How to care for orchids
Plant knowledge section, sharing with you the explanation of orchids, a member of the Orchidaceae family. Let's see how to care for orchids with the editor!
For how to care for orchids, it is a common question among新手 orchid lovers. Fortunately, I often have the opportunity to come into contact with some orchid farmers, so I often shamelessly ask them about their orchid cultivation experience and even boldly ask for a few of their favorite pots. Every time I meet the amiable orchid farmer grandpa, I always come back loaded with orchids, wowhoo... he's really easy to talk to, I feel like I'm taking advantage of the old man. I've tried these tips at home and they really work well, so I'm also sharing them with everyone:
1. It's not difficult at all to prevent orchid roots from rotting; don't use too many fancy planting materials.
When I was a beginner in orchid cultivation, I was also at a loss as to what planting materials to use for potting. I read many books, browsed many forums, and collected a series of so-called planting materials, mixing and stirring them in various ways... but in the end, no matter what ratio or formula, the orchid roots still rotted, and I was dilemma whether to water or not. Once, when visiting a friend who deals in orchids, he took me to meet an orchid farmer. I seized the opportunity and persistently wanted to enter his orchid room, just to see what these masters actually use as planting materials?! As a result, I found that in his orchid room, which is larger than a warehouse, all orchids were grown using only one type of planting material—bark, which left me confused—only bark.
After returning home, I dug out all the orchids that were barely surviving, emptied the planting materials inside, placed a layer of stones at the bottom of the pot, and then planted them with large pieces of bark. A week later, new green and tender roots emerged, and from then on, I gained confidence in growing orchids. Later, I also tried dividing the plants,消毒 the new plants, wrapping them with a little moss, and then tying them to wood, placing them in a shaded orchid greenhouse, and the roots grew like crazy.
The orchid grandpa explained why not to use so many fancy planting materials. It's because we beginners are afraid that the orchids don't have enough water, so we water excessively. However, orchids prefer dryness and are more afraid of excessive moisture. Although everyone knows that orchids should not be watered when dry, it is difficult for beginners to master what "dry" means, because it's not possible to check if the planting materials are completely dry every time we water. Moreover, planting materials dry from the outside in, so when we see the outer layer of planting materials dry, the inner layer is still moist, especially when using moss as planting material. Watering at this time will cause the roots to rot.
So, just learn from the old grandpa and use bark.
2. The failure of orchids to bloom has little to do with fertilizer.
After several years of growing orchids, the most challenging one is the Phalaenopsis orchid. It was a tough problem at first, but once it was solved, it became completely unchallenging, so now I don't have a single Phalaenopsis orchid in my collection. Many people, like me, started with Phalaenopsis orchids and all felt that they are difficult to grow because they never bloom. A common惯性思维 is that if a plant doesn't bloom, it's because of insufficient fertilizer. Then comes the various fertilizations, followed by root burn, yellow leaves, and plant death. However, orchids are not plants that require heavy fertilization. Think about their native state, on rocks and tree branches, where they rarely grow on the ground, where do they get so much fertilizer? In fact, an important factor in determining whether an orchid will produce a flower spike is temperature difference. The climate in tropical rainforest areas is hot and humid with a large temperature difference between day and night, which is what prompts orchids to produce flower spikes.
There is also a lot of skill involved in fertilizing orchids. Honestly, I have never seen orchid farmers here fertilize orchids with root fertilizer. Their fertilizers are all mixed with water and then sprayed in the orchid room at regular intervals—true thin and frequent fertilization. When fertilizing at home, it's best to do the same, mix the compound fertilizer with water and dilute it as much as possible. Don't worry about it being too dilute; thin fertilizer should not be concentrated. Then spray it on the leaves for the orchids to absorb, preferably in the early morning or evening, not in the middle of the day when the sun is at its peak. Water the plants before fertilizing, and when they stop dripping, you can fertilize. Don't pour the leftover fertilizer into the pot, pour it away to avoid root burn.
3. To grow orchids well, you can't pay too much attention to them.
I understand the love many orchid enthusiasts have for their favorite orchids, and I love them too. At the beginning, I couldn't keep my hands off them, touching the leaves, looking at the flowers, and even wanting to carry them around with me. As a result, the Phalaenopsis orchid I once loved the most was so scared by me that it didn't bloom for three years. Finally, when it was no longer in my favor, I placed it in a corner of the orchid room and almost forgot about it. Suddenly one day, I walked into the orchid room and saw a flower spike emerge from the center of the orchid. It was thick and strong, definitely a stunning large flower, and sure enough, it was. So, I advise orchid lovers who love orchids like their lives not to move the orchids around. Although orchids have low environmental requirements, they are extremely sensitive to environmental changes. Any change can make them tense, and if the orchids are startled, they may refuse to bloom. Think about it, even if you let a person travel around the world every day, they won't be able to take it.
4. Should it be an orchid room or an orchid greenhouse?
When I first started growing orchids, I didn't know how to create a good environment for them and often hung them under trees in the garden, only to have them die from the moving sun. Finally, I spent a lot of money to build an orchid room, and it was fine at first, with the flowers growing happily. But soon the nightmare began. The orchids started getting sick with all kinds of diseases and pests. During that time, I almost fed medicine to them every day, but still couldn't save them. Then I went to bother the old grandpa again. When he heard about my orchid room, he started scolding me. It turned out it was all because of poor ventilation.
Actually, providing a good environment for orchids is the right thing to do, but too good of an environment can backfire. Although an orchid room is expensive and professional, it's really not necessary for casual orchid growers. However, not shading is not an option. In the end, I removed the plastic from the greenhouse and replaced it with black shading cloth, and to my surprise, it worked extremely well. The orchids grew happily with few diseases.
5. What orchids need is not more water, but humidity.
I want to talk about the issue of watering orchids. Many people understand the basic principle of watering orchids—don't water when dry. However, there is no absolute standard for the degree of dryness. Most people, when buying flowers, will ask the seller a question: "How often should I water it?" Here I want to say, don't completely believe what the seller says. Sellers are just sellers, and most of them are not people who grow flowers. Moreover, the answer they give is just a reference, and even if they are people who grow flowers, the watering frequency will definitely be different because the environment at home cannot compare to that of a greenhouse.
If the planting material of a newly purchased orchid is still wet, don't water it yet. Place the new orchid in a shady corner for two to three days to let it calm down, then water it. When watering, don't pour water from a height to completely wet the whole plant. Instead, use a gentle water flow from a lower height to thoroughly water the orchid. The so-called thorough watering does not mean that water leaks out from the bottom of the pot. As long as the planting material is not soil, water will quickly leak out from the bottom, but this is not thorough watering. Let the plant stay under the water flow for two to three minutes. After stopping the water, let the water in the pot drain before placing it back in its original position. Never put the orchid pot in a water tray to save trouble, as it will surely rot the roots.
You can spray water on the orchid several times a day when it's not too sunny. Try not to leave water droplets on the leaves and flowers to avoid burns, especially on white flowers, which are very susceptible.
Spraying water is to increase air humidity. In fact, it is more reliable to increase humidity frequently than to water frequently, and the orchids will be very grateful for your efforts.
6. If an orchid is unfortunately infected with a disease, don't hesitate, kill it.
It's a very sad thing when a beloved orchid is infected with a disease because there's not much chance of saving it, and even if it is saved, the plant will be severely weakened. Moreover, disease infection is contagious, especially among orchids of the same genus, which are easily infected.
Well, if you want to save it, you'll really have to go through a lot of trouble, so at this point, you need to wield the wisdom sword and endure the pain to cut your losses. Gather the diseased plants together—burn them!
7. Don't wait for the flowers to wilt and bloom again.
After a lot of effort, the orchid finally blooms beautifully, making it very pleasing to the eye. Well, normally, the blooming period of orchids can last more than two weeks. But do you know that these few weeks of blooming can cause the orchid to lose a lot of vitality, and in severe cases, it may not bloom the next year? To ensure the robust growth of the orchid, farmers will cut the flowers at the beginning of the blooming period, which is not very reasonable for us to do. However, we don't have to wait for the flowers to wilt before cutting off the枯蕊. We can cut them in the middle of the blooming period and use them as cut flowers, putting them in a vase, which is also very beautiful. Just don't cut all the way down, leave a section of the flower spike for the orchid to slowly absorb nutrients to avoid stimulating the plant.
The above sharing on how to care for orchids (orchid farmer's experience) hopes to bring a little help to your life!