Nutrient management for Dendrobium orchid cultivation
Dendrobium cv. Singapore White is an epiphytic orchid cultivated commercially for cut flower purpose. The performance of this orchid in response to the different nutrient concentrations was evaluated at the Central Horticultural Experiment Station of ICAR- Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Chetalli in Kodagu district of Karnataka. Kodagu harbours about 75 species of native orchids and has conducive climatic conditions for commercial cultivation of orchids. Commercial cultivation of orchids has lot of scope in this region to meet the demand for orchid cut flowers thereby reducing our dependence on imported flowers. Hardened tissue cultured plants were planted in 8" plastic pots in a potting medium comprising of broken tile bits, chopped coconut husk and charcoal in 1:1:1 ratio (v/v) and was housed in a naturally ventilated polyhouse. Foliar spray of 30:20:20 NPK @ 0.1% at weekly intervals recorded the maximum number of spikes plant-1year-1 (10.01) with spike length of 45 cm and 16.20 flower spike-1 and can be recommended for cultivation of Dendrobium orchid.
