Orchids, care and reproduction at home
Exquisite exotic flower orchid is quite capricious in growing and requires some attention, skills and knowledge in care. Those who decide to have it in their apartment, experts advise to carefully read the special literature, follow all the care rules and recommendations of experienced gardeners - this will significantly increase the chances of successful orchid cultivation and propagation.
Content:
- Orchid Growing Options
- How to water an orchid video
- Orchid home breeding video
- Orchid dressing
- Orchid conditions
- How to plant orchid seeds video
Orchid Growing Options
Orchids can be grown at home in various ways: traditional or intensive. Saplings, which can be purchased at any specialized store, take root well. They are called - Phalaenopsis orchid.
With intensive cultivation, the orchid gives several growths throughout the year. It must be remembered that after being in biological rest, she needs to ensure high-quality and proper watering.
The traditional version provides for the alternation of a period of rest and growth. This type of plant can remain dormant for a sufficiently long time. It follows from this that such a state can be extended to the period most favorable for continued growth. Often, in winter, the plant is provided with dormant conditions, and with the advent of summer, they resume growth.
How to water an orchid
When caring for orchids, attention should be focused on the correct watering. Most plants, including orchids, love moisture. It is this environment that provides the most comfortable conditions for active growth and flowering.
During watering, you need to ensure that water does not linger in the outlet of the plant. For this, watering is done with a watering can with an elongated nose or similar device. You need to direct the spout of the watering can closer to the sides of the floral scarlet.
If water gets into the outlet or, for some reason, accumulates in the outlet, it must be urgently disposed of (for example, with a soft towel or paper towel). Experts recommend watering in the bathroom with slightly warm water (an orchid is a tropic plant, therefore it does not tolerate cold water). After sufficient soil has been soaked in the pot, it is left for some time so that excess water drains.
The amount and abundance of watering the orchid of the house grown directly depends on:
from the amount of light received by the plant,
quality and composition of the substrate,
room temperature.
This type of flower does not tolerate a prolonged drought almost painlessly, but can die from excess moisture.
Watch a video about the features of orchid care:
Orchid home breeding
Orchids are planted in several ways, but for home breeding, only one that is used when transplanting a flower is most suitable - vegetative. The question of how to plant an orchid is often of interest to beginner amateur gardeners.
For reproduction, you need moss. Old pseudobulbs are planted in it (young ones must be removed). Old, after some time, let the accessory kidneys. Next comes the landing, similar to the landing of other flowers.
In addition to this, orchids propagate by cuttings.
For cuttings, long, old, faded stems, side shoots are suitable.
Also, cuttings can be obtained from a 2-3 year old bulb. Bulbs are separated from the flower, cut into pieces so that each of them has a node with a developed kidney. Pieces are covered with crushed coal and left for two days of drying.
At the end of the term, the cuttings are placed in moist sphagnum; now, certain conditions are necessary for the cuttings:
- ambient light
- temperature at least +20 degrees C,
- high humidity
- placement in an ordinary plastic bag.
In order to avoid the formation of rot on the cuttings, they are regularly ventilated. Exact fulfillment of such conditions for an orchid guarantees, after one and a half to two months, the development of previously sleeping buds and their transformation into a small plant.
About the propagation of orchids - in more detail:
Orchid dressing
Top dressing is performed during growth. This will help active flowering. It is enough to make top dressing every twenty days. As fertilizing, it is worth using only fertilizers specially designed for these plants.
Frequent and abundant dressing can adversely affect the growth and bloom of the flower. During flowering, fertilizing is carried out every week.
Orchid conditions
A necessary and prerequisite for the cultivation of orchids is high-quality and proper lighting. It depends on him how, when and whether the plant will bloom at all. The most comfortable daylight hours for orchids are from 12 to 15 hours.
In winter, the missing light hours are compensated by fluorescent lamps. In addition to the light, for good development, the flower needs fresh air. A flower pot with an orchid is best placed on the windowsill of a window looking west or east.
How to plant orchid seeds
This type of flower has seeds of a very small size, in which nutrients are completely absent. In appearance, they resemble dust. In the wild, the emergence of seed sprouts occurs due to mycorrhiza or the root sponge. It provides nutrients to seeds.
Propagation by seeds at home is quite painstaking, lengthy and requires patience. Firstly, it is necessary to create the most sterile conditions in which the entire growing process will take place. Seeds are placed in a nutrient medium created artificially.
Before the first sprouts appear, 3 to 9 months will pass. Until the moment when the plant can be planted, another 2 to 3 years will pass. The first flowers on orchids grown in this way will appear at least 3-4 years after planting. There is a variety of Venus slipper, its flowering can be observed only after 10 years after planting.
For those who dare to grow orchids in this way, experts advise to perform the following actions:
soil preparation - add chopped moss and leafy soil to the soil for cultivation, water abundantly;
- sow seeds in rows (without falling asleep from the top);
- create greenhouse and maximally sterile conditions in which to place a pot with sown seeds (constant air temperature should be 23-25 \u200b\u200bdegrees, humidity high);
- do not water the seeds, but periodically spray them with slightly warm water;
- waiting for the first shoots to appear and the formation of the first leaf on them, dive into a container with soil consisting of peat and moss in equal proportions;
- re-pick after the formation of the second leaf into the soil with the composition of peat, moss and chopped rhizome of fern;
- after the appearance of the fourth leaf, dive seedlings into pots, in which their further growth will occur.
Having correctly and qualitatively performed all the recommended actions, knowing how to plant an orchid, it will be possible to observe the flowering of orchids grown from seeds only after a few years.
How to transplant orchids - in the video:
