Orchids are multi-purpose plants, they have health, beauty and environmental benefits to offer. These plants are just so exceptional, not only do they beautify your garden or your room. With orchids you can make an income by selling these beautiful flowers. These flowers are perfect for weddings, for decorations and for any other occasions. These lively blooms have the capability to brighten up any place with their stunning flowers. Orchids can be grown as both indoor and outdoor plant. But they do pretty well when there are as grown indoor plants
How to take care of orchids
Orchids naturally grow slowly and to add on to that these plants are basically well known to be difficult to care for. This is because orchids are high maintenance plants that require to be pampered and cared for a bit more compared to other plants. However, with a bit more knowledge on orchids and with the right strategies growing and taking care of orchids can be an easy task. How to properly care for orchids? Well if you want to properly care for orchids you have to meet their basic needs like water, plant food, light and temperature.
Watering
Orchids are commonly found in tropical rainforest, but that does not mean when you grow them be it indoors or outdoors, you have to heavily water them. Even though, different types of orchids require different amounts of water, over watering isn’t an option. Over watering is one of the major factors that destroy orchids. On sunny days, it is best to water before noon as the sun helps the plants to absorb the water. In summer, the plants need to be watered more frequently whereas, in winter the plants require to be watered less. In between watering the soil should be allowed to dry out a little bit. How to take care of an orchid? In order to take care of an orchid, you will have to water the plants with the right amount of water at the right time.
The most vital part of an orchid is how you water it. There are best ways you can water your plants. You can water using ice cubes. Watering using ice cubes is easy, you simply just put the cubes on top of the potting medium. When using ice cubes you have put in one ice cube at least twice a week. Ice cubes are the best way to water orchids. They help improve absorption, helps you to avoid overwatering and most importantly prevents roots from rotting. The other method is the most common way of watering that is pouring. Using this method you have to water carefully to prevent the orchids from standing in a pool of water. The water has to be poured into the roots not directly onto the leaves. When watering be it using ice cubes or you are just pouring. It is important to note that when watering, you have to try and water underneath the leaves. You have to ensure that none of the water goes onto the center of the plant. If it does however, you have to wipe the plant till its dry. This is done, so as to prevent the center of the plant that is the crown from rotting. Failure to do so could kill the plant.
Light
How to care for an orchid? To care for an orchid you have to ensure that at all times they get the right kind of light that is ideal for their growth. Orchids require adequate light, less light causes them not to bloom. The light should not be too much or too less, it should be balanced. Direct sunlight is an absolute no! for orchids. It is best to keep them away from direct light because it causes the flowers to wilt and sun burns the leaves. How to care for orchids indoors? When growing orchids indoors in order to get the best kind of light you can place your orchids on the east facing windowsill in the morning. During the afternoon the west-facing windowsill is ideal. You have to continuously check up on them and shift them so that they don’t come into contact with the intense mid-day sunlight.
Caring for orchids indoors is much easier. Indoors you can easily shift around your plants to place where there is the right amount of indirect light.
Temperature and humidity
You have to keep orchids in an area or room that is warm. They do well in environments that have a temperature of about 65-85 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want your orchids to thrive you have to recreate their natural habitat. You can do so by humidifying your plant. The easiest and efficient way to do so, is by using a mist spray to spray the leaves and roots regularly.
Fertilizer
You have to feed your plants regularly to provide them with food and nutrients. For the best orchid plant care it is recommended that you use fertilizer that is specifically meant for orchids. You have to apply fertilizer at least every 2 weeks or once a month. The fertilizer has to be first mixed with water. Direct application of fertilizer burns the plants. You can feed the plants the same way you water them, the best way is to use ice cubes. Ice cube feeding enables the plants to absorb the nutrients faster.
Pruning
If your orchids have stopped growing or the blooms have started to die or dry up. It is high time you start to prune them. Pruning will give the orchids more space and help the plant to grow new stems that will produce new abundant flowers. If you want your orchids to produce new blooms in a space of a year, the best possible way is to prune the whole spike down.
Potting
Naturally orchids grow attached to other plants. In order for them to grow well you have to pot them on a loose bark and then you can repot them when the bark chip decays. It is not necessary that you repot frequently. It is essential that you repot at least after 2 to 3 years.
Tips
- When you decide to grow orchids, first thing you have to know is the type of orchids you are planting. You can do so by asking at the nursery about the seeds breed. With that insight, it will be much easier to grow and meet the orchids basic needs
- When growing orchids, do not mix different types of orchids breeds and grow them on the same patch. Different types of orchids are grown and cared for differently
- The color of the leaves is a good indicator of whether the plant is receiving the right amount of light or not. Bright green shows that the orchids are healthy and the light conditions are right. If the light conditions are too much the leaves change to red and when the light is less it turn to dark green. When caring for orchids you always have to be on the look-out for these color changes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, growing orchids requires a lot of patience and dedication. The saying ‘patience’ is a virtue comes into play when it comes to growing orchids. However, after a long wait they will reward you with beautiful flowers. All you have to do is properly care and maintain them. You can do so by providing them with the right amount of water, plant food, light and the conditions should be right too.
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