For Growing Beautiful Orchids, Learn About their Origins
Most people can successfully grow orchids if they take the time to learn about the differences between the major groupings of these exciting plants, as well as their varied needs.
Orchids come from a wide variety of environments which differ from one another in almost every respect. As a result, you will find that some species produce flowers early in spring, others in summer and yet others during the greay days of winter. Their times for beginning their seasonal growth also varies; nevertheless, for convenience, feel free to rest all of your orchids over the winter. The majority of these will begin pushing out shoots as soon as the earth begins warming up in the spring.
When your orchids are in their growing periods, you should treat them differently with respect to heat, according to their native origins. East Indian orchids love heat. Inside, maintain the air temperature around them at 65 degrees Fahrenheit at night and 70 degrees at day. In the outdoors they will thrive at up to 75 degrees in the early spring. During the hottest parts of summer they will tolerate temperatures as high as 85 or 90. However, direct sun rays can harm the plants, so be sure to shade them at these times.
Wherever therefore any of these East Indian orchids are growing the atmosphere should be well supplied with moisture. Mist them and the air around them quite frequently! As well, you can simply pour water over the tables and paths of your greenhouse or other growing area. If you do this every day it will produce a nice, moist heat to rise.
Brazilian orchids come from a cooler climate one that is not so highly saturated with moisture. They of course require less heat and less moisture but they do need a considerable degree of warmth during their growing season. The same thing goes for most of the orchids originating in Mexico. They should be artificially heated to about 60 degrees by night and from 65 to 70 by day early in the season. As days lengthen the temperature may be allowed to increase so that during the months of May through August the night heat may range from 65 to 70 and
by day from 70 to 85.
Then we come to the so-called cool orchids, which should be grown in an area to themselves, if possible. These plants come from such places as Ecuador and Peru, and similiar regions, where they are found high up on the mountainsides. These require generally lower temperatures. You might try a range of 45 to 55 degrees during the winter, and 50 to as high as 65 during the summer. Wherever you grow them, you should see that they are well shaded from the sun most of the time. You can easily kill the cool orchids with too much heat!
There are many other groupings and subgroupings of orchids, too many to cover them in a limited space. If you want to learn more, the best and most thorough guide to modern orchid growing, beyond question, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which may be downloaded on the web. Now, there are lots of books about orchids but Mr. Howard’s guide constitutes a thorough education all to itself. And, it’s suitable for neophytes as well as more seasoned orchid growers. Also, check out the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing database of postings on all aspects of orchids.
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