Ron Maunder

One of the few "Must Sees" for anyone who has an interest in Disas is Ron Maunder. He is one of the most well known Disa hybridizers in the world and has made great improvements in the Disa cut flower trade. While I would have liked to see more plants in bloom at his place, I certainly can understand that most of them had already been sold as cut flowers. I'm going to have to come back before Christmas someday. Ron has one of the largest collections of Disas in New Zealand and that's a necessity when you are a breeder. The only way you can really tell the full potential of a cross is when you see a couple of hundred plants of the cross flower. The important thing about Ron is that in addition to being an outstanding grower, he also has a good eye for quality. As a result, his breeding program is tops! If there is a fault to Ron's operation, it is the fact that he still grows too many Cymbidiums. I hate to admit it but I get a bit turned off by Cymbidiums. I sure wish he would throw all the Cymbidiums out and just raise Disas. In fact, Ron has many orchid interests and has a goodly number of nice Odonts. and Masdevallias also.

As far as culture is concerned, Ron is experimenting with many methods and mixes. He is always seeking a better way to grow Disas and experimenting with different mixes and conditions. As far as media is concerned, he is currently using a mix of partially composted bark and pumice on about half of his collection. He has also tried using the SuperSphag and has been trying a mix of it with styrofoam pellets for some of his deflasked seedlings but finds that for his conditions, the freshly deflasked seedlings do better in the bark / pumice mix. The adult plants are usually shifted to moss and shredded styrene to make them easier to prepare for export as bareroot plants. He is fortunate in having tap water with a low salt content and uses it exclusively. He feels that the chlorine contained in the water helps to reduce contamination problems. Most of the watering is done in 10 huge tanks or trays where he can bottom water. Nine of the ten tanks are continuous flow tanks. The tenth is ebb and flow. He also has a section where the Disas are potted in a mix of moss and styrene and are only top watered. Like I said, if anyone has suggested an idea, Ron has probably experimented with it. Right now he is trying to find a way to reduce the amount of time that is usually spent in potting. He would like to find a mix that would allow potting every other year instead of yearly. We would all be very thankful if he does indeed find a way to decrease our time spent repotting.

The other part of Ron's setup that no one talks about but is really impressive is the laboratory. It is huge! Not only that, but he has two growing rooms that seem like they are about twelve feet by forty feet that are filled with flasks. He has more than enough work there to keep several people occupied. He also treated me to a typical Ron Maunder day when as Kathy and I were preparing for bed, he announced that he would show me some things in the lab. This was at 10PM! Three and a half hours later, I gave up the ghost and told him that I was a wimp and couldn't take it any longer and stumbled off to bed. The 3 1/2 hours were filled with all kinds of useful tips and tricks of the trade, which someday may show up on my web site. He demonstrated everything from seed sterilization to greenpod sowing to mericloning using the immature flower buds. Made it all look so easy that I don't know why I'm having so much trouble. I was fortunate to take some of Ron's flasks home with me and am trying some of the deciduous Disa species that he has maintained. As is typical, he is the only one I know that maintains such a wide variety of Disa species.

Ron also has a few uncommon orchids hanging around. He has a number of Sobralia species that were in bloom and the display was awesome. Huge tubs set in the ground and each filled with a different species. He has another greenhouse with Odontoglossums and there were some really nice ones in bloom. (And I don't even like Odonts. that much.) The Masdevallias were pretty much contained in a shade house although he is experimenting with bottom watering them also in one of the greenhouse flow trays.Seemed like every way we turned, there was something new and interesting to explore. And I haven't even mentioned his orchards or garden.

This view shows the inside of one of his Disa houses. The tray to the right is filled with deflasked seedlings and is the one tank that is on the ebb and flow system. Everything else here is watered from below with the continuous flow method. Right in the center of the picture is a white irrigation pipe rising from the bottom of the picture. This is used to leach out salts by overhead watering with plain water when the tanks are cleaned and drained monthly. The tanks usually run a mixture of water and fertilizer during the Summer months so something had to be done to prevent salt buildup in the individual pots.
This is an outside view of the Cymbidium and Disa houses. Of the 8 houses, only one or two have Disas.
This is another view from within the Disa house. The structure of the flow table in the foreground was more noticeable. It is covered with what is called "Panda film" which is white on the top and black underneath and is used to keep out the light on the unused portion. The sign of algae in the foreground tank indicates it is time to change the water. Note the tall white vertical irrigation pipes in this photo also.
Ron is always happiest when he can measure a BIG flower! Below are a small sample of the breeding stock that Ron maintains.
This may be (Foam x Carveitch) 'Lollipop'	This is Foam 'Supremo' x Carveitch 'Rich Rose'
Disa Kalahari Sands 'Paridise Glow' AM/NZOC	Kalahari Sands 'Red Champion'
Kalahari Sands 'Red Delight'	Unifoam 'Perfection'
This is a Unifoam. The parents were uniflora 'Dusty x Dolly' x Foam 'Supremo'
Unifoam 'Topnotch'	uniflora 'First to Flower' This was one of the uniflora 'Torbay Pomegranate x uniflora 'Satisfaction' crosses that yielded a number of awards.
a uniflora x Diores cross	Disa Watsonii 'Pretty Pink'
A view of the outside of Ron's lab.	The master hard at work.
The pictures lack clarity but it gives you an idea of Ron's setup.	This shows just a small part of one growing room. Good thing I don't have to deflask all those!! Photo by Ron.