How to Take Care of Orchids

Amateur horticulturists can grow orchids, successfully

The phalaenopsis orchid from South America, is a wonderful house plant for the amateur horticulturist to grow. These can be purchased locally in flower shops, at a market or a grocery store where orchids are sold, for approximately twenty to forty dollars per plant. 

If you are as lucky as I was, someone will give you one or more, as a gift.

When I originally started growing orchids several years ago, I knew absolutely nothing about them. I decided to research orchids and to learn how to grow them. I purchased a small book on different kinds of exotic orchids.

When I mentioned this book to a friend at work, he told me that he had forty orchids of different kinds. I had absolutely no idea that he was an amateur horticulturist, much less an orchid specialist. He suggested that he could give me an orchid in exchange for letting him read my book. I agreed to bring it in to work for him to read.

The next day, I received a gift of four phalaenopsis orchids from him. None of them were in blossom, at that time. Each plant had three to four huge green leaves. I was quite astounded at his generous gift.

Over lunch that day, my friend gave me four pieces of advice about growing orchids. He instructed me to place the plants in filtered light, not to move them, to water them at room temperature, once a week and to fertilize them regularly. He handed me a jar that contained some pink fertilizer for orchids and told me how to use it.

Since that time four years ago, my amateur horticultural experience growing orchids has been wonderful.

I learned that because summer in South America comes at the opposite time of the year, namely during our North American winter, the phalaenopsis orchid blooms during our darkest and dreariest months, just when we need the perk that a beautiful blossom can bring to our lives.

The phalaenopsis orchids get about five or six blossoms, on a reddish-green stem. Three of mine have pink blossoms and the other one has white blossoms with pink centers. They are all gorgeous and tend to blossom shortly after Christmas. Some of my orchids have blossomed in June or September.

These unique and beautiful blossoms will last for about three to five months, if left undisturbed. If the blossom stems are broken, they may or may not get new blossoms, on the same stems.

In their natural habitat, the rain forests of South America, the phalaenopsis orchids grow into the bark on trees or tree trunks. They propagate themselves by sending out grayish green roots with green tips, that look like fish-worms.

It is amazing how these roots seek a new destination in which to root. They will find a new home by nestling deep into the bark in the flower pots beside them, if allowed to seek their own places to root. Eventually, these roots will become new plants.

The four orchids that I have, grow in bark or moss. Interestingly, the three growing in bark seem to thrive much better than the one I have growing in moss. That one sent a whole collection of new roots into the bark in all of the three flower pots beside it. It took a long time to blossom, but when it finally did, three years later, the flowers were huge, the largest one being almost nine centimeters in diameter.

Phalaenopsis orchids need a place where there is filtered light. I have mine in a south-east corner behind a semi-sheer curtain, where they are left undisturbed. They can be moved, but should not be moved while in blossom. It is my experience that if they are moved while in blossom, all of the blossoms will drop off within the next twenty four to forty eight hours.

I keep a big jug of water on the kitchen counter and water the orchids, once a week. It is my understanding that they do not do well with chlorine in the water and that the chlorine in the water disappears when allowed to sit overnight. I only water my orchids when the water is at room temperature.

I do not water them in excess, but leave just a bit of water in the bottom of the dish in which they are sitting. It is my understanding that they do not like wet feet, but then, neither do we.

Once in a while, I dust the leaves gently, with a soft cloth. I have found that when there is one that is slow to blossom, a touch of honey or jam on the leaves, seems to trigger the blossoming process for some mysterious reason. I massage the leaves gently once in a while and it seems that they do appear to thrive with that extra bit of attention.

I have tried staking the blossom stems, as they are quite long, but last year, when I did that, I broke off the flower stem on my white orchid and it has not blossomed since that time. I originally started staking them, because the weight of the flowers appears to make the plants top heavy and the flower pots can fall over.

Fertilizing the orchids, every couple of months seems to keep them quite healthy. Every once in a while, I see new, green leaves growing out from the center of the plants. Quite often, another leaf will drop off shortly thereafter, as the plants seem to prefer having only three to four leaves, at one time. When the bottom leaves turn yellow, they fall off almost immediately, after that color change happens.

In recounting my own experiences with the phalaenopsis orchids, I realize that if I, as an amateur horticulturist, can grow orchids as house plants successfully, so can anyone else who has a heart and a mind to try to do so.

For the amateur horticulturist who wants to try, know that the joy of seeing the phalaenopsis orchids in blossom, far outweighs any cost involved. Try to grow some and your efforts will be well rewarded.