What are the six common mistakes in orchid care?

Orchid careSix common mistakes Orchidsare plants that are much hardier than many other flowers, and they are easy and simple to care for. But you often hear people sayorchidsare very hard to grow. In fact, it is usually because they do not understand them well enough and use the wrong methods, which makesorchid carefrustrating. Actually, as long as you can get to know theorchid's growth habits anew, what problem could there still be! Generally, there are roughly 6 common mistakes in growing orchids:



1 Roots suffocating

Most orchids are epiphytic orchids. No matter which kind ofgrowingmedium is used to plant the orchid, if you water too frequently and let the medium become saturated with water, the roots will remain in a soaked state. This prevents the aerobic roots from breathing, and on the other hand the symbiotic bacteria in the roots will also be unable to breathe and will die. Then the roots will begin to rot and die, and with no roots to absorb water, the plant will suffer from lack of water, which shows up as leaves becoming shriveled, making people mistakenly think it is lack of water and water even more, so the orchid does not survive.

You can use two methods to judge whether watering is needed. One is visual inspection: look at how dry or wet the growing medium is. If it is still wet, do not water again. The other is to pick up the orchid pot by hand and check its weight. If it still feels heavy, likewise do not water again. Usually during the high-temperature period from late spring to early autumn, orchids grow vigorously, temperatures are higher, and water evaporates quickly, so more attention is needed; as soon as the medium is dry, water it. However, during the low-temperature period in winter, water evaporation is slow, and orchid plant growth is mostly stalled, so very little water is needed for growth. Therefore, the watering interval can be lengthened. In particular, most orchids are tropical plants, such as Phalaenopsis and Oncidium. If a cold wave arrives and you water them, it is very easy to chill and damage the orchids.



2 Repotting often

Orchids' growth is relatively slow, so the frequency of repotting is not very high. Furthermore, the microenvironment in the pot, such as the symbiotic bacteria in it, needs time to develop. Frequently repotting and clearing out the old growing medium does not help the growth of symbiotic bacteria. Unless you find that the orchid plant easily tips over, or that water is used up very quickly, repot it. For direct repotting, simply change to a pot one size larger; if you are going to divide the plant, use a pot of the same size as the original. When repotting, simply remove the old and decayed roots; there is no need to wash the roots.



3 Random pruning

Most orchids should have their flowers cut off after the blooms fade. Only a small number of orchids, because their inflorescences have the characteristic of indefinite growth, do not need their flower stalks cut off. Pruning branches and leaves is a major taboo in orchid care. Unless it is an infectious disease and the affected part must be cut away to prevent further spread, do not prune under any circumstances (sometimes when orchid leaves suffer disease, they will shed the injured or aged leaves on their own). This is because the leaves, stems, and thick roots are all places where orchids store water and nutrients. Pruning these parts arbitrarily will consume the orchid's nutrients and make its growth vigor weaker and weaker.



4 Planting too deep

Do not plant orchids deeper just because they seem unstable. In particular, sympodial orchids send out young shoots from the base of the stem. If the orchid plant is planted too deep, the newly grown young shoots are easily rotted by being smothered in the medium, so when planting, the height of the medium only needs to reach the base of the stem.



5 Applying strong fertilizer

Because orchid roots have very good absorption capacity, applying strong fertilizer can easily dehydrate the roots, just like the principle of pickling vegetables with salt water, and the symbiotic bacteria in the roots are also easily killed by fertilizer. Therefore, fertilization should follow the principle of "small amounts, applied often," diluting the fertilizer concentration by adding water at 1000-2000 times. This applies to both chemical and organic fertilizers.



6 Lack of ventilation

In particular, the root systems of epiphytic orchids are mostly exposed in the air, and their leaves also grow on trees with good ventilation. Therefore, epiphytic orchids are mostly grown in dedicated orchid pots with ventilated materials and holes in the pot walls, and then hung in an environment with circulating air for cultivation, so the orchid plants will naturally grow well.