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Fall Orchid Growing Tips

 Fall
Sep 012010
 

by Susan Taylor
Originally published in BellaOnline

Water and fertilizer requirements change – As cooler weather slows growth on your plants both water and fertilizer requirements change. Watch temperatures carefully and tailor your watering to the needs of the plants, rather than to a rigid schedule which worked during the hotter summer months.

Watch the changing light conditions – Spring and fall are times when you need to pay particular attention to changing light conditions. As the sun moves, the light conditions on both your indoor and outdoor orchids are also changing. Make sure that low light plants are not suddenly in a hot spot of sun. High light plants should be watched for too much shade. Mid-fall is the time to remove shade cloth from greenhouses and extra shading from windows.

Prepare to bring plants inside – If you’ve been lucky enough to be able to summer your plants outside, start preparing them for the move back inside. Check for insects in the media by dunking in a pail of water to force the insects out and kill any that you find. Roaches love to live in orchid mix and will eat roots while they are there. Clean and cut back old growth so that when a sudden weather change comes you can easily move your plants inside.

Clean up your indoor growing area – Prepare your greenhouse or indoor area for your plants. Clean any areas and straighten up supplies. This is easier to do when you have fewer plants in the space. Are you planning to add humidity trays or fans for this growing season? Go ahead and order the items and install them so that your plants will have the best conditions you can supply.

Check your orchid labels – As you are checking your plants, make sure that the labels are clear and readable. It normally only takes about three years for the labels to deteriorate — less time if they are of poor quality. Use heavy labels and an indelible marker to clearly identify your plants. Even if you have only a few plants it is important to know what they are so that you can give them the proper conditions to grow and bloom.

Phals need a cooling period – Fall is the time to move your Phals to a cool spot, around 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit or 10-15 degrees centigrade at night, until you see inflorescences starting at the base of the plant. When the growths are about 2 inch or 5 centimetres long, the plants can be moved back to their normal growing conditions and the spike will continue to grow.

Repotting Keikis

 Q&A
Aug 202010
 

Question:  I have a healthy vanda that flowers freely. Now, however, it is growing two plantlets. How do I remove them and pot into their own baskets? M.H. Starzinger

Answer:  The offsets are known as keikis which means “baby” in Hawaiian. When the young plants have developed roots of their own that are 2 inches or more long, they can usually be broken off the mother plant quite easily. Some growers snap them off, while others sever them with a sterilized blade, taking care not to injure the main stem. Winter is not a good time to perform this operation, however, especially as far north as you are. Rather, wait until spring when you see active new root growth. The plants may then be put into appropriately sized baskets and will quickly establish. Alternately, you may wish to simply leave the keikis attached and allow the plant to form a clump, which will give proportionately more flowers than will the single stem. See our Video Library for tutorials on removing and potting keikis. Ned Nash

HOT! HOT! HOT!

 Summer
Aug 012010
 

Ideally, most orchids do best in the 70’s and 80’s, going cooler at night. During mid-summer, when they receive week after week of 90 degree temperatures, they need a bit of extra TLC to keep them happy.

Misting your plants will help to cool them off. In very humid climates, one needs to mist very lightly so that the plants don’t stay too wet. In a hot and DRY climate, one can mist more heavily to create a bit of humidity. The water droplets on the leaves help to cool off your orchids’ leaf tissue.

Shade your plants heavily during hot summers. Think of yourself sitting in the hot sand at the beach. If you sit in the shade, you feel much cooler. Taking a dip in the water (or misting yourself) will bring down your body temperature. The same holds true for plants.

Back off a bit on fertilizer when extreme heat hits. When it’s 95 degrees plus in the greenhouse, I very rarely feel hungry during the day. Orchids also seem to slow down their growth in extreme heat. Skip a week or two of food every so often during those high heat weeks to give your plants a break from the high nitrogen rush!

Air movement is also a key. Just as I like to stand in front of a fan during a warm spell, our orchids also will benefit from extra air movement.

The flowers on those few orchids that are brave enough to bloom this time of year don’t last very long. This time of year our Phalaenopsis fold after 4-6 weeks, whereas during the cooler winter/spring season they last 3-4 MONTHS. This is why most orchids bloom between Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day. Summer is more of a “growing” season for plants.

Try not to add undue stress to your plants during extreme heat. Usually it is fine to repot throughout the summer months. However, when extreme heat hits, it is best to wait a week or two until things cool off. We usually try to repot our most tender orchids in Springtime (March through May), leaving some of the sturdier varieties (i.e. Cattleyas and Dendrobiums, etc.) for summer potting.

If growing in a bark mix, watch for moldy bark (snow mold) this time of year. It is very common due to the high humidity levels. It helps to use a fungicide periodically during very humid months. Physan 20, Captan, and Phyton 27 all will help to keep mold and rot at bay. If you do see mold in your mix, it is usually best (and cheapest) to simply repot the plant in fresh mix.

Stay cool,

Liese

Orchid Growing Tips

 Caring
Aug 012010
 

by Susan Taylor
Originally published in BellaOnline

Foliar Fertilizing
During the peak growing months of summer use a foliar fertilizer of very dilute fertilizer with 1/2 teaspoon per gallon soap as a wetting agent so that the fertilizer will stay on the leaves long enough to allow the plant to absorb the nutrients. Be sure to spray early in the morning before the sun gets to the plants and provide excellent air circulation to allow for rapid evaporation to prevent rots. Be very careful with the crowns of Phals and Paphs.

Seal cuts when you trim plants
You can use melted candle wax to seal the cut when you trim back your orchids after blooming or when cutting off old pseudobulbs or leaves. This will completely seal the cut and prevent the introduction of bacterial or fungal diseases. Other ways to seal cuts are cinnamon (without sugar), Elmer’s Glue, and various commercial products.

Be consistent with staking Staking
new growths is one of the most underutilized growing principals in orchid growing. This is a important element in getting your plants to look good and to present your flowers correctly when they open. Stake when the growths are about half done or for larger plants when the growth is about 5 inches, or 12 centimeters, tall. Continue to train the growth to the stake and then include the inflorescence when it appears.

Attaching to stakes
There are many different ways to tie your plant to a stake. For whimsy, use the little insect shaped clips that come in butterfly, dragonfly or other shapes. They should be large enough to hold the growth to thestake without impeding the growth. If you use a clip that’s too small it will damage the new growth. Twist ties will work as well as raffia which can be used to tie together the entire plant for a nice shape.

Mist in the mornings
Misting is great for your plants, but you must be careful to mist early in the day so that your plants have time to completely dry before nightfall. Fans to circulate air will also help deter the growth of fungus as they do not like moving air and it makes it more difficult for the spores to attach.

Rotate your plants to display blooms
Orchids in bloom need less light than those that are developing new growths or are resting. In fact, too much light will fade some flowers. So, when you have a well-developed inflorescence, move your plant further from the light source and toward the front of your area so you can display it and enjoy the flowers more easily. I often put the pot on top of another pot to lift the plant up so that the flowers are closer to eye level.

Ants in Orchid Pots

 Pests
Jul 012010
 

by Susan Taylor
Originally published in BellaOnline

For those of us who grow outdoors part of the year or in a greenhouse, ants are a nuisance in our orchid pots. In addition, they farm aphids, mealy bugs and caterpillars which can seriously damage tender new growing parts of the plant, especially buds and inflorescences. The honeydew which is left from these insects allows mildews to grow and provides another place for attacks on our plants.

The ants themselves do relatively little damage to the plants, but if you’ve ever picked up a pot with ants in it, especially fire ants in the southern United States, you know how the ant bites will feel to the plant grower! Spring and summer tend to be the times that ants are attracted to orchid pots. It is a great home for them — they can move right in without digging through soil and removing it for their tunnels.

If the pot is seriously infected and the ants come swarming out when you try to pick it up, mix up a gallon of water with a cup of insecticidal soap or dishwashing liquid and pour about half of it slowly through the pot. It will not kill all the ants, but will kill any that it comes directly in contact with. If you have a spray bottle, spray the plant with the solution to kill any that escape the pot and swarm on the foliage. It is best to do this in a shady location or when the plant is in the shade since you don’t want to allow sun to burn the leaves through the water. Allow the pot to stay in the same location for about an hour without disturbing it.

Put the rest of the solution in a bucket and fill with water. If it’s large, then add more detergent. Pick up the pot carefully and submerge in the water. This will kill the rest of the ants as they come in contact with the soap. Leave in the water for about 15 minutes and watch out for any pests that come out of the media and climb up the foliage. Remove from the water and then drench thoroughly with water from a hose to remove all residue of the soap and to eliminate the chemicals which ants secrete when they make their nests. Be sure to allow the plant foliate to dry completely before returning to a sunnier location and the media to dry before watering the plant again.

Fortunately ants are more a nuisance to us than a danger to our plants. Removing them is relatively simple once you know what to do!

Growing Orchids in a Fishbowl

 Caring
Jul 012010
 

by Susan Taylor
Originally published in BellaOnline

If you are having trouble growing orchids indoors, especially if you like the tiny ones, you can try growing in a simple fishbowl. My first trial came when I purchased a Masdevallia I couldn’t resist at an orchid show. These are generally rather cool growing orchids and we live in southern Texas where it gets very hot during the summers. Most of my orchids grow in the greenhouse and must be able to survive temperatures up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius. Once I got the orchid home I realized that it would never survive outside. Mind you, this is completely against one of the most important orchid tips I espouse: only buy orchids that will grow in your conditions! But it was so cute I simply couldn’t resist.

These little orchids need quite high humidity to grow well so I decided to try growing in a fishbowl near a north window indoors. The ball-like fishbowl was about six or seven inches, or 15-18 centimeters in diameter. I put white gravel in the bottom, about one half inch or 2 centimeters deep, then placed the plant in the middle and then used rainwater to just below the surface to increase humidity. Do not put anything over the top of the container. Your orchids need air circulation as well as high humidity.

The only problem I’ve found with this system is that the plants grow so quickly, and flower so much that I keep having to find larger and larger fish bowls so that the flowers do not stick to the sides. Also watch the leaves to make sure the plant is not getting too much light. The leaves will turn very light green. Try to keep the leaf color about the same as the leaves when you purchased the plant. Do not cut off the inflorescences if they stay green because they will develop new buds on the live growth. I’d recommend finding out how large a plant the orchid will be before starting this project – I’m on my third fishbowl for one of them (I now have three since I had to fill up the empty fishbowls). Garage sales are good sources for glass containers that can be used for this. They’re decorative looking and the orchids love the humidity. Give it a try with one of the great miniature orchids available to orchid growers!

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