ORCHID CULTURE SHEETS

How to Care for Your Plants

This page covers the rudiments of orchid culture and contains basic growing tips for some of the most common types of orchids grown by hobbyists. If you are brand new to orchid growing, you will also benefit from reading the FAQs.

Growing instructions for newer hobbyists:

• Cattleya, Dendrobium, and Oncidium Care (HTML)
• Cattleya (PDF)
• Cymbidium
• Dendrobium (PDF, includes Ansellia, Xylobium, Eria)
• Phalaenopsis Care (in HTML or in PDF)
• Phragmipedium Care (in HTML or in PDF)

 

Growing instructions for more intermediate hobbyists:

• Cattleya
• Cymbidium
• Dendrobium (includes Ansellia, Xylobium, Eria)
• Lycaste
• Masdevallia
• Miltonia
• Phalaenopsis
• Odontoglossum
• Oncidium
• Stanhopea
• Vanda

Other topics:

• Importing orchids
• Orchids in the garden
• Orchids in the home

   

If you are brand new to orchid growing, you will also benefit from reading the FAQs. You will also find general cultural information on the culture page.

 

 

PHALAENOPSIS CARE

These are the perfect plants for permanent indoor growing. Natural light in a sunny East or South window, a bay window, sun porch, or bright plant room is usually adequate. They like bright INDIRECT light. Harsh South or West windows may be too bright and hot. Simply, place sheers or another plant between them and the light source when the light is too intense for these plants. Watch the leaf color for clues about how your growing area rates with these plants.

Phalaenopsis plants like to stay evenly moist. Plastic pots seem to work better for these plants. They won't tolerate going extremely dry, as they don't have pseudobulbs. New Zealand sphagnum works well as a medium for these plants. We grow Phalaenopsis in 'Pro-Mix BX'. This media stays damp. An average 6" plastic pot needs watering on about a weekly basis, NO MORE. Watch the roots to make sure they stay firm and white. If you like to wet your plants, you should repot them into a dryer media immediately.

The average home has the preferred temperature for these plants. Days near 80F. Nights above 55F. The cooler nights experienced in autumn, plus shorter days starts the bloom spikes in Phalaenopsis plants. You can set spikes in the house because the window areas are cooler at night and warmer in the day than other areas of the house, so you still get the temperature drop they want.
The bloom spike takes 90-120 days to bloom from the time you see it emerge from the plant. They can bloom over long periods of time on a large plant. The spike can be cut to the base when blooming tapers off and you find the stem unsightly. Many people cut the stem to the 1st or 2nd bract on the stem. This can allow the plant to rebloom from an existing spike, so it's back in bloom sooner. There's no harm in encouraging lateral blooming, but they tend to be smaller blooms. We prefer to remove the spike completely, so the plant can focus energy on a strong new spike.

CATTLEYA, DENDROBIUM, and ONCIDIUM CARE

This group of plants are best suited for being placed outside in the warm seasons. They winter over adequately in the house, but need the extra boost of light that they'd get outside. They are no more difficult to deal with than other plants you toss outside for the summer. If you have a place under a tree, covered patio or the eaves of your house that you put houseplants without damage these orchids would do well there. Some people have growing areas with enough light to keep these plants inside permanently. However, without exceptional sunlight or a greenhouse that's unlikely to get you blooms. When outside, light shade during the middle of the day might be needed. Full morning sun is very good. Full afternoon sun may be too hot. Watch the leaf color for clues about how your growing area rates with these plants. If you have some mature plants of this group that refuse to bloom, try getting them to more light.

This group of plants like to go almost dry between waterings. Clay pots work well for this group of plants. We grow them in the following mixture: 2 parts granular charcoal, 2 parts sifted perlite, 1 part Metro-Mix 200 sterile potting media. This mixture dries at a rate that has us watering an average 6" clay pot once a week and NO MORE. Watch the roots to make sure they stay firm and white.

They can be outside as long as night temperatures stay above 55F (some growers say as low at 45F if the plants are under an overhanging roof and are kept dry). Many Dendrobium and Cattleya can survive brief dips to as low as 33F, but growth is slowed. Very few can survive a freeze. Most in-home temperatures are fine for the winter -- if you are comformtable, most of your plants will be comfortable, too.

Plants in the Cattleya alliance generally bloom from the new growths. Some plants are sporadic bloomers and bloom as each new growth comes up and matures. Others are seasonal and when the right time of year rolls around, they bloom on all the growths generated during the past year. This depends on the plant's parents: many plants from the tropics bloom year round at random intervals, while plants from temperate and colder climes tend to be strongly seasonal.