What is the difference between greenhouse orchids and balcony orchids

Author: Xiaozhi Guolan

1. The concept of consumer flowers

The industrialization of Chinese orchids means producing large quantities of inexpensive, beautiful, fragrant Chinese orchids through tissue culture and greenhouse cultivation, to serve as consumer flowers. The target of consumer flowers is the ordinary public. The concept of consumer flowers is to view the flowers, enjoy the fragrance, and appreciate the leaves, that is, buying a pot of flowers during the New Year or festivals to bring good luck, viewing the flowers and leaves, enjoying the fragrance, and then watching the flowers slowly die before discarding them. Chinese orchids are very hardy; for an ordinary person growing them for 3-6 months, there will be no problem. Of course, growers also do not want consumers to keep them alive, because without the environment and technique, the death of the orchid is also what growers hope for, since this way they will buy again the next year. Of course, the next year there will be new products to stimulate consumers to buy again. Like Phalaenopsis and Cymbidium, most are thrown away after flowering; even if you continue to grow them, the second year they will not be as beautiful as when purchased, and the cost of labor, materials, and water is greater. Therefore, consumer-flower Chinese orchids are a very good thing for lovers who have no time to cultivate Chinese orchids.

 

2. Greenhouse orchid growing and balcony orchid growing

1.      Professional cultivation in a greenhouse and hobby cultivation on a balcony are two different things. In non-orchid-producing areas, orchids are grown in greenhouses. A greenhouse can set all the conditions for orchid growth and flowering to the optimum, so orchids grow quickly, produce many new shoots, and bloom beautifully. But because it is a closed space, pathogens and pests reproduce easily, so pesticides are needed to solve these problems. If these problems are not paid attention to, it is very easy to infect all the orchids in the entire greenhouse, causing great losses.   

2.      In non-orchid-producing areas, growing orchids on an open balcony: because humidity is not high  and ventilation is good, the spread of pathogens and pests is not very fast. Therefore, there is no need for the intensive pesticide management used in greenhouses. But with open balcony orchid growing, because climate conditions cannot be regulated, high temperatures, low temperatures, cloudy days... and so on, unfavorable factors for orchid growth occupy a very long time, while the time favorable for orchid growth is relatively short. Therefore, the orchid propagation rate is low, and they are prone to burned leaf tips, black spots, stalled shoots..., and flowers easily drop their buds when the climate is unstable. So the difficulty of cultivation is high, and it is impossible to grow commercial orchids like those from a greenhouse. Thus balcony-grown orchids have a low propagation rate and poor appearance, and wanting to realize "growing orchids with orchids" is very difficult; it can only serve as a hobby and pastime.

 

3  The relationship between environment and stress resistance

Greenhouse orchids have good growing conditions, so they naturally grow fast and beautiful, but their stress resistance is poor. When inexperienced orchid growers plant them on an open balcony, they very easily slowly die; this is also a fact. But orchids grown on an open balcony in non-orchid-producing areas, although poor in appearance and low in propagation rate, have good stress resistance and are easy to grow on a balcony.

  

4   Which kind of orchid is good to buy

Therefore, flowers produced in greenhouses and on balconies each have advantages and disadvantages. When buying, you must first understand what the purpose is  If it is a consumer flower for the New Year or festivals, then of course you should buy a greenhouse flower. If it is a flower mainly for balcony growing, unless your own environment is very good, otherwise it is still better to choose a balcony flower from the same environment.

 

5   Growing orchids in a greenhouse versus on a balcony, which way is better.

     Growing orchids depends on the purpose of growing to decide the growing method. If the purpose is "making money," it is better to grow in a greenhouse or in an orchid-producing area. In flower production worldwide, most is based on greenhouse production. Of course, if it is for leisure and entertainment without considering economic benefits, then the balcony growing method is enough. On a balcony in a non-orchid-producing area, it is best not to consider "growing orchids with orchids." The main reason is that the two kinds of orchids do not have market segmentation. This is like in Taiwan, China, where a feed chicken is raised for one month, while a free-range chicken must be raised for three months, so the price of the free-range chicken must be 3 times that of the feed chicken to make money. If the free-range chicken and the feed chicken are the same price, then the free-range chicken will lose terribly. By the same reasoning, if greenhouse plants and balcony plants are the same price, then growing balcony plants will definitely result in a loss. Unless the two kinds of plants have good market segmentation and balcony plants sell at a relatively high price, otherwise the more balcony plants you grow, the more you lose. Therefore, balcony orchid growing is still best for "leisure and entertainment."