Cym madidum pics #3

[Gary S]

More madidum in the bush! Both from southern QLD in lowland open woodland but close to edge of rainforest reserve.

Gary..

[MrCym]

Gary, thanks for posting all of these. It is always interesting to me when you can see the light intensity under which the plants grow. God, the plants of canaliculatum always look scruffy, I guess I would too if I went without water for that long!

[Gary S]

Mr Cym,

Yes Andy, canaliculatum can withstand drought and full sun with NO shade at all and temps to over 50 degC in summer in the arid inland of QLD - I suppose it has a right to look scruffy under those conditions. I bet you cannot name another orchid that will grow and survive those extremes!

Perhaps some of the hybrids with canaliculatum as a parent need to see more harsh conditions than people give them in the greenhouse.

Then again you will come across really nice looking neat clumps of it as well.

Pleasure to post the info and pics, hope more members have feedback and questions.

Cheers

Gary.

[Albert Nakaji]

Gary,

Thank you for all of the images. It is very helpful to see plants in their natural habitat.

It seems the madidum grow well (or perhaps prefer) a dry structure upon which to grow. I was under the impression that they would grow with considerable humus/compost as media. I think I'll just stick my plants on a tree.

[Gary S]

Albert

Don't forget that where they grow in the rainforest they will virtually get moisture all the time either from Rain, mist, fog and even low cloud.

For those that grow in more open woodlands, these areas will have less rain etc, but the roots will run for metres in and under the deep furrowed bark and into the heartwood of the older trees where they grow in old stumps and hollows that form where limbs have dropped off. These areas are always cool and moist.

In my earlier post where my father had one in a big old stump in his backyard - it thrived on neglect in nearly full open sun and it only got watered when it rained - so yes just shove it in the fork of a tree or tie it on. Make sure the tree you mount it on has some coarse bark and most importantly does not shed its bark once a year like a lot of the gums we have here do (not all of them do this). Put some Sphagnum moss under it to help get it established. They look awesome growing in trees. One other point, put it high enough so the long racemes are clear of anything under the tree or do not touch the ground.

Regards

Gary..

[PreSam]

Very informative Gary. One question. Do they need to go through a dry rest period in order to bloom? I do not water my plants thoroughly but I wet the leaves everyday and whatever runs into the pot is about what it gets besides the twice-a-week thorough fertilizers. During the monsoons I leave them out in the rain. It is in a clay pot that has holes all around and is planted in very coarse charcoal medium.

[Gary S]

The natural habitat for madidum here in Oz does not really have a dry season, but winter just before blooming in spring is dryer than the rest of the year.

The only other comment I would make is growing in charcoal if using salt based fertilisers, make sure you thoroughly leach out the medium monthly or switch to organic fertilisers. Charcoal will build up salt content if not thoroughly washed through regularly. You can check on that by measuring the pH level of the charcoal.

Other than that madidum is very forgiving compared to the other 2 Aussie species cyms.

Gary..