Habenaria radiata tubers from Kusamono Gardens - 2018
 

I pre-ordered from Kusamono Gardens in November 2017. They send out an E-mail announcement to people on their mailing list when pre-ordering is open.

My plants arrived Tuesday of this week. They were all sprouting. Kusamono suggests putting Habenaria radiata in the refrigerator until ready to plant, so that is what I did. I am going to modify what I did last season. The thread I began last season is here:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ight=habenaria

My plants grew well and flowered in pumice last season, with a topping of sphagnum moss. I grew them in 3.25" / 8.25cm pots. Pumice drains so fast you could pour water from a pitcher through a of pumice without filling the pot. It also wicks water upward. I stood them in a dish of rain water, and didn't let it go dry.

I fertilized with "balanced" 20-20-20 fertilizer at about 40 ppm nitrogen once a week. When I fertilized, I took the pots out of the standing water, and poured fertilizer through them. After a few seconds I returned them to the dish with rain.

I put them outside in spring, where they got late afternoon sun. I don't have a spot with morning sun that is safe from hungry critters. The plants did fine, even in my extremely low humidity and heat. They were not bothered by relative humidity under 10%, with temperatures in the 90s F / upper 30s C.

When it was heading well over 100 F / 38C, I brought them into my sunroom, and put them next to a window getting about 3 hours of morning sun. I use an evaporative cooler to keep the temperature in the mid 80s F / 26-31C. They grew and flowered there.

Last season I didn't realize they need to stay wet for some time after flowering. I didn't let them dry out, but they weren't good and wet. The plants didn't form tubers as they died down.

Because of the lack of forming tubers last year, I am going to use a more water-retentive mix this year, and not stand them in water. I am going to use my local screened decomposed granite sand, and mix it with sphagnum moss.

The photo shows two tubers of Habenaria radiata 'Ginga'. This year I am going to use a larger pot.