The Urban Gardener 5

8/14/2019 The Urban Gardener 5

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5th Issue Vol.2, No.2 ISSN February 2009

FLOWERING SEASON OF THE FRAGRANTSANGGUMAY ORCHID

By Norberto R. Bautista

Sanggumay or Purple Rain is one of thePhilippine orchid species with a powerfulfragrance. Its scientific name, Dendrobiumanosmum (or otherwise known asDendrobium superbum) is the most popular

orchid among hobbyists. The strongfragrance is often times repulsive, so it wasgiven the name Sanggumay, which is amixture of the Tagalog word masangsangand nakaka-umay. Because of its ease ofgrowing and cultivation, it is one of the mostpopular orchid plant in most gardens. It isalso one of the orchid often exhibited duringOrchid Shows of both the Philippine OrchidSociety, Philippine Horticultural Society andthe Los Banos Orchid Society during the firstquarter of the year.

Dr. John Lindley named this very fragrantspecies in the Botanical Register in 1845.The specific name means without scent,which is a bit of a misnomer as this plant hasa strong perfume. The orchid has apendulous and sympodial growth habit ,with pseudobulbs up to 1.5 meters long by 1cm in diameter. Leaves are decidous, andlast only 12 months, measuring about 7.5

cm long by 1.5 cm wide. The inflorescences are short, appearing from the leafless nodes, bearup to 3 flowers up to 7.5 cm across petals.

Flower are normally pale purple in color with 2 darker purple blotches on labellum.Dorsal and lateral sepals are lanceolate, up to 3.5 cm long by 1.5 cm wide. Petals are ovate, up

to 3.5 cm long by 2 cm wide. Labellum is circular (if flattened), up to 5 cm long by 3.5 cm widewith a pointed tip, hairy within. Within the species, a alba or white variety exists.

Habitat and Distribution: The plant is widely distributed and found in Thailand, the MalayArchipelago, Indonesia, Borneo and New Guinea, In the Philippines it has been found in Abra,Benguet, Mountain Province and Nueva Vizcaya on Luzon and Davao del Sur in Mindanao.Variety dearei only occurs in the Philippines and has been found in Rizal and Mountain Provinceon Luzon. The variety huttonii is found in the Malay Archipelago, Papua New Guinea and the


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Philippines, where it is very rare and has only been recorded from Rizal on Luzon. It grows as anepiphyte at elevations to 1,000 meters.

After flowering is over, the unbloomed nodes near the tip of the pseudobulbs and a fewnodes just below the lowest flowers will start to produce keikis. A keiki may be removed from itsparent plant when a good root system has developed in a couple of months. These plantsnormally do not produce flowers during the first year in existence, but will bloom during the nextseason.

This orchid has important uses to Chinesemedicine, as its flowers contain volatilecomponents which yields twenty-fivecomponents, mostly methylketones and 2-alkylacetates. Monoterpene d-, l, and dl- forms oflinalool have been described in one study andLinalool are used as odor agent in cosmetics and

soaps.

CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS

Light. Matured Dendrobiums grow in 60% sunlight up to 75% sun, provided that they areprotected from intense heat and light at noontime, to prevent scorching of leaves. Shade nets areused to provide the right amount of light, or plants are placed in eves of houses. For seedlings,they may be grown in 50% shade, but later needs to be adjusted in higher light intensity for flowerinitiation.

Potting Techniques. Dendorbiums could be planted either in plastic or clay pots, andthe plant have to be properly stalked or anchored in the center of the pot using GI or copper

wires. The plant may also be mounted on live trees or dead wood, and plants needs to beanchored properly of else they will fail to root. Dendrobiums flower within 1.5- 2 years fromseedlings.

Watering. The rate of watering depends on location, wind movement, and light intensity.Water only when the media is dry; and allow plant to dry (not bone dry) before another watering.Spraying water all over the plant using a water hose until the plant is dripping wet is satisfactory.The plants needs to be watered regularly, and changes in watering frequency usually causes theplant to shed its leaves. Ventilation or wind movement is very important in drying the plant. Plants


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The Urban Gardener is an official electronic publication (in PDF Format) of the PlantBiotechnology Project, Research & Development Center, Rizal Technological University, Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City, Philippines. It is published monthly. For more information, pleaseinquire thru email: [email protected][email protected] and landline

(+632) 534-8267 Local 135 or Fax (+632) 534-9710.

The Plant Biotechnology Project Committee is composed of: Alexander B. Quilang,Norberto R. Bautista, Jovita A. Anit & Carnette C. Pulma.

needs to be kept dry a few hours after watering. Water soaked plants tend to rot. Use anindustrial or electric fan to dry plants if wind movement is not available.

Flowering. The flowering season of these plants is from February to April as theyexperience cold temperature. The plants usually shed their leaves, and often times for theunexperienced orchidist would thought of it as dead, but afterwards will produce 2 flowers pernode. The usual species produces very fragrant purple flowers, but some varieties has whiteflowers.

Fertilization. Sanggumays need to be fertilized using a dilute orchid foliar fertilizersolution once every week. Follow the recommended dilution rate in the label of fertilizers. Fertilizethe plants early in the morning, as nutrients are commonly absorbed by the leaves and roots inthe presence of light.

Potting Media. These Dendrobiums are epiphytes and usually grow on tree trunks intheir native habitat. In culture, they could grow on coconut husk, charcoal, croaks (brokenpottery), and chopped tree fern, acacia wood, or caimito branches. For coconut husks, they needto be soaked first overnight for 2 days for the tanins to be leached out before using. These taninsprevent the plant from rooting properly.

Pests and Disease Management. Sanggumays are often attacked by weevils, whichbore holes on the canes or pseudobulb, and they are very difficult to eliminate. Weevils can beeliminated by handpicking or spraying with a systemic insecticide, or sprinkling sand ordiatomaceous earth on the crevices of leaves. Sucking insects like thrips, aphids, mites andscales also attack his Dendrobium, and they can be controlled by a dilute spray of soap solution,an organic concoction of hot pepper-ginger or if heavy infestation, Lannate or Sevin insecticides.During rainy season, spray fungicides like Dithane or Captan to protect plants from rotting.

Propagation. Conventionally, these Dendrobiums could be propagated through divisionof pseudobulbs. Once the plants have passed from its flowering season, it can be divided usingsterile pruning shears into 3 pseudobulbs each and mounted on clay pots with charcoal orcoconut husks. The wound needs to be sealed with a fungicides paste (a teaspoon of wateradded in 2 teaspoon fungicide powder) to prevent entry of fungal diseases into the wound. Long

pseudobulbs or stems can also be cut with 3 nodes for each segment, and usually each stemsegment will develop a plantlet or keikis. The fastest and efficient way of propagation is throughorchid seed culture technology in the laboratory. Flowers of selected plants are pollinated, andtheir seed capsules are allowed to mature. Dendrobium seed capsules mature in about 3months. They usually contain about 20,000 seeds! The seeds are then sown in the laboratory ina glass vessel with an artificial nutrient medium. The seeds will germinate in a months and willbecome hardy seedlings in a years time. Then, they are out-planted in the nursery where theymature and flower from 1.5 to 2 years time.


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ALL SET FOR THE STAGING OF 2ND FLORA FILIPINA

At last! Everything is set for the staging of the much awaited 2nd

Flora Filipina Expo onFebruary 6-16, 2009 at the Orchidarium Park, Quezon City Hall, East Avenue corner EllipticalRoad, Diliman, Quezon City. Through the leadership of the Philippine Orchid Society (POS), the

countrys various garden clubs and the major key players of the ornamental plant industry willconvene in this prestigious event at the iconic heart of Quezon City. This years event will bemuch larger than the previous one 3 years ago and will again put the Philippines in the map offloriculture tourism.

Past POS President Mr.Manolo Lopez and CongressmanCynthia Villar will be the guests ofhonor who would be leading the ribboncutting ceremony of the Flora Filipinathis coming February 05, at 4:00 in theafternoon.

The event aims to boost themorale of the countrys horticulturalindustry, with the blessings of theDepartment of Tourism, Department ofAgriculture and the Quezon Citygovernment. The Flora Filipina Expohas become a major Philippine tourismevent, and it aims to create awarenessamong Filipino horticulture enthusiastsand also foreign plant growers aboutthe beauty and value of Philippine plantspecies. This is also an event whereinwe are inviting foreigners to visit ourislands and see our wide collection offlora species.

The Flora Filipina Expo isproud to have about 90 commercialbooths who will be trading to the publicselected and rare orchids, ferns,bromeliads, aroids, palms, floweringannuals, hoyas, epiphytes, bonsai, treeseedlings, seeds, including gardenaccessories, fertilizers, and pesticides.The event will be having as many as 40

exhibit booths at the lagoon area. So, do not forget your cameras!

A 2-day Scientific Conference will also be staged at the Conference Hall of the Bureau ofSoils, (besides the Department of Agriculture), Visayas Avenue corner Elliptical Road, Diliman,Quezon City on February 6-7, 2009. Topics includes: production and research results in orchids,bromeliads, ferns, hibiscus, palms, cacti, succulents, mussaenda, raffesia, the use of beneficialmicroorganisms, landscaping, horticultural internet marketing and a lot more. Along with theseare presentation of horticultural technologies in France, Hawaii (US), Thailand and Singapore.

There will also be a free-daily lecture at the exhibit site. With this, the event is expectingmore than 25,000 visitors. Foreign delegates and participants from the provinces will be arriving


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on the first week of February to attend the opening of the event, the conference and the specialorganized tours.

The Philippines is certainly is a rich plant habitat and is truly an ideal place to grow bothtropical and semi-temperate crops. Some of the rare orchid species that can actually be found inthe country include the majestic Waling-Waling (Vanda sanderiana), which is the Queen of thePhilippine Orchids, Vanda luzonica, Phalaenopsis amabilis and otherPhalaenopsis species, theBlack orchid (Trichoglottis brachiata), various Lady slipper orchids (Paphiopedilum species), justto name a few. This season is the flowering of the Dendrobium anosmum (Sanggumay) and theButterfly Orchids (Phalaenopsis species and hybrids). For ornamentals, we have the jade vine(Strongylodon macrobotrys), variousAlocasia species, an assortment of fern species and allies,Hoya and Discidia vines, palms and cycads, and about 27,000 species more of ornamentalplants.

Aside from species, the country can grow and mass produce a lot of introduced orimported ornamental plant hybrids like Euphorbias, Hibiscus, Aglaonema, Alocasia, Cacti,Succulents, and Cattleya orchids. With this, the Philippines certainly has much to offer in terms ofdiversity of garden plants for trade.

The country has a high potential of mass producing and exporting plants abroad,however, we just need to identify problems in marketing which are causing barriers in theexpansion of the Philippine plant trade export industry. With this Flora Filipina event, theorganizers hope to unite the local ornamental plant industry, provide technical assistance and

market opportunities, and in a larger picture push forth the positive growth of the industry.

Rizal Technological University, through the Research & Development Center, will beparticipating with the Plant Biotech Project and the Mushroom Technology Project setting up anExhibit Booth at the Show Site. This is to promote the Universitys thrust and projects.

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The Urban Gardener 5