Orchid Species Culture: Dendrobium - Paperback

by Charles O. Baker (Author), Margaret Baker (Author)

Replicating the climate of an orchid's native habitat is a key to the successful culture of a species and its hybrids. This ingenious book provides monthly rainfall and temperature data for the varied habitats of more than 1200 species of Dendrobium, supplemented by detailed cultural recommendations based on the observations of experienced growers.

Back Jacket

Dendrobium packs a tremendous amount of information in a simple-to-use format. It combines weather records and habitat reports with information from successful growers as the basis for cultural recommendations for all of the more than 1,200 dendrobium species. The book includes a general introduction to orchid culture, plus a detailed appendix on plant nutrients and orchid pests and diseases. Dendrobium growers around the world can continue to rely on the climate tables that provide specific information on the seasonal climate in each plant's native habitat. Numerous commercial growers have found that slight modifications in their growing conditions have dramatically improved the health and growth rates of their plants. By adjusting the length of the rest period, temperatures, humidity, or amount and timing of water and fertilizer, growers are able to solve growth problems and prevent disease.

Author Biography

Charles Baker is an avid gardener and former meteorologist with the National Weather Service. With his late wife, Margaret Baker, he wrote Orchid Species Culture: Dendrobium and Orchid Species Culture: Pescatorea, Phaius, Phalaenopsis, Pholidota, Phragmipedium, and Pleione, as well as numerous articles for Orchids (the publication of the American Orchid Society) and Orchid Digest. The Bakers spent most of their careers in Alaska, where Charlie worked as a meteorologist for more than thirty years and Marg was a scrimshaw artist, jewelry maker, and administrator in the Alaskan bush. After moving to Portland, Oregon, the Bakers became avid amateur orchid enthusiasts and frequent contributors to Orchids, Orchid Advocate, and Orchid Hunter, among other journals.
Margaret Baker was a frequent contributor to the American Orchid Society Bulletin. She was an avid amateur orchid enthusiast and with her husband Charles previously wrote Orchid Species Culture: Dendrobium and Orchid Species Culture: Pescatorea, Phaius, Phalaenopsis, Pholidota, Phragmipedium, and Pleione published by Timber Press. Margaret Baker died in 2003.