O R C H I D S
WATERING Pay attention to how much you water. Weekly watering is required during the summer, however during the winter this should be reduced to once per fortnight, or when the potting media is visibly dried out. I fill the outer pot with tepid water, and leave the plant submerged like this for 45 minutes, before completely draining – It is important that the aerial roots are also covered with water. If this is not possible in the outer pot, use a bucket or larger container instead. I like to use rainwater whenever possible too – we have a water butt and so this is easy for me to do. I feel that plants benefit more from this as opposed to treated tap water – But this is just my personal theory! FEEDING I apply Vitax Orchid Feed every time I water. (Three consecutive feeds, but flush through with just water on every fourth). The green bottle (growth) during cane and leaf production, and the pink bottle (bloom) as soon as the first buds appear through until flowers are spent. POTTING MEDIA It is recommended that specialist orchid potting media (containing bark and clay granules) is to be used. However, when I received mine, it was potted in just normal compost! And so, I knew no different. After the first year of flowering, I cut back all spent canes – as I had read that this is what one should do. However, after a little more research later on I discovered that it is actually better to just leave these canes be – as they help to feed and nurture the new growth, as well as possibly flowering for a following year. So, after the second year of flowering, I left the spent canes as they were to see what would happen. Later in the year the leaves of these spent canes began to brown and then drop! I thought that this meant the plant was dying! (If I had researched a little more, I would have discovered that this was completely normal for old canes)! During my panic, I came to the conclusion that I needed to wash the roots and repot completely. It was during this task that I discovered that orchid potting media is actually recommended, and so I re-potted using this. Well, although my plant is still doing okay, it has NOT produced as many new canes this year. It spent the first three years of its life in normal potting compost – and seemed to be more than happy. Due to noting this, any keiki’s (baby plants) that have since developed, have been potted in normal, all-purpose compost – and they are coming along just perfectly! LIGHT Full sun south facing window – I believe this has a lot to do with how well mine has come along. These are my top tips as an enthusiast not an expert of any kind! I also received a white Moth Orchid a couple of months ago for my birthday which is equally as beautiful arriving potted in bark which I may repot in normal compost! I will keep you posted……I will do a little research. 😊
My love affair with orchids started four years ago when my sister-in-law gave me a house warminggift of a DendrobiumNobileOrchid bloom. Although I instantly fell in love with it, I had no idea how to care for this beautiful plant and knew dozens of people who ended up killing multiple orchids and I had no wish to join the ranks of the kill-an-orchid- brigade. I decided to place it on the kitchen windowsill in the sunshine and hope for the best. After some reading online and tweaking what I had learnt here and there, my beautiful gift has thrived in the sunlight. I am delight that I also have successfully taken slips from the original gift and have three new flourishing plants around the house with flowering lasting from February through to May/June:
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