Plant Imports And The Law
In the 1970′s before orchid import laws changed we would receive plants that were rootless and dry when packed, the pseudo-bulbs and fleshy leaves retained enough water to keep them alive for a long period – long enough to permit shipping them all over the world. The function of the pseudo-bulb (not a true bulb, but merely an enlargement of the stem) is to store food and water to enable the plant to get through the dry season. Fortunate for us that orchids have this characteristic!
The boxed orchids plants traveled by ship or by plane, and when landed were examined by. the US Department of Agriculture and cleared by Customs. Then they went to one of the government’s fumigation centers where they were reexamined and fumigated in a metal chamber with methyl bromide gas at 74 to 81 degrees for two hours. The plants were then examined again, given a clean bill of health and shipped on to the importer.
The trianac plants in the case I received, although they did look quite challenging, were actually in excellent condition. I washed them with soap and water, rinsed and drained them, and then spread them out on a wire bench under shade to await potting. I syringed them several times a day and in three days the potting was completed.
Trimmed off all old sheaths, dead leaves and parts of leaves and bulbs was part of clean up. Sometimes the lead growth, or newest growth, was dead to the rhizome, apparently having been a little too tender when the plant was collected. Such a lead had to be cut off at its base, leaving the woody rhizome intact.
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