ORCHIDACEAE
Orchid in the house - the maintenance and care
Grow an orchid house - not for the lazy, orchid require special care, but the hostess gives real magic. How do you properly include orchid and care for her.
Legend has it that the beautiful Venus, indulging in amorous pleasures, the shoe dropped. Shoes and the goddess of love turned into a delightful flower, symbolizing sexuality. This flower - orchid. At all times the orchid attributed magical properties of orchid petals and seeds cooked Love Potion.
Grow an orchid house - not for the lazy. This is not a cactus once a week watering. Orchid as any beauty requires reverent attitude and loving care, so beginning recommend orchid Phalaenopsis - with proper care, it blooms for about six months a year, and is best suited to the content in the home.
The content of orchids. Remember that the orchid - epiphyte. That is, in the wild it lives on other plants, usually in the trees. Therefore, it should not be planted in the ground, and in a special substrate. Substrate for orchids can be purchased already prepared, but you can prepare yourself. Take a dry pine bark, a good boil. Pat dry. Boil for a couple of days again. It is necessary to kill harmful insects. The finished crust cut into small pieces (pieces of size 1.5-2 cm). Mix in the chopped dried sphagnum moss. Substrate ready.
A few words about the pot for orchids. When choosing a pot for orchids, experts recommend a white or, even better, transparent - this does not heat up in the sun and will not overheat the roots of the plant. What is interesting, the best plastic pot - in a clay orchid roots are attached to the walls of its porous and therefore greatly injured during transplanting. In a pot holes have to be, because one of the main conditions being healthy orchids - excellent ventilation. In addition, there will be no stagnant water.
Potty trained. Now, to care for orchids was easier to be placed on the bottom of the drainage necessary for good water movement. As drainage can use small pieces of foam (0.5-1 cm). Drainage layer should take a little less than one-fourth of the pot, then three-quarters laid prepared substrate and place the orchid. In no case do not press down roots! Arranging a plant pot to fill up the remaining substrate.
And remember - transplanted orchid once every 3 years, not more.
Lighting orchids. Orchid - very photophilous plant. But at the same time she can not stand the bright midday sun. So a pot of beautiful best place on the west or east window. If this is not possible, provide additional light flower. Orchids love the heat, so the optimum temperature for their content 20 C-25 C.
Watering and fertilizing orchids. Watering orchids should be every 2-3 days in summer and winter - 1-2 times a week. Make sure that the substrate is completely dry out in between waterings. For irrigation use warm water having stood. But do not overdo it: frequent watering can lead to rotting of delicate roots. Do not forget about hydration. Every morning orchid spray warm water. Especially for orchids, which are located next to a radiator panels.
Interesting idea - from time to time arrange for orchids warm shower. It is believed that in this way we resemble plants of warm tropical showers, and, as noted by fans of the flower, after this procedure, they are fun to grow and bloom more actively. That's just not necessary to do this, when the orchid is blooming - after all house plants are weaker than in nature, and may reset the wonderful petals. Happens all the way - put a flower bath and pour a gentle stream of the shower for a few minutes. The water temperature should be about 40 C. Allow the water to drain and the "cool" flower cloth dab middle of a plant, so it does not rot.
In addition to regular watering, orchids need additional feed. Use specialized fertilizer for orchids. During the growth and prosperity of this have to do one day a week. At other times, enough 1 time per month.
Flowering orchids - is the most joyous moment in the life of any grower. Orchid flowers on aged 1.5-2.5 years. Wait for it to bloom it is very difficult. It would seem, to care for her hard, and she, ungrateful, does not want to flourish. You leave her alone! To produce a beautiful flower, orchid need a little stress. Accelerate flowering can be a sharp temperature drop. For example, to keep a capricious overnight at 18 C, and in the morning relocate to a warm room. The impetus for the flowering and can be a reduction in irrigation.
Orchids are considered demanding flowers. However, many species of orchids grow well and bloom at home in a pot on the windowsill, as well as other indoor plants, with good care. Care home orchids includes providing appropriate soil, light, watering, humidity, and fertilizer and transplant
Lighting for the home orchid
Lighting - a major factor care of orchids, which determines whether your orchid to bloom. With a lack of light orchid is not enough power for the normal cycle of vegetation, and at too intense lighting plant just consumed. General requirements for the light to the most popular varieties of orchids are in the first part of the article (see link above), but you should always follow the manufacturer's instructions. A sign of the lack of light in the orchid are dark green leaves (instead of a light, bright green or reddish in healthy plants), a sign of its surplus - yellowing of the leaves and the appearance of these brown or dry spots.
See also: Orchid Phalaenopsis: transplant
Watering orchids at home
Watering - not less important factor for the successful growth and flowering orchids. The vast majority of orchids in nature are never in the water, their roots can not tolerate stagnant moisture and salts dissolved in water. Each species of orchids need special conditions of irrigation. Phalaenopsis, Pafiopedilum, Odontoglossum and Cymbidium prefer slightly moist soil all the time, and the substrate for Ontsidiuma, Dendrobium and Cattleya should actually become dry between waterings. The intensity of watering orchids is influenced by such factors as temperature and dry air, light intensity, the phase of the growing season and the size of the orchid pot. In general, orchids are much more tolerant to dry than to waterlogging. To react to the lack of moisture orchid pseudobulbs wrinkled and withered, wrinkled leaves, and the waterlogging - yellowing leaves and soaked, blackened and decayed roots. Reinforced watering orchids require only the active growth phase, emission stems and flowering. Abbreviated - in a period of rest after flowering, and in the winter, when cool, and very little light.
Proper watering orchids is to put the plant in a pot in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes, or intensively watered with warm water from the shower to the ground was wet and the water completely out of the drainage holes. In both cases, after watering the plant to hold onto a wire rack to rest of the water can drain out, but then again, you can put an orchid in a decorative planter.
Soil and pots for orchids
The main objective of the substrate and the pot for orchids, epiphyte - to maintain the plant in a vertical position to maintain a minimum of moisture around the roots, as well as easy to allow air to the roots. That is why the ground for epiphytic orchids usually does not contain any garden soil. Primer for epiphytes is a mixture of bark, natural fibers, coal, moss, granulated clay, cork, coarse sand with the addition of perlite or vermiculite. As pots for orchids, epiphytes fit baskets, nets, wire pots and other containers that can hold a substrate inside.
General rules for terrestrial orchids - substratum of these elements are well chopped, with a small amount of dry leaves and garden soil. This composition keeps the moisture and nutrients between waterings. Container for terrestrial orchid is better to use the most common plastic, transparent, with a lot of holes to drain the water (to hide the cheap plastic pot, keep in a beautiful orchid plant pots).
Novice collectors should buy ready-soil mixtures for orchids in the garden centers or nurseries. Soil mixtures with the package can be written, for example, for "Phalaenopsis" (for this and for other epiphytes) or "for Cymbidium" (for this and for other terrestrial orchids). With little experience in keeping orchids, you can try to make a ground for ground using a substrate for epiphytes with dry moss (to detain water) and garden soil.
Temperature maintenance of orchids
Popular types of orchids feel perfectly at home in the amplitude of daily temperature from +18 to +27 and night - from +13 to +24. A necessary condition for the flowering of most orchids is a difference of day and night temperatures. If your apartment is centrally heated, try to provide orchids cooler nights. Frequently carry orchids, accustomed to the heat in cooler conditions at night, works great as a distillation: plant may soon release a new flower spike.
Most orchids are quite capable of withstanding moderate deflection temperature. Do not forget that when the temperature should be reduced watering orchids, and with increasing - increase.
Humidity and air circulation
Humidity, the requisite majority of orchids, is 60-80%. If you have a home humidity below, use a tray with grills (available at garden centers). This pan is easy to do yourself, filling the bottom of the water and putting it on top of a thick layer of gravel or drainage stones. The main thing is that the roots of orchids and the container bottom never touched the water. In hot weather, orchids rejoice sprayed from a spray that should be done in the morning or afternoon, so that the plant has had time to dry before night.
Orchids can only benefit from a little air movement (but not from strong drafts!). If the room is not a good natural ventilation can be set and periodically on a small electric fan. It is particularly important for the movement of air in relation to cold-orchid (Cymbidium), who are forced in hot conditions. When using a fan, do not forget to increase watering.
Indoor orchid fertilizer
For flowering orchids need regular (on average, once every two weeks) and balanced feeding. The best thing - buy special fertilizer for orchids in the garden center and raise it in proportion on the package (for Miltonia decrease in the proportion of two). Experts of the Botanical Garden in New York recommended fertilizer for orchids with equal proportions of macro: NPK 20/20/20. Do not fertilize orchids special fertilizer for other plants, and reduce fertilizer during rest and during the cold season.
Repotting orchids home
Signal to that orchids require a transplant, is developed into a pot in the border width of the green part of the plant (and not above the surface of the root system of the pot!). Transplant should be performed after the orchid bloomed and rested a little before or at the beginning of a new period of growth. Carefully remove the orchid from the pot, taking care not to damage the roots (sometimes it has to cut the pot), shake off as much of the old soil from the roots, clean scissors, cut all dried or rotted roots. Take the pot for 1-2 more than the size, pour a little bit on the bottom of a suitable new substrate, gently place the orchid in a pot and cover with fresh top soil. Substrate should be free to fill the space between the roots of orchids. Gently push the substrate, but not compress it too. Do not cover the top of the soil (growing point) orchids, it must be open and positioned slightly below the skirting pot. Lightly moisten the soil and place the orchid in the shade for a few days.
