For Inge and Peter Poot, it was love at first sight. Ever since Peter presented Inge with an orchid during their honeymoon in Jamaica, the couple has had a love affair with these beguiling plants that’s lasted 47 years and shows no signs of waning. In fact, their passion has extended to a 20 x 30-foot greenhouse that’s filled with every kind of orchid imaginable. A Director of the Southern Ontario Orchid Society (SOOS), Inge has held just about every position in the plant society, which hosts one of the best orchid shows in the country. This year, the Valentine Orchid Show, held at the Toronto Botanical Garden on February 14 and 15 – perfect timing to start your love affair with orchids. To introduce you to these charmingly alluring plants, I asked Inge for her tips on growing orchids.
City Gardening: What’s the easiest type of orchid for a beginner to grow?
Inge Poot: That would be Phalaenopsis. It’s fast growing and it likes warm temperatures; it grows best at minimum nighttime temperatures of 70°F (21°C) and maximum daytime temperatures of 80°F (27°C), which is close to the conditions in our houses. They’ll even be happy between 65°F and 75°F (18°C and 24°C).
CG: Is it a good idea to plant them in special terra cotta orchid pots – the ones with holes in the sides?
IP: Phalaenopsis grow better in plastic pots. Terra cotta is not too good for orchids that like warmth. The water evaporates through the terra cotta, cooling the roots. They’re better for orchids that like a cool root ball – for instance, tropical ladyslippers.
CG: How do you pot them? Do they need special soil?
IP: Use high-porosity (HP) Pro-Mix and add some large perlite (also called sponge rock) to make the mix looser. Place the orchid in the pot, then loosely fill in around the plant [with the soil mix] – you mustn’t pack it down! It’s important to keep lots of air in the soil. Don’t water until the top of the soil turns brown – this means the surface has dried out – and then water until it runs out the bottom of the pot. The soil has to be moistened right through – if the water runs off the top, that’s not good; it must wash through all of the soil.
For other types of orchids, you should use a bark mix – but be sure to buy it from a reputable vendor to make sure it’s fresh and free from fungus, which can harm your orchid. Because it’s looser than the Pro-Mix, you’ll need to water more often.
CG: What about fertilizing newly potted Phalaenopsis?
IP: For the first month, you don’t need to fertilize because the soil has enough food in it already. After that, feed it with every second watering. Use houseplant food at a quarter of the strength [recommended on the label] and use lots of water to wash out the [fertilizer] salts. This is important because orchids have adapted to growing on trees where they’re used to fresh rainwater. And the only food they get is from bird poo and decaying leaves.
CG: How can I get my Phalaenopsis to rebloom?
IP: To set flower buds, orchids need a 20-degree-Fahrenheit difference between day and nighttime temperatures for a period of one month. If you’ve tried this and still can’t get them to bloom, give them longer exposure to light for four weeks. And if that doesn’t work, give them a shorter day exposure. You never know which parent is influencing the bloom, so sometimes you have to experiment like this.
CG: If I want to try growing a more challenging orchid, what would you recommend?
IP: Try the Oncidium intergenerics. They have a greater warmth tolerance so they’re a good step up from Phalaenopsis. You can get them at the Valentine Orchid Show from a small grower called Orchids in Our Tropics.
CG: What’s the trickiest orchid to try to grow?
IP: Fernandezia sanguinea looks like a tiny vanda: that is, it keeps growing upwards from a thickened stem with alternately arranged, small leaves. The flowers come out of the leaf axils and are about an inch wide – that is almost as wide as the plant itself, and come in bright red and yellow colours. They are South American high altitude rain-forest denizens, so are very cold-growing, must have very pure rainwater, high humidity and never dry out.
CG: Where can I get more information about growing orchids?
IP: Oh, the Internet: SOOS and the American Orchid Society websites have good information and there are zillions of commercial grower websites, too. And SOOS holds beginners meetings once a month, taught by a wonderful teacher who gives basic culture information of all the various genera.
I have a hankering to grow orchids in a terrarium, so I’m planning to check out the miniature Platystele umbelletas.
The post Beguiling orchids — be my valentine! appeared first on City Gardening.
