The Meadow Makers' Network Forum

Cutting times, notes on the early purple orchid, general ID sources and other notes.

Cross ref an email exchange topic of Jan 17 2021, and to the topic Transplanting Orchids on this forum viewtopic.php?f=15&t=256

To encourage or at least try not to lose orchids, this doc is useful for cutting times and mentions bare ground for colonisation. It says orchids may quickly die out if they are swamped by coarse rank vegetation.
http://hardyorchidsociety.org.uk/HOS%20 ... erges.html

I had hoped to find more specifics on how to manage land for different species, but have drawn a blank, other than the notes for the early purple.

Early Purple Orchid - Orchis mascula
In flower early April - June

"It is a deceit orchid that attracts insect visitors without offering a reward and does not produce nectar......pollinator ....bumblebees" The leaf rosettes are eaten by deer, esp. muntjac. Where to find it and how to recognise it.
http://www.hardyorchidsociety.org.uk/ho ... scula.html

Deer browsing and pollination https://www.hardyorchidsociety.org.uk/H ... 202013.pdf The writer says orange tips visit the orchids but he says they don't pollinate them.

(**If you want more Early Purples, open up the woodland canopy to add light, to lengthen the growing season, and to encourage large numbers of bluebells or bugle nearby, which will attract pollinators.** - My precis of this and the next reference)

"The increased flowering may be explained by an increased amount of light reaching the forest soil, an associated increase in mineralization rates of organic material and thus larger release of nutrients after coppicing, or both."
'Effects of coppicing on demographic structure, fruit and seed set in Orchis mascula' Hans Jacquemyn and others j.baae.2007.05.002.pdf (a Belgian study)

Early Purple "seedlings only appear aboveground 4 years after seeds were released and germinated
(Rasmussen, 1995)" quoted in the preceding article.

Early Purple: Does not flower in deep shade.
Does not spread vegetatively.
Grows a fresh replacement root tuber each year.
Can be dormant for a season and reappear the next.
The pollinators - bumblebees, cuckoo bumbles, flies - learn that it offers no nectar so then avoid it.
Slow to colonise new woodland or new grassland.
Management - coppice old woodland, little or no grazing on low fertility grassland.
(My precis of a summary: Biological Flora of the British Isles Jacquemyn and others..https://www.jstor.org/stable/20528862)

(I guess the above article assumes/confirms that grassland orchids only appear where the grass is fine and short so that "little or no grazing" would not result in the orchids being swamped and dying out(?))


Generally

Some place names for the locations of various species are mentioned in reports from some local botanical sections of the Devonshire Association. Just go to the website and search for "orchids" and your local botanical section report might come up, but otherwise the DWT reserves and MM members' open meadows, seem to be the easiest way to find good sites to see them.

Seeds:
This article is interesting for background information about the seeds.
https://www.hardyorchidsociety.org.uk/H ... ation.html

Protection: wire netting guards can be used to protect orchids from deer and rabbits - just a short length bent around in a cylinder about 2'6 or 3' high. (Seen on videos of WT reserves.)

ID help:-

In brief: the DWT, Plantlife, and Naturespot websites
The Orchid Hunter you tube videos - help get one's eye in for the flower colours and shapes, a luxurious wallow, also quite interesting when one can look past the plant and see what conditions it is growing in.

ID in depth:
Twitter: orchids (and other plants besides), @BSBIbotany &
@wildflower_hour
https://twitter.com/ukorchids - run by Sean Coleman, good pictures of orchid rosettes emerging, useful to know what to look out for at different times through the year.

British Orchids by Mike Waller and Sean Coleman, a field guide for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland Sept 2020 The description says it has "simple, step-by-step system for identifying almost any orchid, up-to-date distribution maps and seasonal charts showing when each species can be seen in its various stages." For the serious enthusiast.

A beginner’s vegetative guide to orchids of the British Isles pdf from the Natural History Museum - discusses only leaf and stem, no flower features, 48 pages
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhmww ... -guide.pdf

Perhaps easier: 'Identifying orchids in leaf' a video for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland by the same Mike Waller and Sean Cole. 15 minutes 2021

Another book: 'Orchid Summer: In Search of the Wildest Flowers of the British Isles' by Jon Dunn "an exploration of their history, their champions, their place in our landscape and the threats they face." (I haven't read it yet, but it looks good.)

The sex life of different species of orchids is described engagingly, and comprehensibly to non-botanists, in one chapter of 'Flowers of the Field: Meadow, Moor and Woodland' by Steve Nicholls.

Update: The Natural History Society of Northumbria has produced a series of short ID videos.
3 1/2 mins
2 1/2 mins

Thanks to Amy for all the links on orchids. We have large numbers of Early Purple Orchids and their favourite habitat is the hazel coppice ……..almost always with Bluebells,Primroses and Violets.The attached photo was taken on May 15 last year.Southern Marsh Orchids thrive in our species rich meadows and we have done nothing to encourage them apart from delaying hay cutting until about mid July.Again the key to success is the avoidance of herbicides,fertilisers and manures……..and patience.The attached photos were taken on June 25.

Gorgeous inspirational pictures, Brian. Thank you. And very interesting to see the growing conditions, in particular the surrounding flowers and the amount of and length of grass.

Round here, early purples appear on south facing hedgerow banks on the north side of a lane, and those banks are shaded by the opposite roadside bank in summer which I suppose prevents vegetation growing lushly in early summer. I have a few in a sparsely canopied south facing copse and a few are spreading into the wet field. Patience, as you say.

Interesting too, that they seed successfully despite a July cut. My seed heads of ?heath spotted and their hybrids, did not shed until Oct/November.

I remember walking into a small woodland/copse near Iddesleigh about 20 years ago and having my breath taken away...the whole wood was full of orchids. It was stunningly beautiful and I hope that they're still there.
Here we have mainly Heath Spotted orchids. Mainly they seem to thrive in open ish areas...so far living happily alongside betony and devils bit scabious...which seem to keep the grass at bay and the ground clear. Here are some photos of a field where they are (so far) holding their own, and in fact multiplying, among some fairly vigorous competition from grass, sorrell, reed and knapweed. Previously the areas were scythed late (Feb/march) but this year did it in September. The seed heads were still standing then, and I had to cut them and spread the seed as I went.

Lovely pics, Jane. Masses of orchids. How lovely. What is the history of your meadow? Were the orchids there when you came, and have you noticed changes? Did the change of scything time make any noticeable difference?

Thanks Amy. In terms of history of the meadows...we have been here about 6 years. The previous owner was here for 40ish years and used the land to graze his Connemara ponies. Previous to that it was a small farmstead...and still further back, a stone quarry, at least in one part of the property.
The previous owner says he never used pesticides or herbicides here. Fertilizers I don't know. He considered the soil here very poor, and may well have tried to fertilize to improve the grazing at some point. In any case....probably one off attempts here and there and not regularly.
He was old and had probably been letting his herd of ponies diminish naturally until in the end there were only a few here. The meadows had very large patches of whatever the horses didn't want to eat! Luckily not dock, but a LOT of bracken. About half of most fields.
So there are 7 fields of varying sizes, about 7 acres.
All very different, and the field in the photo, with the orchids, is very wet and marshy. They grow in plenty of other parts of the land too though.
Parts of the land (ex stone waste with about 4" of earth on top) are lovely areas for flowers and have been relatively easy to bring to a happy state.
Other areas are not so manageable and are waist high in brambles!
The bracken patches were really good for wildflowers in the first couple of years after they'd been scythed.
To answer your question, there were many flowers already here when we arrived....which is what enthused me to try and keep them. The orchids included.
There are many more now...but I couldn't say exactly what I've done right. A bit like Brian says, I think patience is key, and keeping the fertility down as far as you can. (Also I haven't used any fertilisers, herbicides etc since being here). I'm not sure yet whether changing the scything times will be good...will maybe know by the summer. Some good sides to late (jan-march) scything is that the reeds laid down to form a kind of mulch...when removed, scythed and raked up in Feb it left the ground bare, ready to begin the spring growing season. This year I notice more growth already since September, and although very light...could outgrow the orchids by the time they're developing. One area where I've failed to retain orchids is where they've just been swamped by heavy grass growth. Also I noticed the seedheads of these orchids stay standing with seed inside until well into winter...so may profit from a later cut.
I have no machinery or animals ( apart from mower for paths) and so scything is virtually year round in small, hour long sessions every couple of days. I avoid summer because of ticks if possible.
Also...they do seem to propagate easily...I dug a strawberry bed and a few years later it was full of orchids...how did they arrive?..from underneath?(I dug about 50cm down) seeds in the soil? I don't know....but my experience is that they will spread easily if the circumstances are OK.

They are a bit of a mystery though aren't they!

Have you any insights into where or why your orchids are succeeding Amy?

There is a website hosted by Suzanne Noble, who grows and sells native orchids.
Here she mentions orchid species suitable for a meadow:
https://britishorchids.co.uk/meadow-management/
and says "Most gardens will have the necessary soil fungi present to allow the seeds of the more common species to germinate and so your plants will spread by themselves. However, seed to flowering takes at least 3 years and may take much longer than that."

Here she talks about planting out young orchids, and which species suit which soils
https://britishorchids.co.uk/about-orchids/

Here she explains well about orchid seeds and fungi:
https://britishorchids.co.uk/in-the-lab/

Here she talks about transplanting pyramidal orchids when saving them from development. https://britishorchids.co.uk/translocat ... l-orchids/
She mentions 2 interesting points:
....."we dug them out with a rootball of about 20cm diameter....
Adult plants don’t need the soil mycchorrhiza for survival and they are likely to get waterlogged over the winter in pots of their own soil."