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Dig This
Friday, September 22, 2000
By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Scot Mitamura, who is in charge of orchids at
Honolulu Botanical Gardens, primps an Island
Charm cattaleya.
Scot Mitamura was an early bloomer. Deep-rooted
interest in orchidsHe raised birds as a child and bought his feed at Koolau Farmers in Kailua. He soon became friends with the workers at the store and began to learn about what plants they needed on a regular basis. At the age of 12, he began supplying the store.
"I used to go around the neighborhood and clean yards and take cuttings and pot it up and sell it," said Mitamura. At first he grew anything that was in demand, but his focus soon narrowed to orchids.
At the age of 15, he joined the Windward Orchid Society. "I was the only young kid in the orchid society," he said. The experienced growers nurtured his interest.
Mitamura went on to earn a degree in horticulture and he's been growing orchids for 27 of his 42 years. But he doesn't keep all that experience to himself.
As an orchid society member and the horticulturalist in charge of orchids for Honolulu Botanical Gardens, he spends a lot of time teaching others about orchid care.
"One of the missions of the orchid society is to promote orchid culture. I just want to give back for what the old timers have done for me," said Mitamura. "The old timers just know what they need to do to make the orchid grow, they don't really know why.
"Schooling taught me why, the orchid clubs gave me the practical knowledge.
"I guess that's why I can teach a class, I can tie it all together," he said.
Mitamura is offering a class on the basics of orchid growing later this month. He insists growing orchids is easy given a few simple rules.
For a start, Mitamura encourages people to think about how an orchid grows in its natural habitat. In the wild they grow at the ends of tree branches, get watered by the morning rain and dry out during the day. That's what the orchid grower is trying to duplicate, he said. "They actually like to be in the air, they're similar to air plants," said Mitamura.
"People need to understand they should not overwater their orchids. I call it too much care," he said.
Another common mistake is assuming all orchids are alike. Orchids represent the largest family of plants in the kingdom, he said. While many grow well in common local conditions, there are orchids that need cooler climates or other variations in environment.
"They just start collecting whatever they think is nice and they kill half their plants because some of them need cooler temperatures, some of them need little more water, etc.," said Mitamura.
That's where joining an orchid club can be important. There are 26 orchid societies in Hawaii. "These clubs have a great wealth of knowledge, and are the best way to increase your collection," he said.
Mitamura's class will cover lighting and other environmental issues, pesticides and other maintenance issues and growing media and other culture issues. He encourages students to bring problem plants for diagnosis.
Those who attend also will be presented with a cattaleya orchid plant. The cattaleya is Mitamura's specialty and he has hybridized about 500 so far.
ORCHID 101
What: General orchid growing tips, trouble shooting
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
Stephanie Kendrick's gardening column runs Fridays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802
or email skendrick@starbulletin.com
