Do daytime temperatures have you excited about spring plantings? Have you already started to redo your landscape, or are you waiting another few weeks? If you’ve got the itch to get started, but you’re going to hold off just a little longer, turn your attention to the inside of your home. Now is a great time to get back into the “gardening groove” with an indoor plant. But if you want a little bit of a challenge, try growing an orchid this year.
Whenever I stop and admire orchid flowers, I’m truly in awe of how bright and beautiful they are. There’s nothing like them! I’ve never had the right conditions in my home to grow one, but this year, I do! And I’m so excited. To successfully grow an orchid indoors, it will need lots of bright indirect light. What this means is that there is plenty of sunshine coming through the window, but the sun isn’t directly beaming down on the leaves of the plant. Think of a large bay window.
Orchids are what we call epiphytes. Simply put, this means it is a plant that can grow without soil. So, why do you think we grow orchids in pine bark? Because they simply don’t need the soil! Now, you might be able to grow an orchid with soil, and you might even see some orchid soil mixes that resemble a potting mix, but, orchids grow best when they’re grown in BARK! In the wild, orchids grow on trees. Their roots cling to the bark of the tree, and they live a symbiotic relationship. The orchid isn’t “stealing” anything from the tree, it’s just living alongside of/on top of the tree’s bark.
Orchids do not like to have wet roots. Let them get very dry between watering. Use room temperature water, and water the roots, not the leaves. If you get too much water between the leaves and into the crown of the plant, it may rot. Don’t water your orchid at night, water it during the morning or early afternoon, while the sun is out.
Plant an orchid in an orchid pot! Orchids’ roots like to breathe. An orchid pot will have lots of little holes along the sides.
If your orchid is not blooming, feed it with an orchid-specific fertilizer. Don’t use too much, you can burn the roots. Once the orchid begins to bloom, you can pause your fertilizing route. Cut off old blooms after they’ve died. Cut it just below where the first flower appeared. Resume your fertilizing route, and you should have more flowers in a few months. Wait to repot your orchid until after it’s finished its bloom cycle.
If you’ve never tried your hand at growing an orchid, now is the time! Give it plenty of fertilizer, but not too much water, and you’ll have the most beautiful, tropical blooms in your home for multiple months of the year.
