[quote='Steve[_2_];939270']On 10/9/2011 12:16 PM, James Holden wrote:
We have bee Orchids growing in our field and have flowered.
They have finished now and we want to cut the field but a farmer said if
we do we will kill the Orchids?
Any ideas what to do?



Britain's wild orchids are fascinating and elusive. The Bee Orchid can be thick on the ground one year, absent entirely the next and just one or two the year after. They are perennials though, but just have dormant years. They need to attract bumble bees for pollination, but then the seeds are like dust and carry no food. So the seeds blow away and when they settle, they will only germinate and grow if the right type of fungus is in the soil. They join with the fungus and feed off it. Other orchids are totally parasitic and some like the Ghost Orchid only appear and flower every 18 years! Weird! Hope to get to the fens next week to find Marsh Helleborine.