Growing Orchids

Growing Orchids in the House

Selection.more than just an impulse buy. Buy it for the blooms, then throw it out. But if you want to re-bloom it, and grow it for years and years.buy plants for your growing environment. Unless you have a green house, you are going to be growing in your home. First thing to realize is that orchids such as Phalaenopsis, Oncidium, Cattleya, etc. are tropical plants. You can't plant them in your garden along with your verbena.

As a matter of fact, you can't plant them in potting soil.without rotting the roots and killing the plant.but we'll get to that in a moment.

So you're going to bring your new baby home.and grow it in the window.
Which window? Hopefully your house has windows.if not, you need to spend some time reading up on grow lights before going any further. And I can't help you with that tonight.but there are some websites on the handout that you can look through.

East windows are best for growing orchids year round. In the winter, when the power of the sun is 1/4 it's summer strength, you can grow plants in a Southwesterly type light.but come summer, that much light will burn the plants.

Another good rule of thumb is that light decreases exponentially. That's a fancy way of saying that the further you move the plant away from the window, the light decreases by a factor of 4. Twice as far away from the window equals 1/4 amount of light. And let's see.if you don't give orchids enough light, they will grow but not bloom. The goal is to rebloom them.right? Otherwise we'd just throw them out and get new ones. Too much light, leaves burn, and the plant dies.or at least suffers the loss of some of its leaves.so it's going to take longer to generate the energy needed to rebloom.

Paranoid yet?

You can monitor light exposure fairly easily with some orchids anyhow.when they get enough light the leaves are a light green. As the light begins to approach the "too much" zone, the leaves begin to turn purpleish. Approach that zone and you will get blooms.but keep an eye on it. If it's March and the leaves are beginning to show purple freckles and marks, you need to slowly move the orchids back from the window. Then as we come into June, you may get blooms. Maybe.nothing is foolproof in orchids. But light is a good place to start.

Watering. Orchids in the house do better in plastic pots. If you like the look of terra cotta, put one on the outside of the plastic pot. This is because houses, especially in winter, are bone dry. Or scientifically, 10-15 percent humidity. Take into account that orchids like 80-90 percent humidity..it's bone dry. So where all the orchid books tell you to water once a week, you will need to water more often than that. It will depend..on what the plant is potted in, and how big it is, and stuff.but probably you will need to water 2-3 times a week, and maybe more often. This also depends on what kind of orchid you have. Some like to be wet all the time. That's a good way to kill other kinds. Guide books really help.

Some orchids are kind enough to tell you when they want to be watered. Oncidiums should have nice fat smooth skinned bulbs. If they begin to get wrinkled, or skinny and flat.you need to water more. Phalaenopsis have nice thick, rigid leaves. If they need more water, they begin to get wrinkled and limp, too. Of course, if you water too much, the roots rot, and then you get the same symptoms.but if you start out by watering lightly, and pay attention to the plant, you can avoid that.

Yeah, right. And how many plants have I killed?

Another question that comes up here is about the roots. Orchid roots tend to come out of the pot. They are coated with a nice shiny white substance called vellum. This absorbs water when you water.and turns green until it dries. Healthy roots wind their way across the top of the plant, out there in full view, green tips questing as they slowly wriggle their way across the pot. This is normal and fine.

Ok, so we've talked about light, and watering.

Usually the next thought is re-potting. Because they do get bigger. If you're patient and you're growing something like a Cattleya or a Cymbidium, you can think about needing a forklift and a pick-up truck to cart the plant around. But that's later on in the addiction.

Repotting. When to repot. And what to repot with. When you see that all the new growth of your plant is outside of the perimeter of the rim of the pot, it's time to re-pot.

If your plant looks unhappy, it's time to repot. For plants in bark, about every 2 years. For plants in sphagnum moss, every year. Or even every 6 months. For plants in Aliflor, a kind of terra-cotta ball, or rockwool, or pebbles, or bicycle chains.a lot less often.