Pterostylis curta?

[Forever-mango]

My parents went to the Bankstown Orchid Club Branch meeting tonight and brought back 2 new orchids. One is a Dendrobium and another which has a tag with Pterostylis curta on it. I have been looking at the plant and the orchid mix is quite dry. I was wondering if anyone has some culturing notes on these guys. Its the first seeing this plant and looks quite fragile. It looks like its in spikes too, my dad told me that after it flowers you can just throw it to the side and dont touch it until spring. Can someone correct on this?

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Forever-mango

I have been looking at the plant and the orchid mix is quite dry. I was wondering if anyone has some culturing notes on these guys. ?

Pterostylis curta is a reasonably easy orchid to grow if you keep in mind that they have more in common with potted bulbs than epiphytic orchids. Try the following links from the ANOS Vic and ASGAP websites. These notes are written for general Australian terrestrial orchid culture. You can stray quite far away from the advice given in these notes and still get good results with curta. However, if you decide to grow any other native terrestrials, you'll find they are less tolerant of abuse so you're better off learning good habits from the start.

At this time of year (for Sydney), you should be aiming to keep your potting mix somewhere between damp to moist. Most of the commonly used terrestrial mixes can be a little difficult to judge water content. Even though the surface of the mix can appear dry, if you dig down a couple of cm's the mix can still be quite moist. As with epiphytic orchids, you can get a reasonably good idea of how wet the mix is by keeping the name tag about an inch or two below the surface of the mix and keeping an eye on how wet the bottom of the name tag is. If the bottom of the tag is dry water the pot. If the tag is still damp to touch, leave the mix to dry out more.

Originally Posted by Forever-mango

my dad told me that after it flowers you can just throw it to the side and dont touch it until spring. Can someone correct on this?

I don't really agree with this. The problem with curta is that it will take a lot of abuse so I find a lot of people get a mindset that "what doesn't kill it is the best way to grow it". IMO you should keep the water up to it until mid-late spring and cut back on the water as the leaves start to dry out. Spring is when you get the bulk of tuber production. If you don't keep the water up in spring, you'll reduce the size and number of tubers formed and, as a consequence, you'll compromise next year's flowers. Be aware that the wetter conditions in Sydney during the warmer months means that you need to take extra care with watering. Ideally, if you're in the eastern states, it's best to grow these plants in a area protected by the rain so that you can can be in complete control of the watering.

Good luck with them.