What type of soil is best for cultivating orchids and how often should they be watered?
The editor will tell you about the best soil for cultivating orchids, how often to water them, and the simplest orchid soil mixture for green plant flower planting. Next, let's learn about it together.
How often should orchids be watered at home? A "finger" can tell you!
Those who have grown orchids know that they are quite difficult to cultivate, and many people can't grow them well. The main reason is that we didn't pay attention to watering and didn't master the cultivation methods during maintenance. For those who have just started growing orchids, after buying them, they don't know how to take care of them and will search online for orchid maintenance and watering methods. Many people say that orchids should be watered every two or three days, or once every half a month. These statements are purely deceptive. Why do I say that?
Because it is impossible to water orchids every few days. The soil we prepare is different, the ventilation is different, and the speed at which the potting soil dries is different. Our maintenance environment is different, the ventilation is different, and the speed at which the potting soil dries is also different. Factors like light, ventilation, and soil severely determine when the potting soil will dry and become completely dry. Can you know that? Therefore, when someone tells you to water every two days, actually after you water it, it may not dry for three or five days, and the potting soil remains moist. If you water it directly, the ultimate result will be root rot. If the soil you prepare is very well-ventilated and dries within a day after watering, especially in summer, if you follow the advice of watering every five or six days, won't your potted orchid's roots dry up?
So, when growing orchids at home, watering is very critical. Ensuring proper ventilation and lighting, generally, if you poke the potting soil with your finger, about two centimeters deep, and feel that there is basically no moisture inside, that is, the top two or three centimeters of the soil is dry, then water thoroughly. This is the best watering method for growing orchids. No matter what season, as long as it is growing, you should follow this method, even in summer. The simplest method is to insert a bamboo skewer halfway into the potting soil and frequently pull it out to check. If the moisture on the skewer is low, water thoroughly. This will not make a mistake.
As long as orchids grow normally and bloom normally, watering is essential. Follow the method mentioned by Xiaoqi for watering, and do not follow the advice of watering every few days. This way, the roots will not become dry or rot. As long as the environmental ventilation is good and the orchid gets plenty of light, with 50% to 70% shading in summer and more light the rest of the time, and regularly supplementing with fertilizer, using multi-element fertilizers during the growing season and gradually switching to phosphorus-potassium fertilizers in summer, it can grow normally with many leaves and new buds. When it's time to bloom, the flower buds will quickly emerge from the soil and bloom directly.
Do you understand the detailed introduction about the best soil for cultivating orchids, how often to water them, and the simplest orchid soil mixture mentioned above?