How often should orchids be watered appropriately
Today, the editor will explain the watering formula for orchids and the related knowledge of how often orchids should be watered appropriately. Let's follow the editor and take a look at the specific content!
Actually, watering orchids is related to many conditions, such as the orchid variety, the environment for growing orchids, the planting materials, and the maintenance season. Any difference in these conditions will result in a different watering frequency.
Therefore, if the watering frequency for orchids is unified, it would be like searching for a horse according to a drawing or fishing with a pole in the wrong place.
In order to solve the confusion of orchid enthusiasts, I once conducted an experiment on 10 pots of orchids (half of them were spring cymbidiums) with different watering frequencies.
The planting materials for these orchids were exactly the same, and the maintenance environment was also the same. The most frequent watering was every 3 days, and the least frequent was every 20 days.
Moreover, these orchids were all in an environment where they could not be rained on or fogged. After three months, these orchids were turned over and inspected. Can you guess what differences there would be?
Now, let me reveal the secret: the orchids with these two different watering frequencies showed no difference in growth, both had vigorous leaves and strong flower buds.
However, there were some subtle differences, which were the color of the orchid roots. I mentioned in previous articles that the color of orchid roots changes with soil moisture.
When the soil moisture is high, the orchid roots tend to be yellow; when the soil moisture is low, the orchid roots will look whitish.
Then, orchid enthusiasts may ask: why is there no significant difference in the growth of orchids with watering frequencies of 3 days and 20 days? The reason is the planting material.
What is the most important factor in orchid planting materials? Three elements: loose and breathable, moisture-retaining and water-draining, and long-lasting fertility. Among these three elements, long-lasting fertility is unrelated to watering, so it can be set aside.
The element directly related to watering is moisture-retaining and water-draining. Orchid planting materials should both retain moisture and drain water, which seem contradictory but are actually unified.
If the planting material has strong water absorption, it will absorb enough water when watering or getting rained on. Even if it is not watered for several days, there is no worry about the orchid roots lacking water.
And for planting materials with good water-draining properties, every time it is watered, only the planting material absorbs water, and there is no excess water in the potting soil. Therefore, even if it is watered every three days (or even every day), it will not rot the roots due to excessive water.
Therefore, it can be said that the watering frequency for orchids mainly depends on the planting material.
The most important factor in growing orchids is the environment. As long as the ventilation and air permeability are good, and the planting material is not too unconventional, it will be fine.
【Summary of orchid watering principles】
There are no unified rules for how often orchids should be watered. The watering interval is greatly related to the orchid variety, planting material, environment, and season.
However, the general rule is to water more on sunny days and less during the rainy season, water in the morning in summer (every 3 days), and water at noon in winter (every 15 days). If it rains or snows in winter, you can wait for sunny days to water.
The above introduces the orchid watering formula and the related content of how often orchids should be watered appropriately. I hope it is helpful to you!