How to grow Huilan to thrive
Today, the editor will explain how to grow Huilan to thrive, as well as the growth environment and regional green plants and flowers. Next, the editor will introduce to everyone.
I. Morphological characteristics of Huilan Huilan is the most cold-tolerant terrestrial orchid among the national orchids. With many flowers and tall stems, it is compared by the Chinese to the demeanor of a scholar-official and is highly regarded in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai areas, making it the provincial flower. It also has many aliases, with different names in various regions, collectively known as Huilan. The leaves usually number 5-11, measuring 30 to 80 centimeters or even over 1 meter in length, 0.8-1.5 centimeters in width, rough in texture, thick and hard, concave in the middle, without a petiole ring, with small pseudobulbs wrapped in the leaves, and sharp, rough sawtooth edges that can easily cut the skin. The leaf bases of mature plantlets gradually separate, no longer tightly wrapping, making them the longest among the seven types of national orchid flowers. The leaves can be used to tie firewood. There are also dwarf plantlets with narrow and short leaves in Huilan.
The flowering period of Huilan is from April to May, with robust and erect flower spikes that emerge from the outer leaves or leaf sheaths of the pseudobulbs. According to traditional habits, they are classified into red, green, red-green, white-green, and other types based on the color of the flower spikes and sheaths. The flower spikes are taller than or equal to the leaves, with 5 to 12 or more flowers, and the base of the flower sheath has a transparent nectar gland that secretes a sweet-tasting nectar. The flower color is usually light green or light yellow, often with purple red veins and spots, the lip has purple red spots, and the lip tip is recurved. The fruit is narrowly elliptical, measuring 4.5-5.5 centimeters.
II. Regional distribution of Huilan Huilan is distributed in Taiwan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and the three southwestern provinces, with a distribution range slightly less than that of Chunlan. It grows in the forest understory, forest edge shrub grasslands, and moist bright areas at altitudes of 800 to 3000 meters.
III. Growth habits of Huilan The suitable temperature for the growth of Huilan is between 15 to 29 degrees Celsius, not exceeding 34 degrees in summer, not lower than 5 degrees in winter, and the reproductive growth temperature is between 12 to 24 degrees Celsius. Huilan is the most cold-tolerant and heat-tolerant orchid among the national orchids. It loves sunlight and fears darkness, enjoys ventilation and dislikes being blocked, prefers loose soil and dislikes compact soil, enjoys growing in clusters and dislikes being separated, and prefers light fertilizer and dislikes heavy fertilizer.
The pseudobulbs of Huilan are small and cannot store a lot of nutrients, relying on the supply of the roots. The growth of new seedlings is slow, with a general pause required twice during the growing period, during the flower bud differentiation stage and the flowering stage. It usually takes two to three years to grow into a mature plantlet. After the new leaf buds emerge from the ground, there is a slow growth period of about 20 days.
Huilan is the most light-loving orchid among the national orchids, forming a sharp contrast with Chunlan, one small and delicate, the other tall and mighty. Chunlan and Huilan have always been the mainstream of national orchid culture, with the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas being the pioneers of orchid culture. There were more than 30 orchid books in the Qing Dynasty, with 90% of them written by famous masters from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. Zunyi, Guizhou - Zhu Guojun
The sharing above on how to grow Huilan to thrive and the introduction of its growth environment and regions can be used as a reference suggestion.