Pink Phalaenopsis: photo and description of the plant, as well as recommendations for caring for a salmon-colored orchid

Phalaenopsis loves an epiphytic lifestyle. He lives on tree trunks, fastening to them with flexible roots. More often, pink orchid is found in tropical areas.

For the first time, the plant was discovered back in 1750 by Dr. Blume in the thickets on the island of Ambon, located on the Malay archipelago. It suddenly seemed to him that colorful butterflies were fluttering in the dark, but upon closer inspection, he noticed magnificent orchid flowers.

Translated from Greek, the term "phalaenopisis" is translated as "similar to a butterfly."

What kind of flower is this?

Definition

Scientific Name: Phalaenopsis Rosea. Origin: Philippines and Taiwan, Borneo Peninsula.

Pink orchid is the best gift for those who are in love, as the pink color constantly symbolizes the most soft feelings. The flower will say everything for you.

Description of appearance

The main characteristic feature of the Phalaenopsis orchid is pink flower petals, similar to elegant butterflies. This type is rather small with elongated rounded leaves. Length reaches 15 centimeters, width - 8 centimeters. The leaves are dark green, in some cases there is a red tint on the back.

Attractive curved peduncle of dark purple, elongated by 25 - 30 centimeters. It sprouts up to 15 snow-white pink flowers, combined into neat rosettes. Sprout one after another, reaching 3 centimeters in diameter.

The lip is three-lobed, insignificant: the iridescent lobes look directly ahead; the middle lobe has a rhombus configuration, variegated, near the base with a brown tint. Anther with elongated tip.

Photo

Check out the photo of pink Phalaenopsis:

What varieties of this plant are salmon-colored?

Pink Phalaenopsis (Sacramento cultivar) blooms almost regularly with proper care, but has a dormant period of 3 months a year.

Schiller variety grows in the climate of the tropics, has hard elongated leaves. Its inflorescence reaches 1.5 meters and it can accommodate up to 200 flowers of medium size (7 cm in diameter). They are pale pink. This pink orchid blooms in January and discards the last flower only in May.

Breeding history

The story of how this outlandish beauty conquered Europe is somewhat unusual. In 1731, a certain British botanist sent a dry sample of orchid from the Bahamas. “Who knows,” the professor thought, “what if the spark of life still remained in the tuber?” Just in case, he planted the plant in a flower pot, as a result it came to life. After a while, pink flowers of amazing beauty appeared. So for the first time in the UK, a tropical orchid blossomed.

Step-by-step care instructions

For a pink orchid, specific conditions for the life process should be provided.

Temperature

The optimum temperature is 20 oC in winter and up to 35 oC in summer. In the cool season, lowering nighttime temperatures to 10 oC can be detrimental to the flower.

Location

For orchids, windows with an eastern or western direction are suitable. On the hottest sunny days, the orchid needs shading.

Attention! Good light gives the flowers a magnificent color, but in large quantities causes burns.

Lighting

In winter, the flower needs additional lighting using fluorescent lamps in the evening, since he needs 12 hours of light for growth.

Watering

Pink orchids will require moderate watering. In the summer, the earth is moistened as it dries a couple of times a week, in the cool time it is reduced to several times a month. The roots of a plant are especially bizarre. Overdrying, as well as excessive humidity, leads to their death.

Water used at room temperature. Make sure that all the earth is saturated with liquid. To do this, it is possible to lower the pot into a bucket of water, then let the excess drain. To increase the moisture of the air near the pot, a tray with pebbles filled with water is installed.

Top dressing

Phalaenopsis needs a special complex fertilizer for orchids. It can only be added to a moistened substrate so as not to burn susceptible roots.

The operation is performed once every 2 weeks during a period of intensive growth.

Important! Excess fertilizer leads to leaf cracks and a long absence of flowering. When selecting fertilizers, you should focus on those that contain the least amount of nitrogen.

Transfer

For pink orchids, a soil consisting of moss, pine bark, charcoal is suitable. For planting, it is more correct to use colorless plastic pots. In this case, it is possible to control the position of the root system in order to prevent the death of plants in a timely manner, and to trace the need for their hydration. A flower is transplanted only in emergency conditions once every several years.

Provided that the roots occupy a significant part of the pot and the plant has slowed growth, you need to change it to a larger one.

A flower is transplanted only after flowering, performing the following steps:

A layer of drainage is placed at the bottom of the pot.
Dried roots are trimmed and cleaned from old soil.
The plant is placed in a new pot and carefully covered with a substrate, without pressing down, so as not to spoil the fragile rhizome.

Exquisitely looks peduncle, which rushes up. To do this, you should tie it to a modest support, which is carefully introduced into the ground, trying not to damage the roots themselves.

Breeding

Orchid propagation is performed by children who grew up on a flower. In addition, daughter plants are separated during transplantation. The latest inflorescences occur in about a year.

Pests and diseases

With proper care of the orchid, the plant is extremely rarely sick and almost not affected by pests. The most huge problem of phalaenopsis is root decay. Removing affected areas and changing soil may help. Watering is reduced during the recovery period.

Orchid may be affected by red mites and aphids.which can go from the diseased plant in the neighborhood. When purchasing a flower, it is recommended to carefully examine the leaves, flowers, it is possible to note a defeat by the mealy worm on them.

Conclusion

This flower is perfect for creative people.. Its refined bends, gracefulness of a flower will be able to awaken inspiration even from an inveterate "techie" and force to make a small creation.

In addition, directly the plant allows great opportunities for the creative process: you like to draw - it will bring you tremendous pleasure to depict a flower, you like to take a photo - it takes several hours to select the background, angle and installation of lighting.

If you have been presented with phalaenopsis, there is no need to fear that in apartment conditions it will die or stop blooming. With the correct observance of absolutely all conditions, pink orchid flowers will be an excuse for pride.