Orchid - a plant exotic and very whimsical. Have you decided to decorate your house with these exquisite flowers? Be prepared for the fact that you will have to work a lot: an orchid loves care and attention.
How to care for an orchid in a pot
For growing orchids you need to stock up pots and boxes, on the walls of which to make punctures. In the pots we pour drainage, expanded clay and bark, the pine is the best. The next layer is the earth. Orchids are best watered with clean filtered or distilled water. Do not forget from time to time to feed orchids with fertilizers at least once a month. To do this, mix 1 g of fertilizer with 1 liter of water.
How to care for an orchid: temperature
Orchids are rather whimsical flowers. They do not like heat and cold. In addition, very afraid of strong temperature changes. Optimum for an orchid day temperature + 20-24 degrees, night - 15-18 degrees Celsius. It is desirable that the temperature difference day and night does not exceed 4 degrees. At high temperatures orchids can be covered with a large number of leaves, but in the heat they do not bloom well. Therefore, if the apartment is very warm, most likely, orchids will rarely bloom, but it will grow well. It would be nice to ventilate the room as often as possible in which the orchid is located. And it's best to leave the windows open if the temperature does not exceed 16 degrees.
How to care for an orchid: humidity
Orchids grow well in conventional apartments, but during the heating season and in the heat humidity should be increased. To do this, you can use an air humidifier or a saucer with water. You can put pots with orchids on a pallet with expanded clay, which must be constantly moistened. Pay attention! Spraying orchids is not recommended.
How to care for an orchid: lighting
The presence of a large amount of light is the main necessity for the growth of an orchid. At the same time, orchids are very afraid of direct sunlight. In the summer it is recommended to choose for the orchid windows of the eastern and south-eastern orientation. Here, direct sunlight is only in the morning. But in winter it's better to rearrange the orchid to the west or south-west window. In any case, the orchid must be protected from direct sunlight by a curtain. If there is not enough light in your room for an orchid, and also in winter, an orchid should be brightened with special phyto-lamps or lamps for an aquarium.
How to care for an orchid: transplant
Orchids should not be transplanted without unnecessary need. It is enough to change the substrate for a flower once every 2-3 years. From frequent watering, the substrate in which the orchid grows may lose air permeability. It is best to transplant an orchid when it begins to grow actively. You can not replant the orchids that are preparing for flowering.
It is interesting!
Orchid grows on all continents, except for Antarctica.
It turns out that food vanilla is an extract of vanilla - one of the species of orchids.
In the world there are more than 35 thousand species of orchids. But breeders continue to breed new species.
