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orchid greenhouse visit in Milwaukee, WI area
I just came back from a visit to family in the Milwaukee, WI area. Among the
many attractions during the visit (that included two very cute nephews, as well as my mother-in-law's orchids), we went to visit an orchid greenhouse called Bettencourt Acres Orchids in Mequon, WI. This visit was very interesting and thus I think deserves a report on RGO: I found Bettencourt Acres Orchids through a Web search on some Web site listing a bunch of vendors in the Midwest, since it was in the Milwaukee area, I naturally had to visit (only because I needed an additional present for my mother-in-law, of course). When I called, Mr. Bettencourt told me in the directions "and then you get to a tar road, which becomes a gravel road, it's a dead end street, and Bettencourt Acres is at the end, we are the only thing out there, so you can't miss it." It indeed was a bit out of the way, and the entrance to the greenhouse is through some kind of garage or shack. It's a one man operation. Mr. Bettencourt (I don't know his first name) was very welcoming. He has been growing orchids for about 20 years, and is hybridizing with very specific goals in mind (for example: a non-fading lemon yellow Phal). The greenhouse makes the impression more of a lab than an orchid greenhouse. It is meticulously organized with all orchids for sale in the front part and the breeding plants clearly labeled. Further back, there are shelves of flasks, and some non-Phal orchids as well, but there were only Phals for sale, and only in spike (no plants in bloom and none out of spike in the for sale area). Phals with single spikes sold for $10, and two (or more) spikes Phals sold for $15, with the vendor encouraging his clients to buy single spike because it's cheaper (but that part of the sales pitch fell on deaf ears in our case). All the plants are in pure white perlite medium. The watering is computerized with watering hoses connected to each plant pot, and at Bettencourt Acres all orchids get watered with two ounces of water ever 21 days -- all the Phals that we saw were healthy looking and meticulously kept up. Upending the potting medium into a bowl, root trimming, and refilling with the existing all perlite medium is done in this greenhouse about once a month, and Mr. Bettencourt suggests this frequency to his clients in his brochure. He stressed how easy it is to do this in the perlite medium and demonstrated on two plants for us. I have never before seen such a thorough root trimming demonstration, explaining exactly why one root gets trimmed and another does not. We noticed that none of the orchids in this greenhouse have aerial roots. The reason for this is that if there are any aerial roots any leaves below these roots are yanked out by Mr. Bettencourt, and the plant put back in its pot with all roots in the perlite. As a results most have 3-4 leaves, but a few plants had as many as 7-8 leaves without any aerial roots (no doubt they do not dare put them out :-). The Phals that were for sale were all labeled, but I suspect that the names were not official names but Mr. Bettencourt's own names for these hybrids, he referred to them as Mabel, Adam, etc., with Mabels all being bred for as dark an "orchid color" (that's pink) as possible. Overall it was a very interesting visit. From my account, you can see that Mr. Bettencourt does a few things somewhat differently than you may have encountered in other greenhouses, however as already mentioned all the plants we saw were healthy looking, so I believe that even though he has a different approach, it works for him and his orchids. He was very friendly, very informative, and obviously delighted to show his greenhouse to others. If you ever are in the area, I would recommend the visit, not only since there are no other orchid specific greenhouses in the area (at least none that I know of), but because it is an interesting place showing a very different approach to orchid growing than in most greenhouses. Oh, and the prices are very reasonable, too. I bought three orchids for presents, so they don't really count toward my orchid acquisition, so I will have to go and buy some orchids for myself soonish again, right? Joanna |
#2
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Thanks for the report, Joanna.
It sound like he is sort of using a variant of S/H culture (straight perlite is how I started, too), but with automated watering rather than with a reservoir. Monthly repotting??? Sheesh, what a lot of work. -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info! .. "J Fortuna" wrote in message news:CbgBd.20587$_62.9852@trnddc01... I just came back from a visit to family in the Milwaukee, WI area. Among the many attractions during the visit (that included two very cute nephews, as well as my mother-in-law's orchids), we went to visit an orchid greenhouse called Bettencourt Acres Orchids in Mequon, WI. This visit was very interesting and thus I think deserves a report on RGO: I found Bettencourt Acres Orchids through a Web search on some Web site listing a bunch of vendors in the Midwest, since it was in the Milwaukee area, I naturally had to visit (only because I needed an additional present for my mother-in-law, of course). When I called, Mr. Bettencourt told me in the directions "and then you get to a tar road, which becomes a gravel road, it's a dead end street, and Bettencourt Acres is at the end, we are the only thing out there, so you can't miss it." It indeed was a bit out of the way, and the entrance to the greenhouse is through some kind of garage or shack. It's a one man operation. Mr. Bettencourt (I don't know his first name) was very welcoming. He has been growing orchids for about 20 years, and is hybridizing with very specific goals in mind (for example: a non-fading lemon yellow Phal). The greenhouse makes the impression more of a lab than an orchid greenhouse. It is meticulously organized with all orchids for sale in the front part and the breeding plants clearly labeled. Further back, there are shelves of flasks, and some non-Phal orchids as well, but there were only Phals for sale, and only in spike (no plants in bloom and none out of spike in the for sale area). Phals with single spikes sold for $10, and two (or more) spikes Phals sold for $15, with the vendor encouraging his clients to buy single spike because it's cheaper (but that part of the sales pitch fell on deaf ears in our case). All the plants are in pure white perlite medium. The watering is computerized with watering hoses connected to each plant pot, and at Bettencourt Acres all orchids get watered with two ounces of water ever 21 days -- all the Phals that we saw were healthy looking and meticulously kept up. Upending the potting medium into a bowl, root trimming, and refilling with the existing all perlite medium is done in this greenhouse about once a month, and Mr. Bettencourt suggests this frequency to his clients in his brochure. He stressed how easy it is to do this in the perlite medium and demonstrated on two plants for us. I have never before seen such a thorough root trimming demonstration, explaining exactly why one root gets trimmed and another does not. We noticed that none of the orchids in this greenhouse have aerial roots. The reason for this is that if there are any aerial roots any leaves below these roots are yanked out by Mr. Bettencourt, and the plant put back in its pot with all roots in the perlite. As a results most have 3-4 leaves, but a few plants had as many as 7-8 leaves without any aerial roots (no doubt they do not dare put them out :-). The Phals that were for sale were all labeled, but I suspect that the names were not official names but Mr. Bettencourt's own names for these hybrids, he referred to them as Mabel, Adam, etc., with Mabels all being bred for as dark an "orchid color" (that's pink) as possible. Overall it was a very interesting visit. From my account, you can see that Mr. Bettencourt does a few things somewhat differently than you may have encountered in other greenhouses, however as already mentioned all the plants we saw were healthy looking, so I believe that even though he has a different approach, it works for him and his orchids. He was very friendly, very informative, and obviously delighted to show his greenhouse to others. If you ever are in the area, I would recommend the visit, not only since there are no other orchid specific greenhouses in the area (at least none that I know of), but because it is an interesting place showing a very different approach to orchid growing than in most greenhouses. Oh, and the prices are very reasonable, too. I bought three orchids for presents, so they don't really count toward my orchid acquisition, so I will have to go and buy some orchids for myself soonish again, right? Joanna |
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