The Daily Dig

My involvement with orchids began after a visit to the botanical garden, where I was mesmerized by the beauty and variety of these truly magnificent flowers. I was so fascinated that I wanted to grow by myself. So I start learning about orchids.

The first thing I learned about orchids is that, contrary to popular opinion, not all of them grow in the warm, moist, rainforest conditions. Some grow at higher elevations, under constant cloud cover, and thus require cooler temperatures.

Rainforest orchids are naturally hydroponics growing in moss on the sides of trees or rocks, and getting their nourishment from the constant rain pouring over their roots, as well as from the decomposing debris of the forest. They are kind to their hosts; they never take nourishment from the tree itself, and thus are not parasitic.

Orchids grow in moderate climates such as that found in most of Europe. Cool-growing orchids require nighttime temperatures of 50° to 55° F (10° to 13° C), while their daytime preference is 60° to 75° F (16° to 24° C). Intermediate-growing orchids include the most popular varieties such as cattleyas, dendrobiums, many oncidiums, some paphiopedilums, and a large number of the co-called botanical or species orchids.

If temperatures exceeds for more than a short period, the orchids will suffer. Although in the wild most orchids grow in humid environments, indoors they can make do well with low as 40 % humidity. Freshly potted plants should be kept in 100% humidity until they grow new roots. Light and air are absolutely essential to healthy, productive orchid plants. Orchids should not receive light for more than 14 hours a day. My intense lighting is not beneficial to all species of orchid. Some orchid shapes mimic the shapes of bees, wasps, or spiders to scare away unwanted pollinators. Sometimes the ordinary housefly can pollinate a plant.

The propagation of orchids from seeds is very difficult. Unfortunately, orchids are not the kind of plant where you can take a cutting, stick it into water, and wait until roots appear. Infact each cell can give birth to an identical plant, so one plant can be the source of millions of look-alike plants. Cellular propagation looks very promising for orchids.

I sometimes use potting mixes, depending on the species being grown. For instance, for the lady slipper orchid (phapiopedilum) you can use: 3 parts fern root
3 parts fibrous moss
3 parts baked clay pellets
1 part charcoal chunks (3-8mm in diameter)
add a teaspoon (2 g) of calcium carbonate to each 2 litres of substrate. For terrestrial orchids, replace the fibrous moss with sandy loam or peat moss.

Orchid growers used to argue about whether or not orchids needed to be fertilized. With time, the answer came—orchids grow much better when the plant receives fertilizer. A proper feeding schedule that takes the growing requirements into consideration produces richer-blooming orchids. I also found that Advanced Nutrients B52 Fertilizer Booster, with essential B vitamins and hormones, increases the plant metabolism of my orchids and strengthens their immune systems. Another one of their products, Bloom Booster, has helped to insure not only plentiful flowers, but also high quality blooms on my orchid plants.

In the rain forests of Latin America, orchids grow in moss on the sides of trees or even on rocks, with their roots being supplied with moisture by the constant rain. There are 25,000 different species of orchids, plus another 60,000 hybrids that have been produced by growers with imaginations. Most orchids are grown for their beauty—others, such as the Vanilla Orchid, are used to extract the vanilla flavour for pastry chefs around the world.

According to an expert grower, the key to successful orchid culture is moisture, nutrition, and air. Fresh air, good air circulation, is essential for orchids under lights. The high humidity required for orchids is a breeding ground for fungus and viruses. The use of Advanced Nutrients hydroponic plant food will insure optimum nutrition going to the lovely flowers, whether you use perlite, vermiculite, spongerock (coarse perlite), fired clay pellets, or gravel as your grow medium.