Dracula

Draculas offer enchanting variety and almost constant blooms if their growing needs are met. As a group, they enjoy cool-intermediate temperatures (and tolerate short periods of warmer temperatures), moderately bright light and good humidity and air movement. Most are grown in NZ sphagnum moss in net pots, due to the tendency of many species to send flower spikes out through the pot side or bottom. For perfect growth, they should be repotted into new moss at least once a year.

Sr. Andrew Maduro has one of the largest and most complete collections of Draculas in the world. His nursery at 6,500 feet elevation is named "Finca Dracula" (Dracula Farm). According to Dr. Robert Dressler, there are four species of Dracula found in Panama.

Catalog Codes: Plant Size: S=seedling (3-5" leaf span), LS=large seedling (6+ leaf span), NBS=near-blooming size, BS=blooming size, MC=mericlone, D=division, MT=mounted

Plant Culture Codes:
Preferred Temperature: Cool (55-75 F); Intermediate (60-85 F); Warm (65-85 F)
Preferred Light Levels: Shady (Paph); Moderate (Phal); Moderately Bright (Cattleya); Bright (Vanda)

What You May Expect From the Plants We Ship:
We are very excited to bring you plants from Panama through our joint venture with Maduro's Tropical Flowers. Many of the species and hybrids we offer are available no where else! We would like to provide insight into what you may expect when your receive your plants.

Although we sell only nursery-grown divisions or seedlings, the fact that they are shipped from Panama may result in the need to reestablish the plants here in the U.S. In many cases, we do this for you. In other cases, freshly imported plants sent to you may need a little special care initially to get them growing well under your growing conditions. Mounted plants grown in Panama may arrive on our "artifcial logs" (dreamed up by Lynn) which allows us to import plants that will suffer greatly from being cut from their mounts (which we can not import, as most are wood or forest products). Orchids cultivated in pots or dug up from Maduro's 20 acre orchid garden (for example, Sobralias) must be shipped bare root (that is with no potting material), so the plants may be inspected. This is ususally done by the use of net bags filled with fresh moss surrounding the roots (again, thanks to Lynn's great idea). This allows the plants to begin the establishment and rerooting process, as soon as they arrive, and even before we pot them!

When you receive freshly imported plants or plants sent to you bareroot, you should pot the plants into a clean pot with fresh growing medium. We have found that long-strand sphagnum moss (available from your local orchid supply company) is ideal for the first 6-10 months. Use a plastic pot that is just large enough to comfortably contain the root ball and have room for moss to be added. It is important that the moss be wet when you are potting the orchid (dry moss will absorb water, swell, and suffocate the new roots. Pack the moss in loosely, but firmly enough to support the plant (tall plants may need to be tied to a stake for support). Water thoroughly, and the place the plant in a humid position in your growing area. If leaves were damaged in trasit, they may be removed with a sharp CLEAN knife. Do not reuse the knife on other plants until it has been cleaned again (single edge razor blades from the paint store work very well!). If a ding or scratch results in the start of a rot, treat the plant with a fungicide.

To help guide your expectations for specific plants we offer, we are instituting the following codes for guidance:
Seedling: indicates plant was grown from seed, is not yet blooming size, and will probably be shipped to you in pot.
Division: indicates that the plant is a division, and has been established by us for you. These plants may be shipped in pot, or may be sent bareroot (wrapped in moss or shredded paper) if the pot is too large to ship economically.
New Division: Indicates that the plant is a fresh divsion from one of our stock plants, or was recently imported from Panama. These plants will be sent bare root, and may arrive in the net moss bag that accompanied them from Panama. They may need some establishment before they will be ready to flower well. Remember, that in our Maryland greenhouse, these new divisions root and establish rapidly. Consequently many of the "new divisions" we ship to our customers will be well on their way to being fully established!