FLOWERS : Orchids Don’t Require the Diva Treatment
Orchids long have had an erroneous reputation for being temperamental beauties that require meticulous care, plus luck, for them to grow and blossom. In fact, they adapt fairly well to less-than-optimum conditions. With a minimum of attention, they will adorn your home or garden with fragrant blooms.
Some orchids feature a single bloom on a long stem; others have several blooms on branched spikes. Depending upon the type of orchid (there are more than 25,000 known species), the flower spikes can range from a few inches up to nearly eight feet in height.
In Orange County, orchids are grown as garden plants as well as houseplants; some growers like to rotate the plants indoors and out depending on the season.
When an orchid becomes dormant, it sheds part or all of its foliage and requires little or no water until new growth appears. Some orchids flower in winter but still require no water.
You have only to look at your orchids to see if they’re receiving the right amount of light. If an orchid develops burn spots and yellow-colored leaves, it should be moved to a location with more moderate light. If the plant has unusually green leaves but no blooms, it will fare better in a sunnier location.
Orchids thrive in areas where the air circulates freely and contains at least 50% moisture.
Indoors, use a humidifier to add moisture. Placing the plants in pots on a tray filled with water helps, too. This type of swift drainage system also ensures that the potting soil doesn’t become too wet, which results in drowned and rotten roots.
But extremes should be avoided, so don’t let the compost become too dry, or the plant will slow its growth, and the bulbs will shrivel.
Like most plants restricted to containers, orchids must be divided and transplanted to encourage healthy growth.
Depending on the species, your plant will probably need to be repotted every two years or when the new growth already has grown over the side of the pot.
How to repot an orchid:
* Repot an orchid when its roots get too crowded and begin to grow over the edges of the pot. Orchids like close quarters, so select a pot that’s only about an inch wider and deeper than the old one. (Clay pots will absorb excess water.)
* Remove old potting mix from roots and discard. Clip off dead roots and trim back healthy roots by one-third. Use shredded fir bark (sold at garden centers) for repotting. Mix in pieces of plastic foam to enhance drainage.
* Line the bottom of the pot with pebbles. Add layer of fir bark, then hold orchid so the rhizome (the thick horizontal stem) is a half-inch below the rim of the pot. To allow for new lateral growth, position oldest end of the rhizome at one edge.
* Fill in around the roots with more fir bark. Do not cover the rhizome. To provide support until new root growth anchors the plant, insert a bamboo stake into the pot and tie it to the orchid with a piece of string.
