Orchid Nutrition

Winter Orchid Care

ABC's of Repotting

Our Orchid Story

September is Dynamite!

Surfing the Web for Orchids

Fragrance in Cattleya Orchids

Spring and Summer Orchid Care

Tales of Orchids

Orchid Labeling

The Orchid Fertilizer Bible

This newsletter is an old idea of ours and is finally a reality. The information included will come from my thoughts and opinions stemming from my orchid addiction which has lasted for more than 30 years. Much of this information comes from experience. Hopefully you'll learn from my mistakes.
Now here's the good news and bad news. The bad news is that I cannot tell you how to grow orchids, nor can anyone else. However, the good news is that I can tell you how I grow my orchids and why. No two orchid people grow under the same conditions, yet there are thousands and thousands of successful orchid growers all over the world. That means that orchids are adaptable and, with a bit of basic knowledge, we can all be succesfull growers.

Let's just browse through a list of basics to get us introduced.

Water: Too much kills quickly; too little kills slowly. The symptoms are the same. We grow epiphytic-type orchids. This type includes cattleyas and their relatives, dendrobiums, phalaenopsis, oncidiums, and vandas. Simply explained, these orchids grow on the sides of trees where they receive rain and then dry out. Therefore, it is best to allow these orchids to dry between waterings. This also induces a better root system and healthier orchids. The center of the pot holds moisture longer than the sides and top of the container. Picking up the pot gives a "feel" for moisture content. A very light pot is dry. A very heavy pot is wet. Err on the side of dry.

Air Circulation: Required! Fans help. Not crowding your orchids also helps. Properly spacing your orchids will also deter the spread of diseases and insects.

Humidity: This is a challenge inside or outside. We have seasons in Florida. You laugh! We have hot and very dry which can cause orchids to shrivel and sunburn. We have hot and very wet when orchids are more susceptible to rot. We have "cold" and very dry which may cause buds to drop. Finally during our fourth season, we have "cold" and very wet, which can contribute to fungus and flower spots. Interspersed we have perfect days when we enjoy the blooms! The important thing is to be aware of these fluctuations in the humidity and compensate for any potential problems.

Potting Mediums: Bark; bark with additives such as perlite and charcoal; peat mixes, especially for phals; sphagnum moss; treefern; osmunda; slabs and mounts of wood or cork; coconut parts; old tires (believe it or not); wood or plastic slatted baskets with no medium; charcoal in baskets; lava rock; aliflor. We even met a grower who used corks from wine bottles in his baskets! He had a lot of baskets. Voluntarily, he told us that his friends saved corks for him. Whatever. All of these mediums have been used successfully to grow orchids. What you use depends on what is available to you and your watering habits. It is always easier if you use the same or similar medium throughout your orchid collection. Our basic potting mix is bark with sponge rock. When we use inorganic mediums such as lava rock or aliflor, we sprinkle some type of peat mix or sphagnum moss on the top of the pot to hold the moisture and nutrients long enough to be absorbed by the roots. This allows us to water all of our orchids on the same schedule.

Fertilizer: Fertilizer is food, and orchids must eat, too! We use Nutricote Total 13-13-13, with minors, 180 day formula. It is sold at Home Depot as Dynamite in the red tube. This is an awesome timed-release fertilizer. We "top dress" (apply on top of the potting medium) as we pot each orchid. For a 6 inch pot, we use one teaspoon. Smaller pots receive less; larger pots receive more. Each time the orchid is watered, it receives a small amount of balanced nutrition. With less frequent watering inside or during winter months when your orchids are growing slowly, your orchid receives less fertilizer. With more frequent watering during the summer when your orchid is growing rapidly, your orchid receives more fertilizer. If you've never used Dynamite, experiment with it now. The doses we use are low because we supplement with other liquid fertilizers. Try the lower doses on one or two of your orchids and continue to fertilize as normal.

Temperature: Remember the children's story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Goldilocks wanted her porridge not too hot and not too cold, but just right. That's the temperature that orchids prefer. Our orchids grow best between 50 to 90 degrees F. That's the theory. However, with heater failure, greenhouses may drop into the mid 30's. And during one hot, dry summer, a temperature of 115 degrees F. was a daily high for several weeks. But our orchids survived! They definitely took a time out, but, in a couple of weeks, new growth continued. Just pay attention, do your best, and try to compensate for any temperature stress. Orchids are tough!

Light: There are two "laws" in growing orchids. Fender's first law is if an orchid died, you overwatered. Fender's second law is that if an orchid doesn't bloom, it's not receiving enough light. During the summer, with longer, hotter, brighter days, we increase water and fertilizer. All of these work together. When an orchid is in active growth putting on new roots and new growth, this is the time to increase our efforts to produce the strongest, most vigorous orchid we can. A surprise to many people is that orchids do not bloom just for us to enjoy. They don't even know our names! They bloom to reproduce. Generally we try to provide our orchids with as much light as they can tolerate, keeping the temperature, humidity, and nutrition under consideration.

These are some of the basic variables in orchid growing. The choices and combinations are infinite, but it's just not as difficult as it may seem because orchids are very tolerant. You purchase orchids that you like and hope that you can learn how to grow and bloom them. Where you live and where you grow your orchids will narrow the choices. You select a potting medium and container that is available to you and that works with your watering habits. If you are a therapeutic waterer (you feel better when you water but the orchid drowns), use a porous mix!

One grower summarized orchid growing for me. I have used his method and recommend it to you. It is the K.I.S.S. formula, Keep It Simple Stupid. Please don't take offense, I didn't.

Relax, have fun, and KISS.