This is how commercial orchids were born.

Carry forward the national orchid culture and spread the knowledge of orchids

After years of efforts, the orchid factory has cultivated orchids growing on the cliffs of the Hawaiian Islands into fine potted orchids and sold them all over the world, so that more people can appreciate their distinctive beauty.

The Orchid Factory is located on the island of Hawaii. Its main work is to domesticate and cross the peculiar local orchids and cultivate more novel potted orchids. According to the USDA's 1999 Horticultural crop Statistics report, orchids have become the second best-selling potted flower in the country after poinsettia. For the orchid factory, this is undoubtedly an exciting good news. In a good environment, the company's sales performance has been rising in recent years.

Today, the company focuses on the local plants of the genus Phalaenopsis, trying to carry out mass production so that these "arrogant" orchids can smoothly enter the homes of ordinary people and add color to people's lives.

In the minds of Jim McRiley, the owner of the company, and Glenn Buffy, the manager, the real fine orchid should be a perfect plant. 80% of the product quality standards of orchids are focused on flower color, plant type and growth, while the remaining 20% are judged on the specifications, shape and root growth of pots. "products that meet the standards are generally grown in nutrition bowls with a 4-inch diameter, usually between 24 cm and 36 cm in height." Glenn said, "according to the company's consumer research activities, customers like orchids with stout flowers, a large number of buds, bright colors and healthy leaves. In addition, they also hope that orchids can have good aesthetic and artistic effects and give people more wonderful visual enjoyment. "

In the workshop, Jim showed off the company's products and said, "if you want to produce unique orchids, you must first increase the variety of products, that is, to prepare for hybridization." Because of the special plant learning property of orchids, it is very difficult to cross varieties directly by pollination. Therefore, hybridization has become a time-consuming and energy-consuming process in the whole production process. "

Hybridization begins with artificial pollination, and every step requires workers to put their heart and soul into it. "in 100 samples, about 3 plants will form pods containing seeds. The seeds in the pods are taken out and placed in a test tube, and then they are uniformly placed in the company's laboratory for cultivation. The artificial cradle is a sterilized airtight incubator with an advanced air filter and a rubber glove handle. According to years of experience, each cross experiment requires at least 200 orchid samples to get the desired product traits. "

Successful hybrid orchid seedlings should be sent to an advanced biology laboratory in California for virus scanning and confirmation before they can be put into production. The company has been doing this research for 16 years, during which time California laboratories have helped the company detect 24 orchid viruses. After the continuous improvement of orchid varieties by experimenters, the quality of orchids of the company has been continuously improved and exported to Thailand and other Asian countries for asexual reproduction and bottle production. Glenn estimates that the company has cultivated more than 80 varieties of orchids using about 500 species of orchids.

David Miranda is the department manager in charge of bottle removal at the company. According to David, in order to safely remove the strong orchids from the bottle, they usually use cloth materials to wrap the orchid seedlings before bottling. In this way, a good isolation layer is formed between the plant and the glass, which will not cause harm to the plant when the orchid comes off the bottle.

When the orchid comes off the bottle, the workers will put the cultivation bottle in the bucket and shake them carefully. When the aqueous solution slowly enters the bottle, the roots and medium become loose after absorbing water, the orchid can be easily removed, and the medium can peel off smoothly from the seedlings. According to the plant size, the preliminary grading of the product can also be carried out while this operation is carried out. The company has to complete at least 800000 orchid de-bottling treatments every year, which shows the large production of orchids.

After taking off the bottle, the workers will plant the young plants in a 72-hole hole tray. "the substrates we use are usually washed coconut bran and perlite." "once the young orchid plants are on the plate, use pesticides and fungicides," David said. Because the cultivation medium contains fungal substances, and some media are still bacterial carriers, sterilization is inevitable in order to prevent the occurrence of diseases. "

In addition to sterilization, David also uses integrated pest management to reduce the occurrence of insect pests. He hung the armyworm board next to the nursery bed with a burrowing plate to observe the pests. In addition, he also used insect growth hormone to block the life cycle of pests. "understanding the living habits of insects has saved us a lot of money in the prevention and control of diseases and insect pests." And the current pest control measures are safe and scientific, and will not cause harm to plants and people. "

From the cultivation bottle to the greenhouse, the living environment and the source of nutrient supply of seedlings have changed, so the supply of nutrients and water is particularly important. "depending on the weather, we use irrigation sprinklers to fertilize with water two or three times a week," David said. With the change of growth stage and season, the application concentration of various nutrients was adjusted according to the principle of nutrient balance. All the irrigation water comes from the company's own wells. In addition to water purification, workers also replenish the water with nutrients containing calcium and magnesium at any time according to their growth needs. "

In Hawaii, low temperatures are the biggest problem for orchid production. As a result, all the orchids of the company are grown in greenhouses with automatic temperature and humidity regulation. In order to dissipate heat as soon as possible, the greenhouse is also equipped with side windows and skylights that can be lifted automatically. In order to reduce the temperature and light intensity, the company uses a sunshade net with a shading rate of 60%.

According to Monica Morose, the company's office manager, most of the company's customers are local florists. To save delivery time, the company uses FedEx to ship products. They have to deliver at least 1 million product parcels a year to meet market demand.

In addition, the company's website also provides florists around the country with variety photos, product trend forecasts, key points of cultivation techniques, and other services such as online ordering. "in order to make more orchid producers have access to our products, the company not only strictly controls the quality, improves the level of factory production, makes every effort to control diseases and insect pests, but also tries to keep product prices as low as possible. The purpose of this is to make the orchids of the Hawaiian Islands open in more places, so that more people can smell the flowers. " Jim said confidently.

Orchids, you are a good teacher on the way to raise orchids.