How to Select Orchids for Your Home

Bringing orchids into your home will provide you with beautiful, long-lasting flowering plants that can be a graceful accent to any part of the house. How to choose the best orchid for your home? Read on.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Orchid Fertilizers
• Orchid In Container
• Plant Light

1. Choose an orchid that suits the conditions of your house. Orchids come in cool-growing varieties (requiring daytime temperatures of 60 to 75 degrees F), intermediate-growing varieties (requiring daytime temperatures of 65 to 80 degrees F) and warm-growing varieties (requiring daytime temperatures of 70 to 85 degrees F).

2. Choose an orchid that's in bloom so you'll be able to pick the flower color you want.

3. Choose healthy plants with green leaves and roots that have white tips. (Orchid roots grow out and over the edge of the pot, so you'll see them easily.)

4. Buy orchids year-round from nurseries, garden centers, catalogs or Web sites.

[calwesttropical]

on 10/30/2009 Finding a local orchid society is one of the best ways to find out what will do well in your area. Most orchids will do well inside your home no matter the location- the cold is one of the biggest factors in orchid survival and most people aren't going to let it get to freezing temperatures inside. Purchasing a humidity tray will keep most potted orchids happy year round. You can find everything you need to keep your orchids thriving at www.CalwestTropical.com

[BlueViolet]

on 4/26/2007 I love love orchids especially phalaenopsis. I've bought them from specialty shops and also from local nurseries and stores. Caution: Unless you are experienced with growing orchids, I recommend that you start with ones from local stores. They are cheaper and and will tolerate changes better. My experience has been that orchids from specialty shops tend not to do well when you bring them home because of the drastic environmental changes. They tend to drop bloom which is normal but what disappointment. And they are usually more expensive - of course well worth it for the exotic colors and such. However, if you are a novice to orchid growing, start with cheaper ones from local stores. I bought a beautiful plant from WalMart of all places last October, and it's still blooming!!! Yes, it's been giving me blooms for 6 months now.