Flower blooms power visit

THE September activity of Women on Farms, West Gippsland was to visit Princes Way Orchids at Drouin owned by Ken and Bev Purcell.
Ken was a dairy farmer at Athlone for 40 years and became interested in orchids as a young man through a friend who grew them.
Ken grew cymbidium orchids for 30 years as a hobby but found them difficult to grow at Athlone because the frosts were so severe.
Ken and Bev have been growing orchids full time for eight years at Drouin and sell to the wholesale trade and door sales.
Cymbidium orchids are the mainstay of most orchid collections.
From some 70 species thousands of hybrids have been developed.
It takes between five and seven years to grow an orchid from seed to flowering.
Orchids live forever and Ken has some from 1923.
They will always flower the same.
They are prone to a virus that comes from the tobacco plant so cleanliness is essential when dividing plants.
Ken sterilises a knife with a gas flame or uses brand new cheap steak knives to cut the pots off.
He advises never to use an axe to divide an orchid as this will damage the plant and growth shoots and to gently tease the roots apart not cut them as this can introduce infection.
Orchids do best on the east side of the house, never on the ground.
They must be raised on bricks for drainage or the bottom of the plant will rot.
They are planted into pine bark chips or coconut fibre so watering at least every second day is essential.
They are repotted after one to two years and this is done after flowering.
The flowers start to come in May and go through until November.
November is the best time to fertilise with one tablespoon of Osmocote or a manure tea (diluted manure).
Growing orchids from seed or tissue culture is a job for professional laboratories.
Ken sends seeds or a piece of plant to a laboratory in South Australia.
The seeds are specially treated then planted in a sterile flask of agar.
The plants remain in this flask for about 14 months then are planted out into tubes where they stay for 18 months to two years.
Tissue culture produces about 500 plants from one piece of plant.
Ken and Bev employ two people who are just as passionate about orchids as they are.
Ken and Bev also show their orchids and were heading off to the 10th Anniversary Ararat Orchid Show run by the Cymbidium Orchid Club of Victoria of which they are members.
Ararat is called the ‘Orchid City’ as it means ‘orchid’ in the aboriginal language.
Ken and Bev planned to take about 20 magnificent orchids of all colours tot he show.
The Purcells usually do very well at the orchid shows and say it is a great social time to get together with other orchid lovers.
The group was able to wander through the sheds admiring the many different colours and varieties and purchased many orchids to take home or as gifts.
The October activity of Women on Farms is to visit the Pakenham sewerage farm.
This will be a guided tour showing the process used to treat raw sewage through to clean water used to irrigate local farmers’ pastures.
Women on Farms meets on the first Tuesday of the month to visit a different farming enterprise.
It is open to anyone with an interest in farming whether on a large or small scale.
Women on Farms are having a stand at the Poowong Dairy Expo on 28 and 29 September so more information on the group can be found there.
Alternatively phone Evelyn on 5634 4220 or visit the website at www.womenonfarms.org.