How to grow white orchids? Cultivation methods and precautions
White orchids have a rich fragrance and a long flowering period, blooming from June to October. Place a single flower in your pocket, or place a few in a room, and the fragrance can last more than ten days without fading; even after the flowers have shriveled and turned scorched yellow, using them to brew tea is still very fragrant. Growing white orchids at home requires a fairly large balcony and courtyard, as well as plenty of sunlight, because it is a sun-loving flowering shrub; otherwise it cannot be grown well.
How to grow white orchids?
1. White orchids are neither drought-tolerant nor moisture-tolerant. In summer and autumn, the weather is hot and evaporation is fast, so water demand is high and watering must be timely. The potting soil should be kept slightly moist. Its roots are thick and fleshy, and it fears waterlogging the most, so the potting soil should be a well-draining humus soil. Do not let it get rained on during the plum rain season; if the potting soil stays wet and does not dry out for a long time, the roots will rot, causing the leaves to turn yellow and drop off and the plant to die, and it is very hard to save, and this point deserves special attention for white orchids that are brought indoors to overwinter in dormancy, because large white orchids planted in glazed ceramic vats have glazed walls that do not breathe, and at this time the plant's transpiration is also low, so the surface soil in the vat dries easily while the soil at the core dries with difficulty; if you water just because the surface looks pale, the potting soil will stay constantly wet and the plant will die. Most people who kill their white orchids do so because of this mistake. Therefore, in winter the potting soil should be kept slightly dry, and as long as the core of the vat soil has not dried, you must absolutely not water.
2. White orchids like fertilizer but dislike strong fertilizer. Besides applying a sufficient base fertilizer when repotting every 2-3 years, generally after the plant begins flowering, apply once every 7-10 days a watering of decomposed soybean cake water or fishy water. Follow the principles of dilute application, frequent application, and application in the evening. Stop fertilizing after the cool autumn.
3. White orchids fear cold and like sun, and should receive more than 10 hours of sunlight per day. Even when brought indoors for winter dormancy, they must not be kept in long-term shade, otherwise flowering the next year will be affected. It fears cold even more than jasmine; bring it indoors to overwinter in early November, and it must wait until mid-April of the following year before it can be brought out for care.
4. White orchids are not tolerant of pollution. Besides not potting them in factory areas, home growers should also not place them in the kitchen to overwinter, so as to avoid contamination by cooking fumes.
Precautions for growing potted white orchids
1. White orchids have fleshy roots and fear waterlogging the most. The potting soil must be a well-draining acidic soil, and the bottom of the pot should be lined with 3-4 cm of granular furnace ash or broken tile pieces as a drainage layer.
2. In midsummer the sunlight is intense, so shade appropriately around midday, or move the plant under tree shade from June to August. During the peak growing season (May-September), apply liquid fertilizer once every 1-2 weeks, and at the same time keep the potting soil consistently moist. In summer, also frequently spray and wash the leaf surfaces and sprinkle water on the ground to keep the environment humid.
3. In winter it should be kept indoors. During the day the room temperature should be maintained at around 12°C, and at night it should not drop below 5°C. When first brought indoors, watering should not be too little. Around the winter solstice, white orchids enter dormancy, so watering must be controlled, fertilizing stopped, and attention paid to proper ventilation.
4. During cultivation, if yellow leaves are found, promptly spray a 0.2% ferrous sulfate solution 2-3 times, which can gradually turn the leaves from yellow back to green. Avoid applying strong fertilizer. When repotting every 2-3 years, apply sufficient base fertilizer; after flowering, apply once every 10 days in the evening a thin, decomposed soybean cake water and fishy water; stop fertilizing after the autumn turns cool. More than 10 hours of light are needed each day, and even during the winter dormancy period it should be placed in a weakly lit or indirectly lit spot indoors, avoiding contamination by cooking fumes. When overwintering in winter, never move white orchids into the kitchen. Yellow leaves on white orchids occur in two situations—iron-deficiency chlorosis and root rot from excessive water.
① Chlorosis: mainly caused by potting soil being too alkaline.
② Symptoms of root rot: the root system turns black and rots, the leaves wither and yellow and drop off, leading to the death of the whole plant. Therefore, normally wait until the surface of the potting soil turns pale before watering, and loosen the soil frequently.
5. Spring care and management. When the flowers fade, promptly cut back to about 3-4 stem nodes below the spent flowers, and at the same time thin out some old stems and overly dense stem nodes to improve ventilation and adapt to the home balcony environment. After flowering in March, there is a short dormant period, during which fertilizing and watering should be stopped.
6. Summer care. Crab claw orchids can grow slowly at 15°C, grow faster at around 25°C when the air is also relatively humid, and when the temperature exceeds 30°C they should be placed in a shaded environment.
7. Autumn and winter care. In early autumn the temperature is still high, so spraying the leaf surfaces and sprinkling water in the environment should continue. From September, crab claw orchids gradually resume growth; in mid-to-late September, as temperatures drop, they can see sunlight in the morning and evening. In mid-to-late October they should receive full sun to promote flower bud differentiation and produce more buds. By early-to-mid November, as the temperature turns colder, crab claw orchids must be brought indoors to overwinter, and even indoors they should be placed in a spot with ample sunlight. However, during the flowering period they should avoid direct sunlight to prolong the flowering period. Watering in autumn should be appropriate, and the potting soil should still be kept moist, neither dry nor waterlogged; being too dry, too wet, a sudden drop in temperature, or too great a difference between day and night temperatures can all cause flowers and buds to drop.
8. In winter the temperature is low, and the transpiration of crab claw orchids decreases accordingly, so watering must be watched carefully; there are often cases of root rot and death due to excessive watering in winter. Autumn and winter are the period when crab claw orchids form buds and bloom, so once every 7-10 days apply a topdressing rich in phosphorus; stop fertilizing during the flowering period. Winter temperatures change easily, so good insulation and ventilation work must be done. When the room temperature drops to 5°C, protect against freezing. Cultivating crab claw orchids is common in some households in Jiangnan; when the room temperature cannot be kept at around 15°C, even with a pot full of flower buds, they will have difficulty opening.