Orchid beginners: get this one thing right, and you'll never worry about keeping them alive again, enjoying blooms and fragrance year after year

Introduction

Green plants and potted flowers are essential decorative elements for home life. They beautify the room, freshen the air, and delight the senses and nurture the spirit. Keeping some flowers and plants at home brings many benefits. "Flower Voice Potted Plant Diary, Issue 867" introduces you to the problems beginners face when growing orchids.

Orchids

Orchids are a traditional famous flower of China, treasured by our people since ancient times. They rank fourth on the list of China's top ten famous flowers, and to this day remain one of the most important indoor potted flowers, loved by flower enthusiasts far and wide. Placing a few orchid bonsai at home shows elegance and purity, and lets you enjoy both the blooms and their fragrance, all at once.

Wild orchids

The special qualities of orchids draw many beginners into the hobby. Owning a beautiful orchid should be such a joyful thing. Yet the outcome is often "the orchid torments me a thousand times, yet I treat the orchid like my first love." Growing orchids well takes effort, especially for beginners, who need to understand some relevant knowledge before starting.

Stem rot

Orchids are epiphytic or terrestrial herbaceous plants, originally growing mostly under shady, well-ventilated trees in forests, with relatively high demands on their growing environment. When beginners get an orchid, they often think it is much like other plants, casually find some soil to plant it in, and just wait for it to bloom and give fragrance. The result is often that it rots black and dies before long, wasting effort and ruining the orchid.

Orchid soil

Growing orchids requires special orchid soil. Common garden soil, potting mix, succulent soil and the like found on the market cannot be used directly. Common orchid growing media include perlite, bark, peat soil, leaf mold and so on, and they must be loose with good air permeability. Experienced growers know how to mix the ratios, while beginners need to put in some effort and pay some tuition. For the sake of survival rates, it is best to use the special soil sold at orchid shops.

For growing flowers, the soil must be right first

As the saying goes, to nourish life first nourish the stomach; for growing flowers, the soil must be right first. When the soil is right, no plant is hard to grow, and after that it comes down to your growing skill. Orchids must be placed in a ventilated environment, ideally with morning and evening sunlight. Enclosed spaces will not do, and open-air growing is even better. In summer, mist frequently to maintain humidity, but avoid long-term waterlogging in the pot. To grow orchids, first grow the roots. Once the root system is well developed, the plant will be strong, and will bloom and produce new growth abundantly.