Beneficial fungus....?

[camille1585]

Neottia nidus-avis grows like a weed in my hometown, Lyon. When I say in, I mean in the middle of the city! At the foot of my grandmother's building is a a long hedge of conifer trees, and there are dozens upon dozens of Neottia growing among the ivy on the ground. At a garden center where I worked summer jobs, they had a bunch growing in a bed of perennials in the parking lot, and I've seen them in the undergrowth of city parks. Not a single citrus in sight.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Well, there's a thought! Why not try out some weedy achlorophyllous species to start with!

Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem to grow in potted culture.

Like I said...has anyone thought about growing this infrequently talked about achlorophyllous orchid in cultivation?

[camille1585]

Is that even possible? The way I understood things is that the orchid is a parasite of a myccorhizal fungus associated to a nearby plant. So short of digging up the neighboring tree/ bush along with it, I don't see how you could otherwise cultivate it.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The host tree is the stumper for many of these achlorophyllous orchids. But I was thinking this species may work since you're describing them as growing nowhere near trees in many different places in France, idk.

The thing is, I don't know of anyone who has dared try. it might be worth it to try a very small number of these if this species is so widespread with no approaching threats of being endangered. Who knows, something may surprisingly work.

People used to think Disas and Thelymitras were ungrowable, and how wrong was that?!

I'd have a problem with trying out Corallorhiza though, considering that these have not been documented to occur in great numbers.

[camille1585]

I didn't say that none of the neighboring plants weren't trees. The conifers were, and in other cases there were trees within a few meters of the plants.

I think that in the summer I'll dig up a few at my grandmother's, and give cultivation a try. They're going to get mowed down anyway since the people in the building consider them eyesores. (or yanked up like weeds, which is what the garden center does)

[Tsuchibuta]

Jesh!! Why can't I have weedy achlorophyllous orchid growing near me. I'd be all over that project.

[camille1585]

This evening I decided to dig a bit further into this mycchorizal fungi thing on epiphytic orchids, and I found some things. A really interesting research paper from last year found that mycorrhizal symbiosis with Ceratobasidium sp or Rizoctonia solani enhances Phal growth (this was with plants just taken out of flask) and resistance to Erwinia. Another study discovered that some Trichoderma species increase the growth and cold tolerance of orchids (ie, less disease incidence after a cold period)

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Well, if that's the case, then maybe some pointers I've picked up while growing some terrestrial orchids might help out...

If possible try and collect either during dormancy or during the very beginning of the growth cycle.

Obviously, also get some of the soil it was growing with.

Keep in mind the depth at which the orchids were growing.

A larger pot with several individuals may work better than an individual orchid in one pot.

When repotting, don't throw out all of the soil, retain half of the old soil.

Feed mycorrhizae with wood chips, preferably from the same kind of conifer trees that are growing around the area. Like I said, I've read reports of these growing under citrus trees as well. If conifer wood are not an option, citrus wood may work just as well.

[camille1585]

Thanks for the tips, maybe I'll dig some up during my next trip home, at Easter. Hopefully they should have started coming up by then, so I can find them!

[keithrs]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Well, if that's the case, then maybe some pointers I've picked up while growing some terrestrial orchids might help out...

If possible try and collect either during dormancy or during the very beginning of the growth cycle.

Obviously, also get some of the soil it was growing with.

Keep in mind the depth at which the orchids were growing.

A larger pot with several individuals may work better than an individual orchid in one pot.

When repotting, don't throw out all of the soil, retain half of the old soil.

Feed mycorrhizae with wood chips, preferably from the same kind of conifer trees that are growing around the area. Like I said, I've read reports of these growing under citrus trees as well. If conifer wood are not an option, citrus wood may work just as well.

What about feeding the mycrorrhizea molasses? I use a molasses, kelp, fish emulsion, and yucca extract to feed the beneficials as they reproduce in my teas.

Why would you have to repot if you have the correct culture.... aside from upping the pot size? In theory, If you feed the beneficials they will reproduce in turn breaking down organics/food for the plant. You should not have to repot if you can keep the life cycle going.