More On Growing Orchids - Lesson One (continued 3)

More On Growing Orchids - Lesson One (continued 3)

Part Two - Treat the 'Phalaenopsis' Orchids Tenderly

When you see the 'Phalaenopsis' orchids that you suddenly fall in love with, prepare to treat them gently. Remember that all plants will thrive with tender love and care, but these orchids will reward you doubly with their exquisite beauty for months and months at a time. Few other plants will continue to bloom for that length of time.

I don't pretend to be an expert on orchids, much less on the 'Phalaenopsis' orchids. I only know what I have learned in the past couple of years, mostly by trial and error, as well as through my own limited, personal experience with them. There are many advanced horticulturalists who have much higher levels of training in terms of horticulture and the growing of orchids. Many of them cannot grow orchids successfully, simply because they do not take the time to really absorb what the orchids are trying to teach them.

Transporting the orchids safely to your home is the first giant step. Remember that if it was brand new puppies that you were bringing to your home, they would be treated very lovingly and gently. Treat your 'Phalaenopsis' orchids the same way. Make certain that before you head home with them, that they are all well covered and protected from the elements. Wrap them in several layers of newspaper and/or floral wrap to transport them. The orchids do not like to get cold and like you or I, upon exposure to severe extremes in temperature, they could suffer damage from the heat or cold.

If you are carrying your orchids in your vehicle, make certain that they stand upright and do not tip over, as the leaves or the flowers could be also be permanently damaged in transport. When you do get the orchids home, unwrap them gently, particularly if they have blossom stems with flowers or new buds that are about to blossom. Take a look at the pots that they are growing in and make certain that there is adequate drainage from the bottom of the pot. All of my pots are plastic, with watering trays at the bottom.

Place the pots in the watering trays very gently and then move them to the place where you plan to nurture them and watch them grow. It is really a lot of fun to grow them and very interesting to see how they react to the way that you handle them. Remember that plants will always benefit from being in the vicinity of other plants. In fact, they like nothing better than being the center of attention, just like people.

Remember that the plants will be in a state of 'shock' for the first twenty four hours after being moved. They are no longer in the nurturing environment that they have known and may respond by immediately getting a brownish coloured leaf within the next couple of days. These leaves will drop off on their own so there is no need to cut them off. Just let the plants respond in their own way, to being transported to their new environment.

Once you get the orchids home, do not do anything at all to them for the first twenty four hours. Take a large pitcher though and fill it full of water from the tap or if you have access to rain water, even better. Let the water sit in the pitcher for the first twenty four hours so that it comes to room temperature. Any chlorine in the water will also disappear. Orchids do not like chlorine. Always keep the water at room temperature by just refilling that pitcher when it is empty.

After the plants have been sitting and have become accustomed to their new 'home', water them very sparingly for the first time, but do not water them at the heart of the plant. Always water them cautiously and sparingly, about once a week or so. Let the water trickle down around the inside of the pot. Do not let any water spill on the leaves as it will soon discolour them. It water gets into the heart of the plants they will gradually rot. If there is an excess of water in the flower pot, they will not do well either. They do not like 'wet' feet. After all, if they did, why would they grown on trees?

If you have overwatered your orchids, which we all tend to do with plants, simply take a few pieces of paper towel, fold them and place one corner of each in the bottom of the watering trays. The water will be drawn up and absorbed by the paper towels quite quickly. Remove the paper towels when the watering trays no longer have water sitting in the bottom of them. You may have to do that several times if there is a lot of water in the watering trays. This way, you do not have to lift up, move the plants, risk losing blossoms or incurring other damage to the plants while trying to empty the watering trays.

There are some tricks to taking care of the 'Phalaenopsis' orchids that I have learned on my own, simply by working with them. Their large green leaves do get dusty. When I see this happening, I will take a soft tissue and gently dust the leaves, but very carefully. When I am too rough with them, I find that the plants do tend to have a leaf that turns brown and falls off within the week.

Every once in a while, I will stroke the leaves at the center, or even the spikes, just to stimulate their growth a little bit. The orchids do seem to respond well to that in terms of blossoming and/or growing larger leaves. There must be something in the form of an energy surge that is of benefit to them, as the plants do seem to respond positively to the stroking.

I was getting quite frustrated with my orchids when they had not blossomed within the first six months or so. I began to wonder if they ever would blossom. I was supposedly doing everything right. I was even giving them orchid fertilizer as recommended by my orchid growing friend.

Nothing but nothing seemed to be happening other than the fact that now and then a leaf would turn brown and fall off, or a new one would begin to grow.

Once in a while, they would get new leaves, starting with a little triangle that grows out from the center of the plant. They are a beautiful fresh green colour, wonderful to behold.

I decided not to touch the leaves when they did turn brown and to let them fall off naturally. Once in a while, I might try to speed things up by giving them a little tug, but the leaves are pretty well secured until they are ready to drop off on their own. The flower petals fall off a day or so after being moved. If you find them on the floor, just place them on top of potpourri bowl and let them dry in the air. They are still beautiful to behold and are an asset to the potpourri container.

I began to realize that there was no way that orchid plants could be pollinated without other orchid plants and flowers. Then one day, a young child was in my home and he had touched one of the leaves with his sticky fingers out of curiosity. When I tried to dust the leaf on this plant, I felt the sticky substance still on the leaf and wondered what it was. I tasted it and it was very sweet, like jam or honey. I decided not to wipe it off but rather to wait and see what happened to the plant.

Sure enough, within a week or so, a flower spike appeared heading outwards and upwards. I knew that something had pollinated the plant and suspected that there was something in that sweet, sticky substance that triggered the blossoming of the plant. I tried to do the same thing with the other plants and sure enough, they too started to blossom. When a flower did fall off, I knew there had to be some pollen in it, so I would take the flower that had fallen off and shake it over the top of the other plants, just to see what would happen. It worked. I firmly believe that the cross pollination issue is vital for growth of any plant.

When new roots emerge, as they did continually in that first year, the roots tend to look like greyish-green coloured fishworms. They grow outward and downward from the center of the plant. These shoots are quite long and tend to reach outside their flower pots, even into other flower pots.

A root on one of my plants was really quite remarkable. What it did was to grow down through the bark inside its flower pot, through the hole in the bottom of its flower pot, up along the outside of its flower pot and back into again. I could not believe what I was seeing. It obviously did not find what it was looking for outside the flower pot and was smart enough to head right back into it.

The flower spikes grow differently, with a harder, darker, green stem that heads immediately outward and upward. Tiny flower buds form along the end of the stem. The spikes will grow about a foot tall, although I have one that is almost a foot and a half in height now. One blossoming spike, I accidentally broke off. It re-grew the flower tip again after a few weeks and thus it blossomed a second time.

Right now, I have a white orchid with a flower spike that I tried to stake. I accidentally knocked the end off it. It is just now starting to regenerate the blossom tip. This plant has always been quite fragile and now the blossom spike appears to be re-growing, but it is much wider in diameter than it was before. I am hoping that it will be sturdier as well. I apologized heartily to that poor plant for my extreme clumsiness.

Generally, all of my plants have increased in size. The one plant that had not blossomed until Boxing Day, 2006, somehow managed to send roots into all of the other flower pots. When the first flower spike began to emerge, I could not believe the diameter of the spike. It was at least double the diameter of the previous flower spikes. This plant is the only one planted in moss rather than in bark. It obviously did not like the moss and actually rooted itself in all of the flower pots containing bark. Who says that orchids are not smart?

At the moment, I have three pink 'Phalaenopsis' orchids in full bloom. The other two came out over New Years. What a way to celebrate a new year! The white one was actually the last one to form a spike and about three inches of it was broken off. So be careful when you try to stake a flower stem. For stakes, I generally use tree branches that have a bend in them, as that is the natural shape that the flower spike appears to assume. One tie appears to be sufficient to hold them in place, away from the sides of the flower pots or the walls. I also use a few pieces of bark to support a wayward flower stem that is heading into a danger zone, eg. a wall. The bark just lifts the stem naturally and can be placed there very gently and carefully to protect the plant or plants.

One of my plants seems to want to prop its flowers against against the south wall of the room. The one with the large spike and huge flowers on it, that rooted itself in the other flower pots, heads directly east towards the sheer curtain. The other spike tends to follow the direction of the spike growing towards the wall. The white spike is growing west and not east. Why do they seek their own direction without any consistency in direction, I wonder.

At the moment, my three pink 'Phalaenopsis' orchids are doing really well. Taking the risk of moving or injuring the plant and losing one of the flowers on the largest orchid plant, I measured its closest flower. The diameter of the flower was 9 cm or 4.5 inches. I could hardly believe the size of the flower. There are actually four flowers on the flower stem. The two other pink orchids have flowers that are about half that diameter.

I do fertilize the 'Phalaenopsis' orchids with orchid fertilizer about once a month. In order to apply the fertilizer, I simply place a very small amount, about one eighth of a teaspoon of fertilizer in about four litres of water. I let that sit for several days and then water sparingly, as usual. It does seem to be sufficient fertilizer.

But I can only wonder what I will learn about my orchids next, as every day I see and learn something from watching them grow. I know that you will too.

Don't forget to talk to your 'Phalaenopsis' orchids. This is for your mental health and their well being. Enjoy growing them. God bless you and your orchids.