Orchid Care Methods for More Sprouts and Answers to Questions About Using Drugs to Force Sprouting

Seeing that the orchids in the flower market have all bloomed, while your own orchids at home still show no movement. Many impatient flower lovers want to force them to sprout. So, is it necessary to use drugs to promote more orchid sprouts? How should orchids be grown to promote more sprouts? With these 2 questions, the Huacaole editor shares with you an introduction to cultivation methods that make orchid side buds as numerous as bamboo shoots after rain.

I. How should orchids be grown to promote more sprouts?

The most reliable method is to use soil with good drainage, keep up with fertilizing and watering, provide more ventilation and sunlight, and once the root system grows well and the potting soil has nutrients, many side buds will naturally appear.

1. The soil must have good air permeability

Orchids have fleshy roots and require potting soil with very good air permeability. Orchids like slightly acidic soil that is fertile, airy, moist, and rich in humus. A soil formula can refer to: leaf mold 60%, red soil 30%, river sand 10%. When air permeability is good, the root system can spread out. Only then will it absorb more nutrients and stimulate new sprouts.

2. Watering should be moderate

Orchids like moisture and fear waterlogging. Eight parts dry and two parts moist is best. During the flowering period and the period when leaf buds are emerging, water less. During the plum rain season, they should be moved back indoors, or a shed should be set up to keep off the rain. In summer, water in the early morning or evening, and not too much. In autumn, the amount of watering can be appropriately increased. In dry seasons, spray every evening. When spraying, spray upward so the mist droplets are fine and even, making the leaf surface moist and the ground damp, increasing air humidity. The water used for watering orchids is best fish pond water, or tap water that has been stored overnight to remove chlorine.

3. Light and ventilation

Orchids are very shade-tolerant, but usually place them in a spot with sufficient scattered light. At the same time, the placement location should be ventilated. In winter, let them get more sun.

4. Fertilize in time

During the flower bud differentiation stage of orchids, apply some phosphorus and potassium fertilizer one month in advance, such as monopotassium phosphate, to promote flower bud differentiation. Apply thin fertilizer frequently. Only in this way will orchids grow abundant side buds and bloom more.

II. Is it necessary to use drugs to promote more orchid sprouts?

There are many “hormone” products on the market now, such as sprout-boosting agents and the like. They can promote rapid side bud germination in most plants, and many sprouts appear. On the surface, it seems that sprouting is abundant and fast, but it excessively consumes the nutrients of the mother plant. If nutrients are not supplied in time later, not only will the new sprouts grow poorly, but the mother plant will also gradually wither. Therefore, using drugs to promote new sprouts in orchids is inappropriate.