Orchids Hate Direct Sunlight: A 20-Year Orchid Grower Teaches You the Morning and Evening Light Method

When it comes to growing orchids, and specifically to giving them light, growers all have different opinions. Some say they should be exposed to more sun, while others say they should be shaded, because orchids like cool, shady spots. So let's see what a 20-year veteran orchid grower has to say.

1. Orchids Like Half Shade and Half Sun

The 20-year veteran grower says they have a saying for growing flowers: "Shade for camellias, sun for peonies, half shade and half sun for four-season orchids." This sentence sums up the key to lighting for camellias, peonies, and the orchids we are talking about. Camellias like cool, shady spots, peonies like sunny spots, and our orchids like a half-shade, half-sun environment.

The veteran grower says this habit of orchids is related to their original growing environment. Just think about it: they originally grew on mountains, and most of the trees on the mountains are tall, blocking a lot of sunlight for them. The light they received was mostly scattered light. They do not like direct, intense light, otherwise problems easily arise.

2. Light Affects Orchids

The veteran grower says orchids are fairly strict about their light requirements. If the light is too intense, the leaves turn yellow and the leaf surface becomes rough, just like a person's skin, which naturally suffers from too much sun. But too little sun is no good either. With too little sun, the leaves lose their luster, just like a person who has not seen light for a long time and looks pale.

3. Detailed Rules for Lighting in Daily Care

So when we care for them day to day, we have to pay attention to the lighting issue, and we also have to decide how much light to give based on the variety. For example, orchids such as Cymbidium goeringii and Cymbidium goeringii 'Chunjian' need less light than orchids like summer cymbidiums and autumn plain varieties. New growers may not quite understand this, so here is a general approach: take light in the morning and evening.

This is because the light in the morning and evening is relatively soft. Even though it is direct, it will not harm the orchids. Give them two or three hours of sun in the morning and two or three hours in the evening. Do not give too much light in a day; a shade level of about 70% is fine.

The veteran grower says some people, when giving orchids light, fail to pay attention to one thing, which causes the orchids' growth to become unbalanced and makes them grow crooked easily. That thing is turning the pot. The flowers and leaves on the side facing the sun will always be a bit more luxuriant, so turn the pot appropriately, and the orchid will grow more evenly and look more pleasing.

Fellow orchid growers, how do you usually give your orchids light? When growing orchids, the most important thing about lighting is still shading, so direct blazing sun is a no-no. Especially for beginners with orchids, keep this in mind.