, etc.), mai bong (up to about 10 cm in diametre or so, strong, structural members for shacks and sheds, bamboo strips for tieing rice bundles at harvest time and for tieing things in general), and nau mai wan (makes sweet bamboo shoots for eating). You can eat the shoots from any bamboo but the last one is especially good although I just got this start so I'll have to wait awhile to find out for sure but my wife was really happy when a friend gave us this start and she says it great stuff.

Chownah

Edited September 29, 2006 by chownah