How to ensure proper orchid care at home: all about watering a plant

Orchids are considered one of the most beautiful flowers in the world. Their beauty can be maintained by proper care.

One of the fundamental factors ensuring the health and flowering of an orchid is competent watering.

Maintaining the required level of humidity, observing the frequency of irrigation and its proper implementation will allow the plant to grow and bloom for many years.

General tips

Seasonal care

Watering orchids at different times of the year varies. Therefore, follow these tips:

• In winter, the orchid does not go into hibernation, so you need to water it. On average, in the cold season - in winter and autumn - an orchid is watered once every 10 days or 2 weeks.

  When watering, you need to monitor the temperature in the room. If the heating works at full strength or the pot with the plant is near the radiator, then carefully monitor the substrate and the condition of the plant. The number of irrigations can be increased up to 1 time in 10 days. In winter, start watering when the pseudo-bulb begins to frown.

• In spring, the active growth of the orchid begins, so it needs abundant watering. Moisture evaporates quickly from the pot and is consumed by the plant. The frequency of watering should be 1 time in 5-7 days.

  It is necessary to rinse the orchid once a month in the shower, using water at room temperature to wash off dust from the leaves and the remains of fertilizer salts from the roots.

• In summer, you need to pay special attention to moistening the soil in a pot with an orchid, because it is during this period that the plant grows actively, prepares for flowering, the roots absorb moisture more intensively due to the high temperature. You can water the flower 3-4 times a week.

  Also, the amount of watering depends on the climate in which you survive. In humid climates, watering can be limited to three per week, in drier climates to four. In the dry season, you can spray with a "soft" stream of water - a shower or humidify the air near the orchid.

How often do you need to do this?

How often and how many times do I need to water a flower? It is believed that the orchid is a moisture-loving tropical plant. But for the optimal growth of a given plant, water is required so that it does not rot.

There is no unequivocal opinion on the number of irrigations. The frequency of watering the orchid depends on the drying rate of the substrate in a pot with a flower and the state of the root system.

In more detail about how often you need to water an orchid at home, how many times a week you need to moisten a flower, we told in a separate article.

How to determine if it is time to water?

1. Pick up a flower pot, it should be light. It may seem to you that if you put it on the windowsill, the weight of the leaves will draw the weight of the roots and the flower will heel.
2. Inspect the pot itself: there should be no condensation on the walls. Its presence indicates that the flower does not need to be watered.
3. Check if the substrate is wet or dry in the pot. To do this, at night, carefully turning, stick a wooden stick in the pot (you can use a Chinese one), and in the morning see if it has changed color (the wet stick will darken, the dry one will remain the same color). If the stick is wet, then it’s too early to water.
4. Pay attention to the root system of orchids. Know a few signs to start watering:
   • an actively developing flower is ready for watering if the tips are bright green, that is, they grow;
   • if the roots are whitish completely, the flower must be watered;
   • but if the roots "puppy" - they become whitish, and a bright green dot appears on the tips, you can’t water it, otherwise the roots will rot, it is desirable to highlight such an orchid so that active growth begins, which means that you could start watering.

Watch the video on determining the time when it is time to water the orchid:

What kind of water can I use?

Watering should be carried out with soft water (moderate hardness is possible). To reduce the hardness of water, you can use oxalic acid, one-eighth of a teaspoon of which you need to dissolve in 5 liters of water, leave for a day, drain into another container without using the precipitate formed.

To reduce the hardness of water, you can use lemon juice, filters. It is good to water with rain or settled and filtered snow water. The temperature of the water should be several degrees higher than the ambient temperature. In no case should the orchid be watered with cold water. Watering depends on the stage of vital activity of the flower.

1. For flowering. In order for the orchid to bloom, you need to limit watering, since excess fluid is most used to optimize the growth of leaves and roots.

   During flowering, watering the orchids needs to be changed, made more frequent, because the drying process of the soil is accelerated due to the large consumption of moisture. Watering requires only the roots of the plant, trying to soak them with moisture, but not overfill. During the flowering of orchids, the soil should in no case completely dry out. Humidity should be higher than normal. Therefore, you need to water several times a week.

2. After transplanting the plant into another pot, it must be immediately watered so that the substrate absorbs moisture. Since the transplant most often goes to the dehydrated substrate bought in the store, it is better to put the pot with the transplanted flower for 20-30 minutes in a container with warm water in which mineral fertilizers are dissolved.

   The next watering should be carried out no earlier than 2 weeks after transplantation, because the plant has experienced stress and moisture can cause decay. And repeated feeding and watering - after 21 days.

   TIP: After this, the flower usually builds up plant mass and prepares for flowering, so it needs to be watered at least 2-3 times a week.

You will learn more details about what water should be used for irrigation, is it possible to use solutions, as well as other features of orchid irrigation in this material.

Different ways

There are several ways to water an orchid:

1. "Hot shower"(This is the highest quality watering of the plant, because it imitates rain and is able to saturate both the roots of the plant and the leaves with moisture. It is this method of watering that can wash away pests from orchids and protect them from diseases.

   To carry out this type of irrigation, a container with a plant is placed in a bathtub and watered with a shower nozzle with a weak pressure of water, the temperature of which is 40-50 degrees. The substrate must be thoroughly saturated. After watering, you need to leave the flower pot for 15-20 minutes in the bathroom to drain the remaining water. Then wipe the leaves of the plant with a soft, dry cloth).

2. Immersion. (When conducting such irrigation, it should be remembered that when immersed in water, dry roots can push the plant out of the pot. Therefore, you should lower the orchid slowly, gradually moistening the roots in the pot. The container with the plant is immersed completely in the prepared water.

   The duration of immersion in water depends on the volume of the pot. For example, a container with a size of 10x10 or 12x10 should be in the water for 30 seconds, and then for the same number of seconds the pot needs to be kept in the air that the glass is excess water. Such watering is considered economical and effective if neither the flower nor the substrate is susceptible to any disease).

3. Watering with a watering can. (Water the surface of the substrate in the pot with a low pressure, without touching the sinuses and growth points, until excess water begins to come out of the pot. Excessive water should be drained).
4. Root spraying. (It is carried out for orchids growing in blocks, without a substrate. It is advisable to carry out such watering with a spray in the "fog" mode, directing the stream to the roots until they change color to green. Repeat after drying).

Read more about irrigation methods and how to correctly choose an irrigation method, read here.

Step-by-step instruction

1. Take care of the water for watering the orchid: it must be defended, hard water softened by the indicated methods.
2. The water temperature should be several degrees higher than the temperature in the room where the flower is located.
3. Take care of the good illumination of the flower, since only under the condition of good illumination in the plant begins the process in which the liquid entering the roots does not provoke decay, but is aimed at the optimal vital activity of the orchid.
4. Visually assess the condition of the pot with the plant: the flower pot should be light, there should be no condensation on the walls of the tank - an indicator of excess moisture in the flower.
5. Check the moisture in the soil in a container with an orchid with a wooden stick.
6. Examine the root system and flower leaves for signs of dehydration.
7. Depending on the condition of the flower, pour prepared water using one of the watering methods.
8. Remove excess fluid from the flower.
9. Wipe the wet buds, leaves, and sinuses of the leaves with a soft, dry cloth to prevent the rotting process from starting.

Following all the instructions for watering an orchid, you will provide it with optimal conditions for growth and flowering.

You can find out more nuances about how to properly water an orchid at home here, and in this article we presented step-by-step instructions for the procedure.

Useful video

Watch a video about the basic rules for watering an orchid:

Watch the video: Orchid Care for beginners - How to water Phalaenopsis Orchids (May 2024).