Potted tubers                                     Two-legged tuber      

                                  

                                                 

                                              

                                                              Flower in spring 

What’s happening in the Grow Local nursery?  The new propagation  experiment for ground orchids is underway. All you can see at present is a number of pots with white tags, but under there are the dormant tubers waiting for autumn to sprout forth their new leaves. Native terrestrial orchids are topsy-turvy in their growing - being dormant in summer. I have to be careful to give them minimal water during this time. At a time when all other plants are at their maximum water usage, these little fella’s need very little. It’s hard to walk past without watering.

The trial is to increase the population of Diuris tricolor, a Donkey Orchid. This is classed as a vulnerable species and any new tubers will eventually go back in the ground near where they were collected or on nearby offsets.

Terrestrial orchids have a symbiotic relationship with micorrhyzal fungi, so I have to add a little original soil from the site to introduce the correct fungi to the potting mix.