How to Grow and Care for the Butterfly Flower: Methods and Precautions
Soil
The butterfly flower is not demanding about soil. Any type of soil can be used to grow it with confidence, as long as it drains well, holds moisture well and does not clump easily.
The best results come from sandy loam, because its high aeration and permeability favor the spread of the butterfly flower's root system.
What if the soil in the chosen plot is clayey? Apply plant ash, perlite, coarse sand and the like to the surface of the soil, then deep-plow and mix evenly before planting.
If the soil is too sandy, water tends to seep away too quickly. The way to deal with this is to scatter rice husks, pine needles or peat and other mulches over the soil surface after planting to ease the problem of overly fast seepage.
Planting
When planting the butterfly flower, a soil temperature below 20°C is most appropriate. If the average temperature during the planting period is expected to exceed 23°C, it must not be planted. In that case the planting period must be moved earlier or later; otherwise the butterfly flower will struggle to survive.
Watering
The butterfly flower likes a moist environment, so the soil should be kept moist during cultivation; if the soil is too dry, it will hinder the plant's growth. Watering once before planting keeps the soil moist during the planting period and helps rapid rooting. Water once after planting to bring the soil into full contact with the bulbs. Note that watering is best done in the morning.
Fertilizing
Applying base fertilizer in the usual way before planting the butterfly flower is not advisable, because it is very sensitive to soil salinity. Fertilizing at this time raises the salt content of the soil, which is bad for the butterfly flower's root development.
Organic fertilizer, however, can be applied, such as cow or horse manure or dried chicken manure; after application it should be mixed evenly with the growing soil. Once the plants have survived after spring planting, top-dress once with urea in early summer, once with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer in early autumn, and in late autumn, together with the freezing-water irrigation, lightly apply cow or horse manure once more; it can also simply be scattered on the soil.
Weeding
The plot where the butterfly flower is planted must be cleared of weeds in advance. If weeds appear during planting, they should be pulled out by hand promptly; chemical herbicides must not be used to clear weeds, otherwise they will harm its growth.
Those are the care precautions for the butterfly flower. Although growing it is a bit fiddly, it is worth your hard work; if you do not believe it, read on!
How to Care for the Butterfly Flower
Butterfly flower
The butterfly flower, also known as the pansy, has many varieties and brilliant colors, and its flower shape closely resembles a butterfly, hence the name butterfly flower. Thanks to advanced technology, black varieties have now been bred, greatly expanding people's demand for butterfly flower colors, and it is very popular in European and American countries. In China, many large events at office buildings, parks and schools use butterfly flowers to decorate the scene; both the color and the shape catch the eye. So how is the butterfly flower cared for to make it so charming?
I. Growth habits of the butterfly flower
Fairly cold-tolerant, it prefers cool conditions and develops well at a daytime temperature of 15-25°C and a nighttime temperature of 3-5°C. If the daytime temperature stays above 30°C for a prolonged period, the flower buds disappear or no petals form. Day length has a greater effect on flowering than light intensity; with poor sunlight, flowering is poor. It likes fertile, well-drained neutral loam or clay loam rich in organic matter. It is a perennial flower, often grown as a biennial.
II. How to care for the butterfly flower
1. Temperature
When growing Phalaenopsis at home, temperature must be ensured first. Phalaenopsis likes a hot, humid environment; during the growing period the minimum temperature should stay above 15°C, and the suitable growing temperature for Phalaenopsis is 16°C to 30°C. In autumn and winter, at the turn of winter and spring, and when winter temperatures are low, attention should be paid to raising the temperature; generally, in rooms with heating in winter this temperature is not hard to reach, but be careful not to place the flower directly on the radiator or too close to it. When summer temperatures are on the high side, cooling is needed, along with attention to ventilation; if the temperature is above 32°C, Phalaenopsis usually enters a semi-dormant state, and prolonged high temperatures should be avoided. The peak flowering period is around the Spring Festival; a moderate drop in temperature can extend the viewing time, and at flowering the nighttime temperature is best kept between 13°C and 16°C, but not below 13°C.
2. Watering
Phalaenopsis originates in primeval forests, where there is a lot of mist and the temperature is higher. Phalaenopsis has no thick pseudobulbs to store nutrients; if the humidity in the air is insufficient, the leaf surface wrinkles and becomes weak and limp. Therefore, Phalaenopsis should be grown and cared for in a ventilated, high-humidity environment. The suitable air humidity for growing Phalaenopsis is 50% to 80%. Water more during the vigorous period of new root elongation, and water less during the dormant period after flowering. In spring and autumn, water once daily around five in the afternoon; in summer, when the plant grows vigorously, water once each at nine in the morning and five in the afternoon; in winter, when light is weak and temperatures are low, watering once every other week is enough, and it is best done before ten in the morning. If a cold wave arrives, do not water; keep it dry and resume watering after the cold wave has passed. The principle of watering is to water when dry and let it dry when wet: when the surface of the growing medium dries, water thoroughly once more, and the water temperature should be close to room temperature. When the indoor air is dry, a sprayer can be used to mist the leaf surface directly; the leaves just need to look moist, but note that during the flowering period the mist must not be sprayed onto the flowers. Tap water should be stored for more than 72 hours before use for irrigation.
3. Light
Although Phalaenopsis prefers shade, the plant still needs to receive some light, especially before and after flowering; appropriate light encourages Phalaenopsis to bloom and makes the flowers brighter and longer-lasting. Generally it should be placed where there is indoor scattered light, and direct sunlight should be avoided.
4. Ventilation
The normal growth of Phalaenopsis requires moving fresh air, so home-grown Phalaenopsis must have good ventilation, especially during the high-humidity period in summer; good ventilation is essential to prevent heat stress and can also avoid infection by pests and diseases.
Butterfly flower
5. Nutrition
Phalaenopsis should be fertilized all year round; unless low temperatures persist for a long time, fertilization should not be stopped. Winter is the flower-bud differentiation period for Phalaenopsis, and stopping fertilizer easily leads to no flowers or few flowers. Spring and summer are the growing period, when a dilute liquid fertilizer can be applied once every 7 to 10 days; organic fertilizer is preferable, and a special Phalaenopsis nutrient solution can also be used, but do not apply it when there are flower buds, otherwise the buds easily drop early. In summer, when leaves grow (that is, after the flowering period), nitrogen and potassium fertilizer can be top-dressed. In autumn and winter, during the flower-stalk growth period, phosphorus fertilizer can be used, but it should be dilute, applied about once every 2 to 3 weeks. Fertilize in the afternoon after watering; after several fertilizations, flush the pot and plant with plenty of water to prevent residual inorganic salts from harming the roots.
6. Care after the flowering period
The flowering period is generally around the Spring Festival, and the viewing period can last as long as 2 to 3 months. When the flowers wilt, the faded flowers should be cut off as early as possible, which reduces the consumption of nutrients. If the flower stalk is cut 4 to 5 nodes up from the base, it can bloom again after 2 to 3 months. However, this consumes too many nutrients from the plant and is bad for the next year's growth. If you want good flowers again the following year, it is best to cut the flower stalk off at the base. When the growing medium ages, it should be replaced in good time, otherwise aeration worsens, causing root rot and weakening the plant or even killing it. Repotting in May, when new leaves have grown out, is generally preferable.
III. Pest and disease control for the butterfly flower
The butterfly flower is fairly adaptable; sandy soil, clay soil and ordinary soil can all be used for growing it, and seedlings grown in sandy soil have well-developed root systems. During the peak growing season, apply light fertilizer frequently. If leaves are seen turning yellow, spray the leaves with a 1/1000 ferrous sulfate solution. The leaves of the Guelder rose have abundant hairs, so they are generally not easily attacked by pests. However, the degree of cutinization of the lower epidermis is relatively low, and the secretions produced when some fungal spores germinate can dissolve this part of the cuticle, so in the plum rain season it is usually necessary to spray some Bordeaux mixture for control. In addition, because the refractive index of the butterfly flower's cuticle is medium, it should not be exposed to direct blazing sun in hot weather.
The reason we need to understand a flower's growth habits is really like needing to understand a person's character when making friends. Only by knowing what it likes and what it dislikes can we get along with it better, and flowers are the same.
How to grow the butterfly flower
How to grow the butterfly flower
Temperature requirements
The suitable growing temperature is 25-28°C during the day. A temperature of 18-20°C has also been observed. For seedlings, the nighttime temperature should be raised to about 23°C. In such a temperature environment, the butterfly flower is almost in a growing state all year round, and the seedlings especially grow quickly; seedlings moved out of test tubes can bloom in about 1-2 years.
Humidity requirements
The butterfly flower's native habitat is quite humid, so growing the butterfly flower requires creating an environment with high air humidity. Generally speaking, humidity should be kept at 60-80% all year round. In the vast northern regions, the climate is dry in spring, autumn and winter, so the air humidity of the growing environment must be raised by any means, such as sprinkling water several times a day on the floor, stands, walls and elsewhere, or applying a little water to the plant's leaf surface to increase the humidity of the local environment.
Light requirements
When growing the butterfly flower, be sure to avoid strong light; there should be good shading conditions. Although the leaves of the butterfly flower are broad and thick and store abundant water, the cuticle and drought-resistant structures on the leaf surface are relatively poor, so once exposed to direct sunlight, the leaves lose a lot of water, or if it is not replenished in time, the leaves very easily develop sunscald.
Precautions for growing the butterfly flower
In North China, winter and spring are often sunny with few overcast and rainy days, so appropriate shading is needed at this time.
When the summer sun is strong and the temperature is too high, shade netting or bamboo blinds should be placed outside the greenhouse glass, serving the dual purpose of cooling the greenhouse and providing shade, and the shading rate should be above 60%. By autumn, shading of only about 40% is enough.