Effect of media and nutrition on growth and flowering of Cymbidium hybrid ‘H.C. Aurora

Abstract

A trial was conducted to study the influence of the media and frequency of nutrient application on growth and flowering of Cymbidium hybrid ‘H.C. Aurora’. Treatments involved growing of Cymbidium in different combination of media, i.e., M1- perlite + coco peat + brick pieces; M2- coco peat + brick pieces + leaf mould; M3- perlite + brick pieces; M4- thermocol + coco peat + brick pieces; M5- rotten log + sand + coconut husk + brick pieces; M6- Castanopsis hysterix bark + maize cob + leaf mould; M7- leaf mould + sand + coconut husk + brick pieces + charcoal (Farmer’s practice) and spraying of water soluble fertilizer (N19P19K19) at 1 g/l concentration at weekly and biweekly interval. The result indicated that among the vegetative characters, maximum number of shoots (6.11), number of pseudobulb (4.40), pseudobulb girth (3.03 cm), length leaf (37.95 cm), and floral characters like spike length (66.51 cm) and number of spike/m2 (15.04) were recorded at growing media Castanopsis hysterix bark + maize cob + leaf mould. Further frequency of water soluble fertilizer significantly influenced growth and flowering of Cymbidium. Maximum number of shoots (4.54), spike length (54.59 cm) and number of flowers/ spike (10.19) were recorded with biweekly spraying of water soluble fertilizer (1 g/l). Further, the growing media significantly influenced the NPK content of leaves. The physical properties, i.e., pH (6.25), EC (0.23 mmhos/cm2), bulk density (0.52 g/cc) and water holding (49%) of Castanopsis hysterix bark + maize cob + leaf mould medium was found to be better for growth and flowering of Cymbidium orchid.