How To Grow And Care For An Orchid Plant
Orchids. Hey, we all love them. They’re reliable. Their blooms last a long period of time. They are beautiful. They come in multiple colors, and their name comes from the Greek word that means testicle.
Did you know that there are over 20,000 different varieties or types of orchids out there? Pretty much every country in the world has a native variety of orchid. There are many that come in, as I mentioned, different bloom sizes and colors, but even ones we saw in Turks and Caicos, a native fragrant orchid. But out of the 20,000 different varieties, the most common ones you’ll find at your grocery store, your garden center for sale that are the easiest to grow are dendrobiums or phalaenopsis orchids. Phalaenopsis, also known as the moth orchid.
So, if you’re looking for the easiest one to grow, it’s indeed that phalaenopsis or dendrobium.
Table of Contents
How do you pick the best orchid for your home?
The first thing you’re going to do is, of course, look for bloom power. It’s not only flowers; it’s the amount of buds. So, it’s the blooms that are yet to come. If you have any blooms that are starting to fall off, that’s an indication they’re a little bit older. Not an older orchid, but blooms that have been there for an extended period of time.
So, if you want more bloom power, you look to make sure that they have some buds. Next, what you are going to do is look at the leaves. Look at the leaves and look at the color. The color of the leaves doesn’t necessarily have to be deep green. As a matter of fact, you want it to be a lighter green, but one of the leaves, we are also looking to make sure that there are no spots, maybe even damaged parts, and especially no sticky substance because that’s a sign of an insect.
Now, with the roots themselves, if you can see the aerials that are sticking out, those roots, if you gently touch them, if they’re firm, they’re fabulous. If they are dry and if they’re mushy or gray, that’s a sign of overwatering or underwatering.
Where is the best location for an orchid inside your home?
Sometimes people think you want to put it in front of the window? No, it’s in a bright room that actually has bright natural light, but it is away from a window. The key is, you want to keep it away from drafts or any cool temperatures. The other thing that we want to keep these plants away from are heating vents or fireplaces, anything that’s going to alter the temperature.
So, a nice bright room away from heating vents, or the radiator, or the fireplace is a beautiful spot for orchids.
How often do you water them?
What do you water them with? And when’s the best time? Okay, first off, you see a lot of marketing out there where they’re saying two ice cubes per week. That’s the volume of water for a six-inch pot, but orchids natively grow in tropical areas in trees. In tropical areas, do they have ice cubes for water? No. So, that’s the volume of water.
What you want to water them with is room temperature water. In terms of the volume, as I mentioned, it’s just a little bit of water that you’re giving them, and that can be once a month to twice a month depending on how long our daylight hours are. So, in winter, once a month; in summer, once every other week. They don’t need a lot of water.
What they do need is humidity. So, if you want to have an orchid that thrives in your home, the type of moisture it needs is the moisture of the air. It needs at least 30-40 percent humidity. So, adding a humidifier to that room where your orchid is, is really great.
Another step that you can do is, on occasion, mist your orchids, just to put a little bit of moisture on the foliage because, as a reminder, they are in rainforests in trees. Rainforests are very high humidity. So, orchids love humidity. But the other thing in a rainforest is it doesn’t have stagnant air. In a rainforest, it has a little bit of air circulation. So, orchids will really benefit if you do have some air circulation in your home, either a fan or even if you have a ceiling fan put on at a low rate of speed. Fantastic. So, high humidity, a little air circulation, and watering with room temperature water, that’s going to be a happy orchid.
Humidity is not only good for the orchids, it’s also good for you. That increase of humidity in a home is better for your skin, will improve your breathing, and will make all your plants that much happier indoors.
Do orchids need fertilization?
Yes, indeed, orchids are going to benefit from having a feeding, but it’s a light feeding. What you are going to do is you can fertilize them either once to twice per month. So, every other week. If you do this, you can have a healthy, happy phalaenopsis or dendrobium orchid.
What are some signs of disease or pests on an orchid?
They always say that our eyes are a gateway to our health, but when it comes to orchids, the gateway to seeing into the health of the orchid is the leaves and/or the roots. So, first off, if you take a look at the roots of an orchid and those roots are ones that extend out, are called aerial roots.
You’re looking for a firm, fleshy root that has a slight green color to it. If those roots are gray and if those roots are feeling and appear to be dry, that’s an indication of not enough water. Another indication of that as well is these droopy leaves that you are seeing at the same time. Another thing that you look for in the roots though is if the roots themselves appear to be, let’s say, gray or even mushy and/or moldy, that is showing too much water.
So, the number one killer of most indoor plants is kindness and too much water. Now with the leaves, the orchid leaves, you always want that color to be a little bit of a yellowish to light green tinge, but we also don’t want the color of the leaf to be totally yellow.
The key is always to look at the leaves; if there is a problem with your orchid, the leaves will tell you the story about what’s going wrong. And the number one thing that generally goes wrong with orchids is either too much water or too little water.
Note: Anytime you have a plant that has an insect or a water disease, you don't want it to be close to other plants.
How often do I need to repot my orchids?
Good news is they don’t need to be repotted that often, and it’s usually every three years, depending on the variety of orchid that is. But for most common orchids, about every three years. And when you’re repotting an orchid, the key to the success of an orchid goes back to where they’re grown. In their native home, they are grown in trees in tropical rainforests. And because of that, they’re growing on the bark of the tree.
So what you’ll see when it comes to an orchid soil, you’re gonna see a high percentage of bark with that mixture, because that really allows the airflow and air circulation around the roots, allowing that humidity to stick and stay around the roots as well.
So when it comes to orchids, you can’t just use good old potting soil. You need to use soil formulated for orchids that has a high percentage of bark within it.
How do I get an orchid to rebloom?
How do we get it? So there are a couple of different options when it comes to an orchid. First off, when they finish their bloom, it’s about the stem or the spike. That’s called the flowers are; that’s the spike. We have the chance or the option to remove that spike totally. So, you can go right down to the base just on top of where the plant is and remove this spike.
The other thing that you can do is you can go along the plant and look to a node. And the node is those little bumps that stick out of the side, and we just prune above that node, and that’ll actually stimulate some additional growth and stimulate flowers. If you’ve seen no nodes on the stem, you’re going to remove that stem totally. After a while, this is going to take usually a few months before it’s going to send a new spike up.
The key is, we want to allow it to dry out a little bit further. You want to stress that plant a little bit, and we want to put it in a room where the temperature is a little bit cooler at night; that cooler temperature at night will really help it. The next thing it’ll do is it’s going to send up some flower spikes. Those spikes, of course, will have the buds on them, and then that will then move over into those buds starting to swell, and eventually, they will open. Most orchids can rebloom with ease, and the number one reason why people can never get an orchid to bloom is they’re just giving it too much water, too much fertilizer, and too much care. That’s meaning that the plant focuses on its leaves.
If you’ve seen an orchid with two deep green leaves, that’s an orchid that’s been watered too much and fertilized too much. So what you’re trying to do is cut back on the water, cut back on the fertilizer, cooler nights, and it’ll stimulate that new flower spike.
 *(Include an image of droopy leaves)* Some plants, such as calatheas, prefer moist soil at all times; otherwise, they develop that signature brown tissue damage on the leaves. The annoying thing here is that the damage cannot be reversed and can only be cut away, leaving you with a damaged plant. If the soil of your plant is bone dry, you'll notice that it's pulling away from the sides of the pot. This is because the soil has shrunk due to a lack of moisture, so make sure you are not letting this happen by watering a little more frequently. #### Signs Your Plant is Overwatered (darkgreen) Overwatering plants is a really common way that people kill their plants. Beginner plant enthusiasts often have a common misconception that houseplants need lots of water, but the reality is that these plants are native to hot climates where they may get periods of drought followed by large rain which rehydrates them. **Yellowing leaves** (red) can indicate an overwatering problem as well as an underwatering problem. If you are watering your plant too often and the soil is always wet, this can lead to root rot, which will begin to affect the leaves of your plant. **Limp and mushy leaves** (red) also indicate that you are overwatering your plant. This is particularly true with succulents such as Echeverias. Echeverias store water in their thick leaves and have difficulty storing excess water if you are watering your plant too often. This leads to mushy plants that eventually fall off.  *(Include an image of yellowing leaves)* Philodendron and Pothos plants tend to get mushy leaves that fall off if the soil is consistently soggy. My Philodendron Birkin recently developed some new brown leaves that fell off because I was overwatering it. Whereas crispy brown edges on leaves indicate an underwatering problem, if the whole leaves are turning brown, this tends to mean that the plant tissue is rotting due to too much water. You may also notice some water droplets on the ends of the leaves of some of your plants. This is the plant perspiring excess water through its leaves and can indicate that you are giving the plant too much water. Now, this tends to happen on plants that prefer drier soil, and I notice it quite often on my Philodendron Birkin and my Tradescantia Nanook. **Increased presence of fungus gnats** (red) can also be a sign that your plant is too moist. Fungus gnats like a moist top two inches of soil to breed and lay their eggs, so if your soil is wet, it creates a breeding ground for gnats. If you see lots of flea-like flies jumping around the top of your soil, I would just dial back on the watering and let the top two inches of the soil dry out before watering again. #### Watering Tips (darkgreen) It is important to allow the soil of your houseplant to dry out between waterings. This prevents the possibility of over-watering, which is one of the most common reasons people kill their plants. **Check the soil moisture** (red) before watering your plant by sticking your finger two inches into the soil. If it feels wet, leave it a few days and then check again. An even better way to check the soil moisture is to invest in a moisture meter. This device needs no batteries and tells you exactly how much moisture is in the soil, giving you control over watering your plants.  *(Include an image of a moisture meter)* When you identify that your plant needs water, make sure you give it a thorough soaking. Take your plant to a sink area and soak the soil four or five times until water drains out of the bottom each time. This ensures that all the soil in the pot gets moistened and there are no dry patches. **Bottom watering** (teal) is a method that has changed the health of my plants since I implemented it a couple of years ago. Place your plant in a container of water and let it absorb moisture from the bottom up. This method prevents water from getting on the leaves, which can cause leaf tissue damage. I hope this article was helpful. Now you know when to water your plants and when not to. Apply this knowledge to your plants and see the growth. Happy gardening! --- Incorporating these visual and formatting enhancements will make your article more attractive and engaging for your readers.](https://growinggaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/pexels-artempodrez-7242495-scaled.jpg)
