Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Orchid Horticulture in the Philippines


One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in the Philippines was that many people grew orchids, and the more I looked, the more I saw - approximately 1 in every 5 homes had orchids in their yard! It was happening everywhere, from cities to small isolated fishing villages! I saw mainly Vandas, Dendrobiums, Onicidiums, Phalaenopsis and Brassias, grown outdoors on dead stumps and tree trunks and some even had shaded areas fashioned from screens and bamboo. I was quite surprised at the abundance of personal orchid horticulture I saw, it can be such a pricey hobby that I assumed gardeners in less developed countries to grow more economical plants. I did know that many orchids grow naturally on the Philippine Islands and I'll admit that the thought of orchid poaching went through my mind. However, on a visit to my first commercial grower I quickly dismissed the thought that the whole country was taking orchids from the wild. I learned that most of the orchids that I saw in gardens are popular hybrids and they are very cheap. For instance I was quoted a price of $30 CAN for a 5' tree trunk with a cement base and 4-6 blooming Vandas, and that's the "tourist price". My dream - to live in a place where you can grow orchids outdoors and for a fraction of the price it would cost you in Canada.

6 Comments:

At 4:47 p.m., Blogger High Power Rocketry said...

I love air plants the most (orchids or not). I love bromeliads as well. The idea that some have crabs, frogs, and other animals living within them is great. Typical nature :)

Bono is Brian Peppers!
Cant play Quake 3

 
At 7:27 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

i'm surprised that you think of orhids as pricey. are orchids really expensive in canada? i'm from the philippines and i happened to read your blog. well here in our country,only serious orchid growers spend much money on growing orhids. most of the people here can ask them from neighbors, or relatives.

thanks though for your interest in philippine orchids. most orchid growers are in Davao, in the Mindanao island, south of the country. there they grow the really expensive ones. bye

 
At 9:26 p.m., Blogger Online Degree said...

I think that they can be a bit pricey here in the U.S. as well. Too bad they aren't native to my area :(

 
At 8:46 a.m., Blogger High Power Rocketry said...

Well guys ill be the one to say it: orchids are free if you know what you are doing.

Attend flower stores, botanical gardens, etc...

And you will find tiny budding orchids on other plants. Often these will be discarded on the ground or off to the side. Yet these grow into normal plants. So if you really wanted, you could get them (and any other plants) for free. And that is without looting the natural forest for them, which is something I am totally against.

 
At 10:56 p.m., Blogger nievamarie said...

Yup, we had it here in the Philippines. My mom use to grow several kinds of orchids in our front yard. :)

 
At 3:36 p.m., Blogger Funkybrewster said...

I am very happy to see that the blog is being read across the globe! thanks for your comments from the Philippines, keep checking as I am going to post some more pics that I took of orchids when I was there. I loved the Philippines and will return very soon.

 

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