How to grow an orchid at home: conditions and ways of reproduction
Orchids - flowers are exquisite and capricious. In the olden days, for a rare unusual specimen, connoisseurs laid out a tidy sum. Simple people had no idea how to grow an orchid at home. The breeding of these tropical sissies was a difficult task, requiring a solid investment, and was considered an entertainment for millionaires.
Nowadays the situation has changed: there were many new varieties and hybrids, unpretentious in the content, people learned to propagate orchids vegetatively, and the flower departments offer many beautiful plants at an affordable price.
Orchids grow on all continents, exceptAntarctica, in different climatic zones and natural conditions. They include 100 thousand varieties and species, and only a small part of the plants is suitable for room keeping.
To know how to grow an orchid at home and what conditions should be created for it, it must be taken into account that they are all divided into three groups:
- epiphytes - grow using other plants as a support;
- lithophytes - grow on stones covered with moss;
- ground - those that grow in the earth.
In the same genus, there may be epiphytic and lithophytic orchids.
The most common of all - epiphytes, namelyon their basis the most spectacular hybrids with large flowers of brightly decorated colors are created. How to grow orchids at home, any pensioner can master if he chooses one of the species that does not need special conditions.
The most easy-care orchids that even a beginner can grow are:
- Cattleya;
- phalaenopsis and its hybrids;
- dendrobiums;
- cymbidiums, including miniature;
- otsindium and relatives of his kind;
- odontoglossum.
They easily reconcile with dry air, lack of light and some flaws in the content.
They are placed on a window sill in special potsor suspended in blocks and baskets, imitating natural growth conditions. Orchids need careful moderate watering, a special substrate and special liquid fertilizers. In captivity, flowers grow well, and 2-3 times a year are pleased with a long flowering.
The easiest way to replenish the collection is to go to the nearest store. There you can choose a well-developed plant with buds and flowers, assess the condition of its roots and the brightness of the color.
How to grow an orchid at home from an existing plant? This can be done by dividing, cutting, babies and seeds.
If there is a desire to reproduce a copy living in a house by the first two methods, several points must be taken into account:
- Only an adult healthy and strong plant is suitable for these purposes.
- A month before dividing or planting, it is necessary to stop watering and feeding, put on a bright, but not sunny place, periodically spray.
- Tools must be sanitized.
- All sections and wounds are processed with charcoal (green paint, cinnamon).
The best time for breeding is considered the beginning of spring.
Dendrobium babies are formed due to a violationcyclical care, phalaenopsis give them when they lose their point of growth. Some hybrids constantly give babies on flower stalks: this is their genetic feature.
Since the beginning of the appearance of children on the plant to theirbranches take about 3 months, during this time they produce 3-4 leaves, and the roots should grow by 3-4 cm. If they are not separated, the growth of the leaves will stop, and the roots will intensively develop. Young plants may bloom, during this period they do not produce branch.
Seed orchid
One way to grow an orchidAt home, it is sowing seeds. The method is the most difficult of all, besides costly. It is necessary to purchase a special substance, maintain sterility and be patient. The smallest seeds are placed in a nutrient medium and germinate after a few months. Sprouts are very delicate, and we need to wait another 2 years before transplantation. But they will bloom only in 3-5 years, and the Orhiea Venerin slipper can first release buds in 10 years.
