A Detailed Guide to Getting Orchids to Bloom More and Controlling Flower Orientation

Orchids: more flowers and flower orientation control -- Xijinqiao

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Actually, when it comes to growing orchids, I am still just a novice. Although I have been around orchids for ten years, it was only in the past two or three years, after my hardware facilities improved, that the orchids I grow have shown some improvement. This year's Song Mei and Xi Shen are the ones I consider my proudest achievements, so I posted them online to show them off a bit, hoping to earn some applause, but the praise from fellow orchid growers was completely unexpected and left me quite overwhelmed. Titles like "China's number one orchid grower" are something I truly do not dare accept. The Chinese orchid online community is full of hidden talent and experts, so for me to introduce my experience really seems like showing off in front of an expert. But since my fellow orchid growers are so kind, I will talk about it briefly. If there is anything inappropriate, please criticize and correct it. Let us discuss it together, and just take this as throwing out a brick to attract jade. 1. Producing more flower buds: For orchid plants to produce more flower buds, the prerequisite is to grow the roots well and keep multiple growths connected as one. To grow roots well, first, according to the growth habits of orchids, simulate the orchid's wild growing environment (it is best to go up into the mountains yourself to observe its growing environment). The four key elements of temperature, humidity, ventilation and light should be adjusted in a timely way throughout the orchid plant's entire growing process (during high temperatures, focus mainly on shaded cultivation). Second, for beginners at growing orchids, the potting medium should be light and lean. My potting medium ratio is: 20% Sendai soil, 10% expanded clay pellets, 70% Ishiyoki stone, with a few grains of Magic Fertilizer applied on the pot surface. Other fertilizers (especially foliar fertilizers) should be used as little as possible. Third, because every orchid grower's cultivation environment is different, watering cannot be the same for everyone. Remember one point: orchid plants like moisture. As for watering time, a sentence from a book by Yuyao orchid-growing elder Wang Shuping gave me great inspiration: after watering orchids, keep them in shaded conditions for a day. So when the temperature is above 10°C, I choose to water at night. After watering, dry the leaf surfaces as quickly as possible. Once the roots are grown well, you can use as few chemicals as possible, or even none at all. Generally, using them two or three times a year for prevention is enough. In the bud-setting season every July and August, widen the day-night temperature difference and control watering once or twice, but do not let them get too dry. 2. Management after buds form: After orchid plants form buds, attention should be paid to keeping them in appropriately shaded conditions, maintaining humidity at around 80%, not letting the temperature get too high, and not letting the potting soil get too wet. In winter, try to keep the temperature below 20°C, and then let them go through sufficient vernalization, otherwise the flower stems will not grow tall the following year. 3. Flowering: The best flowering temperature for Chinese Cymbidium is 10°C——18°C, and for Huilan orchid it is 16°C——24°C. Keep orchid plants in dry conditions before the flower buds begin to stretch their stems, switch to moist conditions after the stems begin to stretch, and after the buds open, choose dry or moist conditions depending on the variety. To make the flowering direction uniform, first make as much use as possible of the plant's phototropism so that the buds face the same direction, then a few days before the buds open, depending on the condition of the pot surface, manually adjust and fix the buds whose orientation does not match what you want (one or two days is enough). As for how to fix them, each orchid grower can use their own creativity. You are welcome to post it online and show it off. The above is purely my personal view, for reference and exchange only. If there is anything inappropriate, corrections are welcome.