Taiwan can be dubbed the “island of orchids.” “Of the 4,600 known plant species in Taiwan, more than 400 are orchids. That’s one in ten,” says Chung Shih-wen, associate research fellow at the Taiwan Forestry Research Insti­tute and author of The Hidden Treasures of Taiwan’s Wild Orchids. Orchid seeds, being very light, are often carried to us by monsoons and typhoons from Japan and Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. Our island therefore provides a natural environment for genetic exchange between orchids. Encompassing lowlands and tall mountains, Taiwan’s varied terrain also furnishes many different kinds of habitats. These factors, Chung tells us, contribute to the rich diversity of orchids in ­Taiwan.

Lee Shu Mei (left) and Jian Wei Zuo (right) work together to make their family business, I Hsin Orchids, bloom.

Moth orchid heaven

Official statistics put Taiwan’s flower exports in 2021 at US$224.15 million. Within this amount, orchids accounted for US$207.4 million, or 92.53%. In particular, moth orchids (Phalaenopsis spp.) made up 71.45% of Taiwan’s flower exports, totaling US$160.15 million. We owe these remark­able figures to the enthusiasm of a sizable group of orchid breeders in Taiwan, who have successfully devel­oped an abundance of new orchid varieties.

Located in Tainan’s Houbi District, the Taiwan Orchid Plantation is the world’s biggest orchid production cluster. Built on the scale of a science park, the place now hosts the annual Taiwan International Orchid Show, one of the world’s three most prestigious orchid events alongside the Japan Grand Prix International Orchid and Flower Show and the World Orchid Conference. When it comes to orchids, Taiwan is a force to be reckoned with.

Off-season production techniques make it possible for us to enjoy orchids all year round. Taiwan’s orchid farmers are endeavoring to bring their flowers to every corner of the world.

I Hsin Orchids specializes in orchid breeding and mericloning. This photo shows plantlets in growing media.

Breeding prowess

I Hsin Orchids, based in Dalin, Chiayi County, is Tai­wan’s biggest orchid exporter. Lee Shu Mei, wife of I Hsin’s second-generation owner, Jian Wei Zuo, tells us that their company, which is entering its third generation, was initially set up as a seed nursery for orchid breeders.

There are two ways to propagate orchids: sterile sowing (using seedlings) and tissue culture (using meri­clones). Seedlings are needed to breed new orchids, while cloning helps ensure morphological stability. Jian Wei Zuo says: “Small orchid businesses in Taiwan used not to have the equipment or skills to carry out sterile sowing, so they asked us to do it for them. In this way I Hsin made a substantial contribution to Taiwan’s ­orchid industry.” Around 1998, Jian transformed his business by choosing to grow moth orchids himself. He gradually expanded his production to include tissue culture and then equipment and services for later stages of cultivation, eventually taking care of orchid blooms as well.

I Hsin has also devoted much of its work to orchid breeding. Its founder, Jian Ching-hsien, bred more than 1,000 ­orchid varieties. “We have many different cultivars. About 300 are currently in production, and more than 600 are being tested, “ Lee Shu Mei says.

Developing new orchid varieties is a time-consuming process. Lee tells us: “It takes at least eight or nine years to prepare a new orchid for the market.” When Dutch ­vendors of moth orchids began competing with Taiwan, rather than under­taking the lengthy task of breeding new varieties themselves, they would collect varieties developed in Taiwan and bring them back to the Netherlands. They would then set about breeding varieties from them that were likely to appeal to European customers. Leon Lin, former director of the Chiayi County Agriculture Department, mentions that Taiwan’s Sogo Orchids was bought by the world’s third-largest floricultural breeder, the Dutch firm Dümmen Orange. “They select and adapt Taiwanese orchids and market them to the world.” This illustrates the commercial importance of germplasm. Only with access to germplasm can one plan business operations and steer market trends.

Bred by David Huang, Phalaenopsis Sogo Yukidian ‘V3’ is the most widely distributed orchid in the world. It’s also one of the few orchids that are suitable both for potting and for display as cut flowers.

Orchid cultivation relies on sphagnum moss as a growing medium. One of Taiwan’s advantages is that it is the first country to be allowed to export orchids to the US in growing media.

The legendary ‘V3’

When developing new orchids, commercial viability is an essential consideration. Lin recommends that we look at the career of David Huang, executive technical director at Symon Agricultural Biotech. 

The enormous white orchid known as Phalaenopsis Sogo Yuki­dian ‘V3’ was bred by Huang more than 30 years ago for the Japanese market. Selected from many seedlings of Dutch male (Phal. Taisuco Kochdian) and Japanese female (Phal. Yukimai) parentage, it is one of the few orchids that are suitable both for potting and for display as cut flowers. “This variety is easy to cultivate and has a lot of flexibility. You can control the size and number of its blooms. That’s why sales are still booming after 20-odd years. Thousands of other white orchids have been bred since then, but none of these can beat it,” Huang says proudly. 

‘V3’ has become the most widely used orchid in the world. Both the quantity produced and the value are astonishing. Some say that without ‘V3,’ Taiwan’s moth orchid industry wouldn’t have its current scale.

David Huang is experiment­ing with tiered cultivation methods. He points out that environmental control technology has long been crucial to the orchid industry. To gain a foothold in the global market, orchid farmers have to strive for economic efficiency, and cannot leave things up to the vagaries of the weather.

Symon Agricultural Biotech is comprehensively updating its equipment. It is the first orchid grower in Taiwan to experiment with tiered growing racks served by an automated materials handling system, and is also trialing data capture for smart agriculture.

Smart farming

But Huang has something even more interesting to show us. Walking into one of the greenhouses at Symon, we notice that the orchids here rest on three levels of racks. Huang is currently experimenting with this tiered cultivation method. “We’re the first in Taiwan to try a multi­level automated material handling system for orchid cultivation.” With a view to making the most efficient use of space, they have chosen to go vertical as well as horizontal. However, although the tiered space accommodates more plants, it poses challenges in terms of environ­mental control. As light is key to photosynthesis, LED lamps are used to provide supplementary lighting for plants on the bottom shelves. For an orchid to develop a stalk and to blossom, cool temperatures are required. To promote vegetative growth, higher temperatures are needed. Every section of the greenhouses is therefore equipped with sensors that collect data about air circulation, carbon dioxide, light, temperature, and humidity. “Because of the multiple tiers, the en­viron­mental conditions in the outer areas tend to differ from those farther inside. So our most difficult task is to make sure conditions do not vary too greatly from place to place. Data collection is the basis of smart farming. Guided by the data, and with the help of the Internet of Things and cloud computing, we can set up an environmental control system that automatically implements the preset parameters.”

Energy is another issue to consider. Temperatures in the cool rooms are adjusted to 24–26°C by day and 18°C by night, Huang explains, and water walls and electric fans may also be used to cool the place. To manage energy effectively, the company makes good use of electricity during off-peak hours. Automated guided vehicle tracks pass in front of the growing racks. The movement of ­orchids within and between the greenhouses relies on AGVs, which save a lot of labor. We also notice a bag of Kuai Kuai brand corn puffs on an AGV—a common sight in Taiwanese IT factories. The brand name means “well-­behaved” in Chinese, so their snacks are used as good luck charms to help make machines function well, in addition to regular maintenance. Any technical glitch that delays shipping can cause significant financial losses.

Huang has thus brought environmental control systems to bear on large-scale orchid cultivation. It is no exaggeration to say that orchid farming is a high-tech branch of Taiwanese floriculture. “If you’re going for international markets, you’ve got to think about how to scale up and connect with the wider world,” Huang says. “And you’ll realize that it has to begin with controlled farming. You can’t stay with the mindset of a traditional farmer.”

By nanoprinting orchid blooms, Symon Agricultural Biotech creates a sense of novelty and beauty. These photos show some of the company’s famous “national flag” orchids.

Taiwan’s advantages

Years ago, the Netherlands caught up with Taiwan, emerging as a new “kingdom of orchids.” How are Taiwan’s orchid farmers responding to the competition? “Let’s think about it from a different perspective,” says Leon Lin. “Which parts of the global agricultural value chain can we contribute to?”

In 2010, Jian Wei Zuo’s son Chien Chia Te established a base in California. The company had long been mainly supplying the American market, so this new expansion helped it gain a direct insight into its customers’ needs. Chien briefly sums up the differences between Taiwanese and Dutch orchid vendors in the US context: “Taiwan is the first country in the world to be allowed to export ­orchids to the US in growing media, which improves shelf life.” By contrast, “for export, Dutch sellers need to choose orchid varieties that transport well.”

By moving closer to his customers, Chien can respond swiftly to shifting demand, and his enterprise is buttressed by I Hsin’s germplasm resources. “Whatever the market wants, we can keep up with it.”

For its part, Symon Agricultural Biotech is blazing a trail in the development of “colorful orchids.” To show solid­arity with Ukraine, the company has brought out white moth orchids that are nanoprinted in blue and yellow—the colors of the Ukrainian flag—which have generated a big response. The coloring techniques that David Huang began to develop several years ago not only do not shorten the life of the blooms, but can actually make them last longer. Huang gives orchids different colors by means of inkjet nanoprinting and absorption dyeing. When a plant absorbs dyes through its vascular bundles, its petals will be veined with beautiful colors. Nanoprinting, on the other hand, depends on color mixing and printing skills, the most prominent example being the “national flag” orchids. 

“These [colored flowers] aren’t produced in very large numbers, but their added value shows. Once this impression of novelty is created, sales of the basic products in our range will also be stimulated.” Looking to the future, Huang says: “In a few years, when Taiwan’s per-­capita GDP reaches NT$60,000, the increase in ­consumer ­purchasing power will bring about a new demand for flowers. If we don’t make provision for it now, we won’t be able to catch up when the time comes.” This is the bold vision of a cosmopolitan-­minded plant breeder.

Symon Agricultural Biotech is upgrading its facilities with an eye to future ­labor shortages. Working in America, Chien Chia Te is familiar with the changing conditions there: “In 2010, the minimum wage in California was US$8. Ten years on, it has risen to US$15.” This forced him to speed up his efforts to boost operating efficiency. Aiming for greater precision in management, he measures output by the week—a practice he learned during an internship in the Netherlands. As Leon Lin says, “Farmers have to address the question of economic efficiency in ­order to solve the problems they’re facing now.” Taiwanese vendors have been exploring how to “work smart.” While Dutch vendors are formidable competitors, we can also learn from them, or even collaborate with them.

Off-season production techniques now enable us to enjoy orchids all year round. Thanks to the ongoing collaborative efforts of orchid producers, Taiwan’s orchids are blooming all over the world.