How to Properly Care for an Orchid
Orchids are well known as a tropical plant but are also found in all other climates, except deserts and glaciers. This great variety of habitats means that the care an orchid requires will vary depending on where it is from. The difference between day and night temperatures is important and affects their ability to bloom. Cool growing orchids require daytime temperatures of near 75 degrees F that drop to around 55 degrees F at night. Intermediate growing orchids like daytime temperatures near 80 degrees F with a night time low of 60 degrees F, and warm growing orchids do best with hot days around 85 degrees F with night time temperatures of about 65 degrees F. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Place the orchid in an area with the proper light required for its type. This will usually be indirect sunlight, as only "high light" orchids can tolerate some direct sunlight. Even then they prefer the sunlight to be dappled. If the orchid's foliage is bluish green to dark green, the orchid is not receiving enough light.
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Provide adequate air circulation to help keep the leaves cool and circulate the humidity. Orchids can sometimes tolerate more light if there is enough air circulation. This also helps keep fungal and bacterial infections from killing your orchids.
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Place the orchid in a humidity tray but make sure the pot itself is not sitting in the water. The humidity should surround the plant. Orchids usually prefer a humidity level of around 70 percent, though they can tolerate levels as low as 50 percent. Lower levels of humidity may result in problems with growth and blooming. If you have more than one plant, they can be grouped together to increase the ambient humidity for all the plants as this will create a humid micro-climate. A humidifier or mister may be required for adequate humidification, especially during the winter. Spraying by hand does not provide adequate humidification.
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Water the orchids with lukewarm water as they need it, not on a set schedule. The growing medium can be tested by sticking your finger or a pencil about an inch down to see if it is still damp. If it is dry, the orchid should be thoroughly doused with water so that all the roots are wet. The water should drain out the bottom of the pot leaving the planting medium and the roots wet but not pond around the roots as orchid roots like to be able to breathe. They should not go completely dry between waterings, but too much watering can cause the roots to die, and the planting medium to break down and retain too much moisture.
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Fertilize orchids carefully, ideally with specially formulated orchid fertilizer. They can be fertilized with a very weak solution about once a week, or with a stronger solution two to three times a month during the growing season and once a month during the winter. If you are using regular house plant fertilizer, it should be used at half strength. You should also periodically rotate in a growth fertilizer, a blossom booster, and a fertilizer with micro-nutrients. The excess salts left from the fertilizers should be flushed from the pot by the waterings given between the times when the plant is fertilized.
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