How to grow Dendrobium? Do this for sturdy stems and lush green leaves

As an excellent health tonic, Dendrobium has become familiar to more and more flower lovers in recent years, and many of them want to, or already do, keep a pot at home. After first getting to know it, everyone discovers that growing Dendrobium is different from cultivating flowering plants, and the most obvious difference is that the growing medium is fundamentally different.

Many flower lovers buy Dendrobium online that looks like it is growing well and plant it in pots at home. But many friends find that no matter how vigorously the Dendrobium was growing when it arrived, after being grown at home for a while it gradually becomes bare, with almost all the leaves dried up and the stems of the Dendrobium nearly turned white. What is going on? In fact, this is all because we do not thoroughly understand the growing habits of Dendrobium and fail to create an environment suitable for its growth. Today Hua'er Gu will introduce the methods for how to cultivate Dendrobium. After studying this article, I believe everyone will have a general understanding of how to grow Dendrobium.

Dendrobium, also known as Xianhu Lanyun, immortal grass, resurrection grass, Ziyings Xianzhu, Linlan, Jinchai flower, and so on. It is a Chinese herbal medicine from plants of the genus Dendrobium in the orchid family, with effects such as clearing deficiency heat, tonifying the spleen and stomach, and strengthening the sinews and bones. The flowers of Dendrobium are bright in color, elegant in form, dainty and lovely, and fragrant in scent, and it is praised as one of the "four great ornamental foreign flowers."

Dendrobium is a plant that likes to grow in moist and warm, semi-shaded and semi-sunny environments, and it has relatively high requirements for air humidity, generally needing it to be above 80%. So after learning about it, we find that Dendrobium originally grew in the deep mountains and old forests of the subtropics, and these old forests need to have loose and fertile bark. Dendrobium can grow on tree trunks, and it is also very commonly seen taking root and thriving in some cliff crevices.

It can be seen from this that for us to grow Dendrobium in an indoor home environment, creating conditions suitable for its growth still requires some effort. Below we will introduce in detail how to create such conditions!

First is the issue of the growing medium for Dendrobium. For the medium, we can look in the woods for some bark, such as thick pine bark and so on. This kind of bark is very beneficial to the growth of Dendrobium and has its own unique advantages in water retention and air permeability. In addition, we can also find some small stones, moss, crushed wood shavings, and similar materials. Moss and crushed wood shavings both have very good water-absorbing and moisture-retaining effects, especially moss, which has a very loose ability to retain water and allow air through. We can go to some parks, woodlands, or around relatively cool and damp small houses to find and collect some moss, which is very good for growing Dendrobium.

Second is the issue of moisture conditions. Dendrobium has a very high demand for moisture: on one hand, watering the medium, and on the other hand, maintaining air humidity. Growing Dendrobium requires air humidity above 80%. If the air is too dry, it will cause its leaves to dry up. So in terms of environment, we can first find a semi-shaded place to put it, then increase the moisture content of the medium by watering more, and every day we can also mist it to maintain humidity and raise the humidity of the air environment for its growth. In addition, we can also place a pot saucer filled with water below the Dendrobium pot; through evaporation of the water, the humidity of the surrounding environment is raised, which is also quite effective. If conditions permit, placing a hygrometer nearby to constantly monitor the air humidity is very necessary for growing Dendrobium.

Finally, the growth of Dendrobium must not receive direct strong light. Dendrobium likes semi-shade, and we only need to keep some scattered light shining on it. There is absolutely no need to grow it under sunlight. If the growing location has direct sunlight, we need to use a shade net for shading. Preventing exposure to strong sunlight is also a necessary means of promoting the growth of Dendrobium.

The above are some of the knowledge points that Hua'er Gu has introduced for you regarding the medium conditions, moisture conditions, and light conditions for growing Dendrobium that need relatively more attention. In addition, everyone may also be more concerned about the issue of fertilizing Dendrobium. We have already introduced this in a related dedicated article before, so we will not repeat it here. If you also like growing Dendrobium, welcome to follow Hua'er Gu, where the latest flower-growing experience is shared with you every day!