My Year of Orchids: Nature dictates form and function

Nature tells us. Dying things take their time. Dead things hang on. A yellowing leaf is sending nutrients back into the plant. A dead leaf or stem may channel water to the living plant body. It may be a hiding place for beneficial bugs and microbes. What looks dead may even have a bank of meristem cells waiting to become activated and form a new flowering stalk or leaf structure. Leave that “dead” branch be.

Papery sheaths that grow around Dendrobium stems are said to be a nuisance by some. Cut them off! they tell me. Thrips may be hiding in there! Fungi can rot the stem! Not in the outdoors where there’s strong sun and a welcome breeze. Those sheaths protect a flowering stem that may pop back. They store a little extra water that can trickle down to the base of the plant. Or they may just sit there and do nothing. Nature doesn’t care. Just leave them there!

Roots may look dead but better to let them remain and dangle. The plant manufactures all its own tissue so better to leave it up to the plant how to use that tissue once it’s gone brown. Let the roots dangle. Let the plant do its thing. Trust the natural processes that orchids developed over hundreds of millions of years. Evolution dictates their form and function and we are but observers.