To trim or not to trim Phalaenopsis orchids

Published 4:55 am Thursday, January 11, 2018

Dear Neil: I have two Phalaenopsis orchids that I really enjoy in bloom. However, when they finish flowering I never know how much of the old stem to cut off. This year they are blooming at the ends of the old stems. Do you have any suggestions?

A: Great question, because even the American Orchid Society gives you several options. On their website they say that of all the common genera of orchids (one of the largest plant families in the world), only Phalaenopsis plants will produce new flower spikes from old stems. However, sometimes they can originate so far out on the old stems that the spikes become rather gangly. Some enthusiasts prefer to trim away most of the old stems, leaving a couple of inches at the base (two or three nodes where flowers were attached). When you use this latter option you will have strong, straight stems that are more easily trained to stakes. I’ve done both. I normally leave the old stem unless it turns brown and shrivels, but when I do leave the old stems my flower spikes are occasionally oddly shaped and hard to manage. It’s your call.

TO HOT FOR RHUBARB

Dear Neil: I see rhubarb for sale in one of the home centers, but I don’t hear people talking about it here in Texas. Will it grow here?

A: Not like it does in colder northern climates. It just can’t handle our summers. As soon as I write that there will be someone who will try it just to defy the laws of nature, but in a career of helping Texas gardeners, I’ve never seen it grow well. I helped harvest an acre of it on the Ohio State University campus when I was in graduate school, so I know how productive it can be. My mom, who grew up in Nebraska, used to talk about it as I was a young gardener in College Station. Her family had grown it when she was a child, but she knew it wasn’t suited to Texas. Once I saw how well it did in Ohio I understood much better.

ST. AUGUSTINE TRANSPLANT

Dear Neil: We are remodeling and are going to be taking out probably 400 square feet of St. Augustine sod sometime in early February. Can it be dug and replanted successfully at that time? I have an area where I could use it.

A: It’s certainly worth a try, especially that late in the winter. The secret will be in taking 2 to 2 1/2 inches of topsoil with it so you’ll get most of its roots. Get it replanted right away and water it well. Its success will depend to a large degree on any extreme cold that might come after it’s been moved.

ROOTING WEEPING WILLOW

Dear Neil: We had a weeping willow next to a pond where I grew up. The old tree is just about dead now — just one living branch. Is there any way I can start a new tree from it?

A: They are rooted from cuttings. I used to root them in a bucket of water, and I’d take cuttings about 1 foot long and the size of a pencil just before their buds started to swell and open in the spring. Because the stems weep, you have to be careful to stick them into the water in the correct direction (end that was closest to the root system goes into the water). They will sprout roots within a couple of weeks, at which time you can pot them into 2-gallon containers to grow for a couple of months. They’re one of the few trees that can be started from cuttings, and they’re one of the few plants that I actually root in water.

Have a question you’d like Neil to consider? Mail it to him in care of this newspaper or e-mail him at mailbag@sperrygardens.com. Neil regrets that he cannot reply to questions individually.