''Workers at the Nan Yuan Resort Farm in Tainan County over three years... developed a lowland variety [! / it would more appropriate to say that they grew a higher altitude orchid at a low altitude / see below] of the Pleione formosana orchid... the "one-leaf orchid."... suppliers in the Netherlands... placed orders for 10,000 seedlings. The first batch of the order will be shipped in March...
The Pleione formosana is native to high altitude areas in Taiwan. In the wild, the orchid grows in mountain forests at altitudes of between 1,500 meters and 2,500 meters. ... workers... successfully bred the orchid at an altitude of only 98 meters. To this point, experts at the farm have nurtured nearly 10,000 sprigs of the orchid plant... it is now the peak blooming season... Pleione formosana... likes to grow in an environment... which... is cool in summer, while the winter is mild enough that the flower will not freeze... this type of orchid is best suited to a climate in which temperatures range between 10 and 25 degrees Celsius in the summer and between 1 and 10 degrees Celsius in the winter. In addition, the orchid requires ample rainfall in its growth period between April and September... in lowland areas in Taiwan, temperatures in the spring, summer and autumn are too warm for the orchid.... the corm of the Pleione formosana regenerates itself each year and... it takes about two and a half years for a ball of roots to form... each year from October to December, workers at the farm must take the bulbs of the plants that they are cultivating out of the refrigerator and put them outdoors to get some sun. When the sun goes down, the bulbs are then pushed back into the cool storage facility. This helps create an environment in which there is a major change in day and night temperatures for the plants, and is what is responsible for enabling the farm to have successfully cultivated the plant in a low altitude area." source : http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=64343&ctNode=9 **************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
