Five Vital Orchids Info Tips to Grow Healthy Blooming Orchids!

By Luther Perry

Resourceful orchids info related to growing and care, is essential for new growers to create orchids that have lasting beautiful blooms, year after year. Focusing your attention to the important orchid information subjects will greatly lead to your success as an orchid grower! Below are the five necessary orchids info topics to understand so you can begin enjoying these wonderful plants.

1. Choosing the Right Orchid To Grow

When deciding on your first orchid to grow and care for, it is important to research orchids info related to orchids types, so you can have an understanding of the various species available. For the first time orchid grower, Phalaenopsis known as moth or Phal orchids, are arguably the perfect choice. They are a relatively low maintenance plant with extraordinary blooming frequencies and durations compared to most orchids types. Their beautiful stripes, pinks, whites, and purple colors will add a vibrant addition to any home or garden. If kept healthy, you can expect Phal orchids to bloom multiple times a year, for two to three months at a time!

2. Your Orchids Need Light

When researching orchids info related to lighting, you will find that there are two ways to provide light for your orchids. You can either create artificial lighting with fluorescent blubs, or you can place your orchid in an area that receives plenty of indirect sunlight. If you would like to use artificial lights you will need to match up the species of plant you are growing with the light intensity of the bulbs. Each species requires a different vibrancy of light to achieve healthy blooms.

When choosing to grow your plant with natural light, the best location to grow an orchid in your home is near a window facing east. This will provide your orchid with ample amounts of sunlight and shade, keeping your plant healthy and happy.

3. Combat Orchid Disease

This is a very important orchids info subject to investigate, so you can identify and potentially heal any diseases that your plant contracts. There are many types of orchid diseases that your plant can become infected with. Certain diseases such as viruses, brown rot, and black rot can be deadly to your plant if they are not isolated and treated immediately. One common symptom of a curable orchid disease is the yellowing of leaves. If you notice your orchids' leaves turning from their lush green color to a yellowish tan, this is likely due to your plant receiving too much light. Increase the amount of shade your plant receives, and remove your plant from an area where direct sunlight is abundant. This should reverse the yellowing, and bring back the deep green color.

4. Orchids Need Media, Not Soil

One of the most important steps to growing healthy orchids is using the correct potting media (soil). Orchids need soil that will allow their roots to circulate air and drain water easily. Two very common and popular types of orchid media are bark and New Zealand sphagnum moss. Typical potting soil is not good to use for orchids, since the soil will compact together and suffocate the roots, ensuring the plant will wither and eventually die. It is important to note that the type of media (soil) used, will affect the watering frequency necessary to keep your orchids healthy. Typically, watering your orchids once to twice a week will be sufficient. But if you are using sphagnum moss, water your plants once every 7 to 10 days. Moss retains more water than the bark, keeping your orchids hydrated for longer periods of time. If you research orchids info related to media types, you will discover the many media choices available, all having their own benefits and drawbacks.

5. Creating a Natural Climate

Orchids are commonly native to tropical climates in South East Asia, Japan, India, and Northern Australia. Because of this, orchids thrive in warm temperatures around 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Providing plenty of sunlight and warm temperatures will encourage the beautiful blooms and lush colors the plants are capable of producing. As you will discover when starting to grow varying species, each will react slightly different to varying climate conditions. But as a general rule, keeping your orchids hydrated in warm temperatures with plenty of light, should keep them healthy and beautiful.

By understanding these basic yet essential orchids info care topics, you will be able to grow and produce healthy vibrant blooming orchids with your plants. Once you witness the beautiful blooms and intoxicating scents your orchids can produce, you will be hooked on using your orchids info knowledge to produce healthy beautiful plants.

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Care of Orchids - The Container Gardening Guide to Growing Exotic Orchids

By Eric Samms

Orchids add a touch of class to your container gardening collection, but many container gardeners avoid them like nobody's business. These beautiful plants have a reputation for being demanding and difficult specimens to manage.

However I'm hear to tell you that you are missing out on some amazing plants if you haven't explored orchids. Although it is best to make a note of the specific requirements of each variety, Just keeping a few tips in mind will help you avoid the pain and heartache.

1. Start with Easy Care Varieties and Look for good quality plants

There are many popular types of orchid, including cymbidium hybrids, cattleyas, dendrobiums, oncidiums and vandas. For the beginners out there, I recommend staring with an easy care variety such as cymbidium hybrids.

This variety is readily available, easy to grow and easy on the pocket. Phalaenopsis (which are popularly known as the moth orchids) and Cypripediums (also known as slipper orchids) are also an easy variety to manage. are also commonly recommended for most beginners. The draw back of growing some orchids is that the they can grow a lot of foliage. As the flowers may only emerge for one - two months you could spend most of the year with a lot of unsightly leaves. If you prefer a more compact, but still manageable variety, consider the Miltonias.

First, when choosing an individual plant don't worry if you see some roots out of the mix. Orchids are epiphtes i.e. therefore the roots like being exposed to the air, and should look healthy and solid, not broken-up and spindly. It is best to choose plants with firm and shiny leaves and already in flower. Buying orchids in flower allows you to see the color and assess the plant for it's ability to produce healthy flowers.

2. Orchids need sunlight

however I recommend avoiding direct sunlight. If you have any dark areas at home, consider some artificial lighting for a few hours in the day.

Light is the key factor to successfully raise and bloom orchids. It is often possible to determine much light an orchid needs by looking over it's the leaves. The ideal leaf color is a light grass green. If your orchid is receiving too much light, the leaves become very yellow; therefore you will need to move the plant to more shade. If the leaves turn a very deep and dark green the orchid may not be receiving enough light. .
3. Orchids need plenty of humidity.

Place the containers in a gravel tray containing some water (making sure that the water does not reach the top of the pebbles) , or mist at regular intervals. If you keep in mind that humidity is affected by temperature and light, it is better to mist during the day time. Adding humidity late in the day or in the evening may contribute to excessive condensation which could result in leaf and root rot.

4. Orchids are sensitive to draughts and cold temperatures.

Keep them away from draughty windows especially at night.

Cymbidium hybrids like cool rooms with very good light and a minimum temperature of 11?C is ideal between October and May. Phalaenopsis / Doritaenopsis hybrids & Paphiopedilum hybrids
Keep this orchid in a centrally heated room with a minimum temperature of 15?C. Vuylstekeara, Odontocidium, Miltonia, Odontoglossum, Oerstedella, Masdevallia & Epidendrum hybrids
A cool, well-lit position out of direct sunlight with a minimum temperature of 11?C is suitable all year round.

5. Orchids require regular feeding in the summer.

orchids are very adaptable plants, grabbing nutrients from whatever happens to be nearby - leaves, droppings, or minerals in rainwater. Give your orchids a little help by feeding it the right fertilizers. Look for products that contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), along with trace elements such as iron.

6. Repot your orchid only when the roots have filled the container, and make sure to use specialist potting mixture from your garden centre.

Different potting mixtures are required for each orchid genus, depending on whether it is land growing or epiphytic (tree growing and obtaining nutrients from the air). Fir bark, coconut husk, tree fern fibers, sphagnum moss usually make up the potting media. Re-potting at regular intervals helps re-fresh the potting media.

Orchids may be potted in a variety of containers, however the container material may influence the watering frequency. Because clay pots dry out faster than other pots, plants in clay pots will need more frequent watering. Do make sure that your pots have good drainage, as orchids and their roots are not designed to stand in water.

7. Over watering is not a good idea.

It is best to water when the compost is almost dry. Most orchids are epiphytes, they are air plants and won't grow in soil. The roots need to dry slightly between watering.

I recommend watering your orchids just once a week in the winter and twice a week in the summer. Of course climatic conditions and potting mixture will affect the amount of moisture retained, so it is always a good idea to test your moisture levels if you are unsure whether to water. Poke your finger in to one inch, and if it feels damp (but not soggy) you don't need to water. Make sure that do not let the potting mixture completely dry either,

As most orchids in the wild grow on trees or other plants, they get moisture from the air. An Allow water run to or be sprayed over the roots and surrounding moss, but do not let them stand in water. Over watering your orchids usually results in mushy, brown, dead roots.

Remember less is more!

I don't recommend watering with tap water, as this is chemically treated. Go for rainwater and preferably at room temperature. The shock of cold water is a contributing factor towards early orchid death,

8. Room temperate in most homes will be acceptable for growing orchids, anywhere between 55F at night and 80F during the day is best.

Another thing to remember is that in their native environment nearly all plants are exposed to constant breezes. Orchids are no exceptions. Moving air will help them and cut down on disease problems. A small fan will quickly pay for itself by giving you better growing conditions.

In the wild, gentle continual breezes along the leafy canopy of the rain forest are vital for the survival of orchids and other air plants. Air movement acts as preventive medicine for orchids. It helps evaporate stagnant water, trapped during watering, where fungi and bacteria breed. Without ventilation or fresh circulating air, orchids eventually die from rot, lack of a continual carbon dioxide source, or infection. Ventilation also helps orchids tolerate intense light without getting burnt leaves.

You can easily improve air movement in your home so orchids grow happily. During the summer, when temperatures are high, open windows to allow fresh air to come inside. And when wintertime comes, you can use an ordinary oscillating fan to mimic the gentle breezes in the leafy canopy of a tropical forest. It is important to occasionally change the direction of the airflow so the area does not dry out.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Samms

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