Bletilla striata

[Selmo]

Normally these don’t start growing until now. But this year the temperature has been all over the place. We just call it the roller coaster, as we will have a few colder days followed by a few days of warm. Apparently the warmer days have out numbered the colder days, as we are well ahead of normal.
These are over wintered in a unheated garage that stays just above freezing with the help of a small space heater. Which keeps the pots from freezing solid. They are watered once maybe twice during the winter and given a new topping of potting soil.
We would of moved them outside last week as it was in the 70s on Wednesday and Thursday but 26F Friday morning and 28F this morning. Planning on moving them out tomorrow as the forecast looks to stay above freezing for the next two weeks and that should get us far enough in to spring for them to be OK. Will not move other orchids out for awhile, as we can still have temperatures in the lower 30s.

[neophyte]

very nice! are those single plants in each pot?

[Selmo]

They stared out as single plants many years ago. Now they are multiple plants in each pot. Each plant grows a tuber and over time more tubers fill the pot. They like to grow towards the edges and every 3-4 years, we have to repot them. We grow them a peat based potting soil with extra perlite. They will grow in the ground here but they don’t thrive. The ground some years freezes to deep for them to survive, even when mulched heavily

[My Green Pets]

Wow, so many growths!

[Roberta]

For those who live in more temperate areas (they'll take some frost when dormant, but I'm sure there are limits... they're pretty hardy, though) consider growing them in the ground - I have done it both ways, and the ones in the ground do better. (And my "ground" is heavy adobe clay... they were started in a good potting mix but have expanded far beyond the original hole)

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Roberta

For those who live in more temperate areas (they'll take some frost when dormant, but I'm sure there are limits... they're pretty hardy, though) consider growing them in the ground - I have done it both ways, and the ones in the ground do better. (And my "ground" is heavy adobe clay... they were stated in a good potting mix but have expanded far beyond the original hole)

Seconded!

My mom grew them in clay and my sister grows them in gravel (she adds topsoil when she remembers). I grow in a ceramic pot and they don't flower as well.

[fishmom]

Mine are outside, but in a pot. They are budded and almost in bloom! Spring--gotta love it!

[Selmo]

I believe that they are hardy to zone 6. That would be southern Missouri (Springfield), we are about 120 miles north of that (2 hour drive). We did grow them in the ground for a few years but they just survived. They didn’t really do well, they have done better in pots. We do let them frost down in the winter, not letting the pots freeze solid, before we put them in the garage.
Most of the shoots will have blooms this spring. We have the two varieties, a white (B.striata ‘innocence’) and the purple original/common color.

[Leafmite]

What a lovely show they will soon be giving you! I hope you will post pictures when they are in bloom.

I agree...don't try to grow them in the ground again if you have already failed in the past. Some people get lucky because they have the perfect micro-zone but, for most of us, the zone label is accurate. I bring inside a few plants every autumn that could live outside if I lived just one zone or even a half-zone higher but their predecessors proved that planting them in the ground was a death sentence when winter came (I tried them outside because family and friends from warmer climates assured me that I could...I learned the hard way and wasted money and plants).

[Selmo]

Here they are outside now. You can really see how they grow towards the edges of the pots.