When we tell our friends that we grow orchids they look at us with pity. as if to say, “It’s only temporary insanity – they’ll get over it.” For we are not country dwellers blessed with a greenhouse and the ideal conditions supposedly necessary for growing these exotic plants. We live in a New York City apartment and we aren’t going to “get over it.” Quite the contrary, for our original two-plant collection has grown to several dozen and threatens to crowd us out of our apartment.
Why do we raise orchids?
At first it was a challenge – something that “couldn’t be done.” Then, after we had achieved success, we just couldn’t stop. We feel that there are no more beautiful flowers, no plants that yield so great a reward for so little effort. Orchids rate high in beauty, variety of color and form and keeping quality.
There are many misconceptions and half-truths about orchids. They are all supposed to be native to steaming jungles, either carnivorous, parasitic or able to live on air, and lastly, tremendously difficult to grow. Don’t you believe it!
Orchids can be found in almost all parts of the world, tropical, temperate and sub-arctic. They are neither carnivorous nor parasitic, nor do they live on air. They have the usual requirements of food, water, air and light of other plants we are more familiar with. If these requirements are met, orchids will grow.
Orchid Culture
As far as their cultural requirements are concerned, orchids can he divided into two main groups: epiphytes and terrestrials. The former, which grow naturally on trees, are grown indoors in partially decomposed fiber of the Osmunda fern. Terrestrial orchids. which grow in soil in nature, are best planted in a 2 to 1 mixture of leafmold and gravel such as granite paving chips. Peat or sphagnum moss may be added but we have found the leafmoId and granite mixture quite satisfactory.
Orchids may be divided for further convenience on the basis of their temperature requirements: cool, intermediate and warm. For these three groups night temperatures of 50 degrees, 55 degrees and 60 degrees respectively, are ideal, with daytime temperatures about 10 degrees higher. It has been our experience, however, that orchids are not as particular as to temperature as many who write about them imagine.
Love Light
Orchids, like other plants, require sunlight. Most of them can use all the sun they can get during the winter months. Burning may be avoided in slimmer by shading the plants from midday sunshine.
Water is perhaps the most critical factor in growing orchids in the home. Orchids are nearly indestructible. Probably the only way to kill them, outside of freezing them solid, is to water your orchid plants too frequently and by so doing, cause rotting.
Orchids require excellent drainage. While it is impossible to say exactly how often to water, it has been our experience that orchids should be watered no more than once a week. Moreover, little harm is done if you neglect to water your plants for a week or even more – we left ours unattended for three weeks last summer. When you do water your plants, however, be sure to water them well.
Lack of moisture in the -air is apt to limit home culture of orchids more than anything else. Orchids, unlike most plants, have no outer protective or guard cells to limit loss of moisture from the leaves. Two practices are recommended to .counteract this loss. First, keep pans of water on the radiators. This, incidentally, will benefit your own health as well as that of your orchids. Secondly, syringe the orchid foliage on bright sunny days. If you place your orchids in a Wardian case or miniature green house. you will come closer to furnishing ideal conditions, but such elaborate equipment is by no means necessary for the less demanding orchids.
Feeding Your Orchid
The question of whether or not to feed orchids has long been a controversial one. but the consensus these days seems to lie in favor of feeding. A wide range of fertilizers has been used successfully, with several soluble commercial fertilizers being particularly good for orchids. Remember. though, that overfeeding is worse than no feeding at all.
Once you have decided to grow orchids, you are faced with the greatest problem – which ones to choose. The family orchidace is the second largest group of flowering plants and within it is great diversity. When most people think of orchids, they visualize the hybrid cattleya of the florist. Yet there are thousands of other orchids, equally beautiful and exotic, and in many cases, equally worthy of a place in your collection. The problem of selection can be approached from several aspects.
To begin with, there is the consideration of price. Orchids are sold at prices ranging from a few dollars for a plant of blooming size to many hundreds of dollars for especially fine hybrid plants. Obviously, it would be foolish to invest a great sum in an initial collection when you have not even convinced yourself that you can grow orchids.
Another consideration is the blooming period. By selecting a variety of genera and species it is easy to have one or more orchids in bloom the year around. The advantage of this is immediately – obvious.
Pick Plants On Growing Conditions
It is also well to keep in mind the growing conditions you will be able to provide for your plants. Certain types require the additional humidity of a Wardian or other nearly air-tight glass case (such as a glass-covered fish tank) and unless you are prepared to supply such a case, these plants should be omitted from your collection. Moreover, you will get. better results by selecting plants which require those temperature conditions you can most easily give them.
We suggest that you limit yourself to the orchid species at first, rather than invest in the more expensive hybrids. In addition to the advantage of lower cost, the species have the added virtue of blooming during a specific (and predictable) season. Although the species orchids may not be quite as spectacular as the hybrids, we can assure you that you will he more than satisfied with them.
It -would be impossible to describe here even the few outstanding orchid genera. We do, however, recommend the moth orchid (phalaenopsis) as a good nucleus for your collection. This is only one of the thousands from which you can choose.
If you want a house plant that is exotic and beautiful, whose flowers are long lasting, and above all one that is easy to grow, then try an orchid. Once it has flowered for you, you’ll never have enough orchid plants.
