By carefully looking at the orchid, you will immediately realize that taking care of such a beauty is not an easy task, but it pays off handsomely. It has everything you can wish for: fragility, extravagance, defenselessness. And flower growers with pleasure indulge a capricious plant, trying to deserve its flowering.
Orchid is a rare and quite expensive flower, so the question "how to propagate an orchid at home" is quite relevant.
Propagation of orchids can be carried out by vegetative methods (layering, plant division, cuttings) and sexual (by seeds). For home breeding, only vegetative options are suitable.
Propagation of orchids at home by vegetative methods.
Vegetative propagation of orchids at home is carried out in one of the following four ways:
By dividing a large plant. This is best done in early spring. The plant is taken out of the pot and the roots are freed from the soil. With a sharp knife disinfected, the rhizome is cut in such a way that each of the parts obtained includes at least three fully developed false bulbs. The cut sites are sprinkled with crushed charcoal, which should protect the roots from infections. New plants are planted in prepared pots in advance.
Propagation by apical cuttings. This method is suitable for fast-growing orchid species (vanda). The shoot is cut at half level with a clean knife and the resulting stalk is placed in a new pot. After a while, the stalk takes root, then develops into a full-fledged plant and begins to bloom.
Laying a long stem into a new pot. A long stem of orchids is taken into a pot filled with a substrate, and fixed. After some time, the layering is rooted and cut off from the mother plant.
The easiest way to reproduce orchids at home is by separating the lateral shoots (children). The shoots are left on the mother plant until they grow up and form their own roots. The ripened shoots of the children are cut with a disinfected knife and transplanted into a separate pot. The slice is sprinkled with charcoal powder. True, this method is suitable only for those varieties that form such lateral shoots (phalaenopsis, dendrobium).
Propagation of orchids by seeds.
It is quite difficult to grow an orchid from seeds. This is explained by the fact that the seeds of these plants, unlike most of the "normal" seeds of other plants, do not have a supply of nutrients. Light as dust, they can germinate only if they are placed in a special nutrient medium.
And since not only orchids, but also numerous bacteria dangerous for plants easily develop in such an environment, new generations have to be grown under sterile conditions. If we add to this a rather long period of plant development, it becomes clear why the propagation of orchids at home is best done using vegetative methods.
In order for orchids obtained as a result of reproduction to develop normally and reach the age of flowering, they need to create conditions corresponding to their type. Briefly, they can be described as follows:
Temperature condition. Of course, the conditions of detention depend on the species (and there are thousands of them), but the general rules are as follows: the daytime temperature should be 2-3 degrees higher than the nighttime. Daytime summer temperature is about 20 degrees, winter - about 17.
Lighting. Orchid loves bright diffused lighting, but does not tolerate direct sunlight. For normal development, she needs 10-15 hours of light per day. In winter, the lack of light is filled with artificial lighting.
Watering. Orchids are watered with soft, warm water. The soil should always be moist. Some species (miltonia, cattlea) require drying of the earthen mixture between waterings.
Air humidity. They need moist and fresh air. Regular spraying is required, in the summer plentiful, in the winter moderate. Drafts, especially cold ones, are harmful to orchids.
Orchid transplantation at home is carried out when, due to the tightness of the pot, orchid growth is suspended.
The above rules for growing orchids are not so complicated and are suitable for most types of orchids living at home. But, when you start an exotic beauty at home, ask if she (her kind) has any particular passions, and if there are any, hurry to fulfill them.