Orchids are very popular as Christmas and New Year gifts so if you received one and are now wondering how to care for it properly, then here are my top tips to help keep it looking good for longer, says our CEO and trained horticulturalist, Peter Burks.
Orchids have a reputation for being difficult to look after, but by following some simple steps, you’ll see they are fairly easy to care for:
The most common Orchid by far is the Moth Orchid or Phalaenopsis to give it its Latin name. These are very easy to keep and will flower almost continuously for years without needing a lot of care.
The most important thing is to keep them in a good light spot. So, a south or west facing windowsill is ideal, but any windowsill is good. Try to avoid keeping them near radiators in the winter time.
Watering should be done every 10 days in summer, maybe 7 if on a hot south facing windowsill, and then reduce to every 14 days in winter. Plunge the whole pot into lukewarm water for about 10 minutes so that the bark-based compost is fully re wetted. Then let it drain before returning it to its pot cover. They should never be allowed to get either too soggy or of course too dry.
Feeding is not that critical but adding a little Orchid fertiliser to the water every other month will suffice or use one of the drip feeders which are readily available.
Once a flowering stalk finally loses all of its flowers you then have three options:
- Leave it as it is and it will usually grow on again but flowers will be smaller.
- Cut back by about half and it will produce a new branch off this same shoot.
- Cut right down to the base of the shoot and it will produce a new one from the main plant. This will give the largest new flowers.
It does not need to be re-potted for several years but when you do only move it up to a slightly larger pot and you must use proper orchid compost which is based on bark. This is because in their natural environment they grow on the bark of trees, they do not grow in the soil.
There are many different varieties of Phalaenopsis giving lots of dramatic colours and many different sized plants too but by following the above you should have great success.