This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
You have just purchased an orchid. Here it is enthroned in your living room, with its beautiful colorful flowers. You are very happy with it, but now you are assailed by doubt. Aren’t orchids capricious plants, difficult to maintain? Will you be able to keep it?
Do not panic. Orchids, especially the butterfly orchid or Phalaenopsis, the most commonly sold, are actually very easy to store. Much more than most other indoor plants. And imagine: its beautiful flowering can last two months, or even three!
The good gestures
Your orchid, like any other living plant, needs light, its only source of energy. Place it in a location where it gets good light all day, with a few hours of sunlight, especially in the morning.
The best way to water an orchid is to soak it in water. Most orchids are sold in a transparent growing pot with drainage holes, which is placed in an ornamental pot without holes. Every 7 to 10 days, take the plant and its pot out of the cachepot, and let them soak for 10 to 30 minutes in a bowl of lukewarm water. Soak the whole clod! Afterwards, let the plant drain well and put the pot back in its cache-pot: it’s as simple as that! After a few minutes, make sure that there is no residual water in the cache-pot.
We sometimes see the recommendation to water with ice cubes. A habit to avoid, since it only stresses the plant.
As for the temperature, don’t worry. The one in your house is perfect. High atmospheric humidity is good, but avoid misting, which stains the leaves and can cause rot. Using a humidifier in the same room during the winter months will be enough to give it the necessary humidity.
Fertilization? Only from spring to late summer and very, very little. An all-purpose fertilizer will suffice.
A mature orchid will produce a new leaf from time to time… and lose an old one, which will turn yellow. Simply tear off the yellowing leaf. As for those weird aerial roots that go all over the place, leave them alone. Their presence is completely normal.
To stimulate a second flowering
When the last flower falls, you have two choices. You can try to force a mini-bloom on the same flower stem by cutting it just above the 2e or 3e node from its base, or cut the entire stem at its base, which will ensure a later, but more abundant flowering.
Normally, your orchid will flower once a year, around the same date as the first time. So if you bought it in bloom in April, expect a spring bloom. In August ? At the end of summer, etc.
Flowering occurs when the plant is ready: no special treatment is necessary.
Repotting
After two or three years, your orchid’s potting soil will begin to degenerate, becoming soft and rotten. The plant must then be repotted, ideally at the end of winter. You need a special orchid compost, which does not contain real soil, but rather pieces of bark and sphagnum. Shake off the old potting soil, then prune off any dead, rotten, or damaged roots (they will be brown or soft). Add some moist substrate to the bottom of the pot. Center the plant in the pot, distributing the roots well. You can bury all or part of the aerial roots. Then, add potting soil through the roots, tamping down so the plant is firmly seated. It’s not more complicated than that.
And There you go ! The culture of the orchid in a few words. Not so rocket science, is it?
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, relating to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.