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Argyreia
Grafting cacti is awesome

Registered: 11/19/14
Posts: 1,103
Loc: France

Last seen: 1 year, 2 months

The orchid thread

4
#25394074 - 08/17/18 09:08 AM (8 years, 1 month ago)

Figured out there is no such thing as an orchid thread so I'll start it myself.

I started growing orchids one year ago and accumulated a certain amount of techniques and knowledge overall from my readings but also from my little experience.

Orchid behaviour and growing technique

Orchids are slow growers, water and warmth loving plants (for the most part).
They do like it very bright but if it's too hot and dry they will get damaged.
Their roots like being constantly moist but also constantly in the air. Hence, it makes their cultivation in pots a real challenge. You need to find a balance between water retention and porosity to allow the roots to be wet but airy at the same time.
My technique is simple, I use high porosity substrates and I melt holes in my plastic pots with a soldering iron. The goal is to melt big holes at the bottom and fill the 20% of the bottom with heavy rocks to allow air mouvement, good drainage and lower the center of gravity of the pot. In the 60% middle, I fill with a mixture of sphagnum moss, bark, clay pebbles and lava rocks. The top 20% is the same mixture but with more sphagnum and less rocks.
Water naturally tends to accumulate at the bottom of the pots so with this technique you want to try to make the whole pot dry evenly.

When it comes to watering, the very best thing to do is letting the natural rain do the job. When it does not rain, I mist the plants with a pressure mister with rainwater everyday (you could do it with tap water). Every once in a week or twice, the bottom of the pots get dry and I water by letting it sit in water during a few seconds.
Misting the foilage and the top of the pots witha pressure mister is the best way to water ime. Water trickles between the leaves and the pseudobulbs and go directly into the roots that are located at the top of the pots. It promotes the formation of new roots at the base of the shoots.
In winter time, I chose to put them indoors in a well lit and aerated area. I supplement natural light which is weak in winter time with CFL tubes. This is the period of the year you have to be careful with waterings and bottom water ONLY if they are dry. Misting them only every two or three days is alright. Most of them will be half dormant anyways but they won't be ok to completely dry out.

What do they like the most ? Without a doubt, summer rainstorms. It's hot and very humid, like it is in their natural environnement. They also like spring which is rather warm and very rainy. End of summer is their best season as temperatures start to drop and rainstorm become more frequent.
The hottest middle of summer is not a good season but you can litteraly shower them with water to fix it. And obviously, winter is their worst season.
________________________________________

Now that my way of growing orchids is written down, let's enjoy some pictures ! I will post regularly pictures of my orchids in bloom or any special event. Don't hesitate to post pictures of your orchids and ask questions if they are unhappy.

Some outdoors flowers of the day (and the cool thing about orchids is that their flowers usually last very long) :cool:

x Brassia

Oncidium 'Sharry baby'

Edited by Argyreia (08/17/18 10:02 AM)

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