Scientific orchid growing - the optimal needs of orchid roots and environmental requirements!
Scientific orchid growing - the optimal needs of orchid roots and environmental requirements!
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Scientific orchid growing——the optimal needs of orchid roots and environmental requirements!
Based on the optimal growth needs of organisms, simulating the optimal growth environment and matching it with the best management measures to produce the highest quality products - this has always been the goal of modern agriculture, including the earliest chemical agriculture for high yields, convenience and speed; including the later Japanese natural farming method of no pollution, low input and sustainable development; including modern physical agriculture, biological agriculture, green agriculture, modern greenhouses and so on.
When we grow Chinese orchids, we can say that ninety percent of what we do is based on tradition and hearsay, but we have never considered what their optimal growth needs are, because we do not even have much understanding of the most basic botany and the most basic physiological characteristics of Chinese orchids.
The Chinese orchid is just a plant. Why do people still say it is difficult to grow in today's age of advanced science? I think this is because we do not understand its plant physiological characteristics. If we understood its botanical and physiological characteristics and then analyzed its optimal growth and needs, then I think the Chinese orchid would be very easy to grow. Dissecting the Chinese orchid, we can see several major characteristics: first, fleshy roots; second, apart from the lignified root core, they are entirely made of living cells; third, no root hairs; fourth, small and short stems; fifth, shade plants 1 Fleshy roots, entirely living cells. Where there is life, there is respiration. Cells also need to breathe. In ordinary plants, only the root tips are living cells, and most of the rest is lignified From this we can see that the living cells of orchid roots far exceed those of ordinary plants, so correspondingly, the amount of oxygen needed for their respiration also far exceeds that of ordinary plants. We know there are two types of respiration: one is aerobic respiration, and the other is anaerobic respiration. If there is not enough air, anaerobic respiration occurs, which produces alcohol and lactic acid. In excess, this leads to poisoning, death, and necrotic rot, which produces harmful substances that continue to spread.
2 At the same time, the cell walls of living cells are thin, and we can also see that this makes them more easily damaged and infected. Because they are living cells, they are also more easily affected, and if even a small part becomes diseased, the whole thing becomes infected.
3 No root hairs. We know that root hairs are also living cells. Root hairs function like straws. With root hairs, water can be absorbed from far away from the root; without root hairs, water can only be absorbed through osmosis by the surface cells of the root. We know that water can block air, so under normal circumstances, orchid roots in traditional growing methods have water but no air, or air but no water. To solve the problem of surface water absorption while providing aeration,
4 Finally, it is not difficult to see that in daily management there is no problem of water shortage because we can water every day, but if the material is not breathable, we cannot blow air through it every day.
This is the root-level reason why orchids are difficult to grow. Therefore, if we want to solve the difficulty of growing the roots, the first thing to address is the aeration of the material. The best choice is for the material to be permeable and full of capillaries. To reduce damage, the material should be loose.
5 Finally, we see that orchids are shade plants and need shade, warmth and moisture, but we know that the optimal growth environment for pathogens is darkness, dampness and warmth. These two environments are similar, and can be said to be identical much of the time, so they are prone to disease.
This is why orchids are difficult to grow from the perspective of their physiological and anatomical characteristics.