How To Grow Orchids: Secrets

“For the first time I saw indoor orchids at my friend’s house. The family lives well, they have a spacious house with large windows, and on every windowsill there are vases with orchids. The hostess told me about her collection of orchids – it turned out that this pleasure is not cheap. From that day on, I had a dream – that orchids would settle in my modest apartment. And so the wish came true: for the anniversary, the children gave me a luxurious orchid. I was in the seventh heaven with happiness”

Grow orchids at home

I carried the orchid like a baby, but all my efforts were in vain – the plant began to wither, the buds fell off one by one… I live in a small town, it is not easy to find specialists in growing orchids, so I decided to save my dream flower on my own. I collected special literature in the library and through acquaintances, gained patience – and everything was successful.

Today, I already have three orchids (Phalaenopsis) in my collection. All of them delight me with flowering and beautiful appearance, but the problems with the first orchid taught me an invaluable lesson, now I have my own secrets for growing orchids.

So, my advice to all orchid lovers:

Make sure that there is always clean, boiled water in the saucer where the flowerpot with the blooming orchid stands.
In no case do not transplant an orchid during flowering!
I put a clove of garlic in each pot with an orchid. Garlic repels midges.

At night, I turn on a table lamp for my orchids.
Orchid roots are capable of photosynthesis, so the ideal option is to plant an orchid in a transparent plastic pot.
Orchids should be watered from above. Water should pass freely through the soil, as if through a sieve. At the same time, the earth is enriched with oxygen.

Separately, I want to dwell on the problems that most often arise when growing orchids at home.

Difficulties in growing orchids

Buds and leaves fall. Maybe your orchid lacks light or moisture. Humidify the air in the room, move the flowerpot closer to the window. Check if there are no drafts in the room! And the reason for the falling of leaves in an orchid could be the close proximity of ripe fruits. Yes, ripe apples emit ethylene, which is very harmful to flowers.

A friend of mine had such a case: in the bedroom where there are orchids, the children ate plums – and already in the morning the plant dropped several buds. Although it happens that orchids grow in the kitchen and feel great. In short, you’ll be lucky here, but it’s better to play it safe and not leave any fruit near the flower pots.

The edges of the leaves became rippled or wrinkled. Perhaps the room is too hot – the orchid needs to feel the temperature difference between day and night.

The roots look out of the pot. It’s okay, it’s just time for you to move to a bigger pot.

The leaves are limp, despite regular watering. Chances are you’ve been overwatering your orchid! Is the pot too narrow and squeezing the orchid’s root system. Another option is generous watering with long breaks.

Despite all your efforts, the orchid does not want to bloom. Most likely, the orchid needs the so-called “heat stress”, that is, the temperature should drop by an average of 10 degrees at night. Or your flower needs absolute rest.

And finally, a few more words in favor of these elegant and beautiful indoor plants. Orchids on the windowsill are wonderful aromatherapy. Yes, Orchid Pleione maculata smells like apples, Bulbophyllum pictuatum – watermelon, and Orchid Cychnoches pentadactylon emits a unique chocolate scent!

In addition, according to Feng Shui, orchids stimulate the creative work of the brain and help to get rid of depression. Dark red orchids supposedly save their owner from laziness and apathy.

Transplanting a home orchid

Transplanting an orchid is not as complicated a process as it seems to novice flower growers, but it still has rules and you need to know them.

The orchid is transplanted when the previous pot becomes too small or when the substrate is “eaten” by the plant. Half an hour before transplanting the orchid into a new pot, it should be watered well so that the roots can be removed more easily.

Then you need to crumple the plastic pot a little in your hands so that the lump of earth with the roots is easier to pull out. Insert a knife between the earthen lump and the wall in the clay pot and move it so that the earthen lump easily comes out of the container.

Then try to remove the old substrate from the roots of the orchid: for this, it is enough to shake off what falls off, and the remaining substrate will help the orchid to adapt faster in the new soil.

Now remove the dead, rotten and damaged roots with a sharp, sterile tool, and treat the cuts with charcoal powder. Take a pot with large drainage holes, put a few large pebbles in it for a counterweight, pour drainage, a little bark of a large fraction, then lower the roots of the orchid into the pot, carefully spread it and cover it with substrate on top, distributing it evenly in the pot.

You can water the transplanted orchid the next day, if the substrate has already dried by then.