More On Growing Orchids - Lesson One (continued 2)

More On Growing Orchids -Lesson One (continued 2)

Trial and Error - The Best Teacher For Orchid Amateurs

Part One - Try Growing A 'Phalaenopsis' Orchid

I am really excited to learn that you folks have had the courage to purchase some orchids. I know that you will have a wonderful experience watching them grow and blossom or perhaps even propagating them, to share with others, in the near future. What a fantastic way to invest and enjoy your time! Encourage others to do the same and share your orchid adventure together!

The orchids that I will be speaking about here are relatively common ones, ie. the 'Phalaenopsis' orchids. There are many different varities. When one is relatively successful with one variety, that is the variety to tell others about first.

It does take a bit of courage to invest in the purchase of a 'Phalaenopsis' orchid simply because they are reasonably expensive and relatively fragile plants. These are not the kind of flowers that you will be able to purchase very often, but if you choose to do so, you will be happy that you did make the investment of time and money with respect to purchasing and propagating them.

'Where can they be purchased?' Buying orchids is possible in a floral shop, a horticultural center, at a horticultural show, in a market place or at a grocery store where flowers are sold, etc. Or, you might obtain one, or four, just as I did, from someone who grows orchids, or another orchid lover. My orchids came from a friend, a young man who said that he had forty orchids, in various stages of growth, at that time.

Expect to pay dearly for the orchid plants if you purchase them at a retail outlet or a flower shop, ie. at least twenty to fifty dollars per plant, possibly much more than that, depending how common they are with respect to the area in which you reside. Because of the cost factor, your 'investment' must be taken as a serious horticultural and financial project, right from the beginning. Treat them accordingly.

The 'Phalaenopsis' orchids will need to be well taken care of as these are beautiful plants that you may not be able to replace, if they die simply because they have not been looked after properly. Begin to see yourself as an orchid grower, as well as an orchid lover and you will be glad in the long run, that you did make the investment. It can and will be a very rewarding experience for you especially if you put your heart and soul into it. If you are going to do anything do it well, or at least do it to the best of your God-given ability.

When is the best time to purchase orchids? Timing might be critical in terms of getting your orchids to blossom. If you purchase orchids that are in already in blossom, you might want to find out first, how long they have been in blossom. When you decide to purchase them, they may be at a stage prior to blossoming, at the beginning or in the early stages of blossoming, in the middle of blossoming or at the end of the orchid blossoming cycle. If it is at the beginning of the cycle, then the blossoms will last much longer. If it is at the end of the cycle, the blossoms may fall off immediately or they may have no blossoms at all.

If the orchids have never blossomed before you purchased them, it could take several years before the initial blossoms start to appear on the plants. I have three orchids that blossomed within the first year, after I received them as a gift. The fourth one, to my dismay, has taken several years to blossom. I waited and I waited. I wondered if anything was ever going to happen. It just seemed to be forever before that first blossom spike emerged. But the wait has certainly been worth it!

The 'Phalaenopsis' orchid plants grow on trees in South America and so the time of year when you make the purchase might be critical as well, in terms of having them blossom. They grow in the bark of trees, sending shoots up the tree trunks into the bark. They are self-propagating in nature. Remember that South America has its summer in our North American winter months. Thus the unexpected tends to happen, but not always, as I have found out in my limited experience with orchids.

Picture yourself waiting forever, just looking at some heavy green leaves without any flowers for a long, long time, ie. at least until the plant decides that it is ready to blossom. If it has just blossomed, it may take months and months, ie. six months or more, before it will finally burst into blossom again.

Think seriously about where you want to place your orchids in your house or apartment, because once you bring them into your home and put them in their place, you will not want to move them again, particularly when they are in blossom. Moving orchids, while in blossom, may cause the flowers to fall off. Perhaps the plants may blossom again, on the same spikes, but they may not blossom again immediately either. This partly depends whether or not the plants are at the beginning or the end of the blossoming cycles.

The best results that I have obtained, ie. in terms of having my 'Phalaenopsis' orchids blossom, have been obtained by placing the plants in a relatively protected place, a corner, in front of a heavy sheer curtain, in an east window, where there is a baseboard heater. The baseboard heater functions on a thermostat set at a relatively cool room temperature. On cool days, I have set the temperature higher, with no ill effects to the orchids. The room temperature generally runs at approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit.