Propagating bamboo orchids

Dendrobium or ‘bamboo’ orchids make great indoor plants, and with the right know-how you can propagate your own by following Steve and Val Bradley’s advice

- Steve and Val Bradley

THERE was a time when the only place to see orchids was in a botanic collection because they were expensive treasures, brought back to this country from around the world by traders and collectors. Originally, wealthy merchants would use them to show off to their friends (and rivals) to prove just how rich they were, not just acquiring these exotic plants from all over the world, but also affording the conditions to keep them alive here.

Gradually, these collections were lost or given to specialist centres like botanic gardens, where there were facilities designed to provide warmth and humidity, and the growers who knew how to tend their charges.

Dramatic change in the 1970s

The introduction of micropropagation in the 1970s changed plant growing, because by using just a few cells, grown in special gels, it became possible to grow new plants by the thousand at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. These days, orchids are hugely popular indoor plants and the number of species available is increasing all the time.

Dendrobium nobile

There are around 1,800 species of Dendrobium orchids, making them one of the largest of all the orchid groups. In the UK, we usually see the white or purple-tinted Dendrobium nobile (‘bamboo orchids’) for sale in full bloom with one or sometimes two stems of attractive honey-scented flowers.