Orchid Phalaenopsis is a beautiful flower intended for indoor cultivation. The plant originates from Asian countries - Southern China, Indonesia, the Philippines, as well as from northeast Australia.
Orchid: Care
Phalaenopsis is a photophilous plant, but it does not tolerate direct sunlight. It is best to put a flower pot on the east or west window. In winter, you can place it on the south window, and in summer it should be moved to a cooler place. Phalaenopsis develops well under a fluorescent lamp, which should give light for 12 hours daily. Plant life requires warm, moist air. It is optimal to contain orchids at a temperature of + 20–25 degrees. With a prolonged decrease in temperature to +15 degrees, sudden flowering may occur. When a peduncle appears in young, weak plants, the buds should be cut off.
Favorable temperature conditions, proper care of the Phalaenopsis orchid reduce the likelihood of plant damage by bacteria and fungi. The second important condition for the maintenance of phalaenopsis is high humidity. To do this, next to the plant, you can put an aquarium with water or use artificial hydration using a special device.
Orchid Phalaenopsis: care and planting
Most plants of this species are epiphytes that grow naturally in trees. Therefore, planting should be done in a special substrate, and not in ordinary soil. Mix for orchids can be bought ready-made or made independently. To do this, take pine bark, boil it well and dry it. After a few days, it must be boiled again - this is done to destroy harmful insects. The resulting material should be cut into small pieces and mixed with crushed sphagnum (moss). After that, the substrate is ready for use.
It is necessary to plant an orchid in plastic or clay boxes or pots, transparent or white, with holes in the bottom. Such pots will not heat up and there will be ventilation in them. At the bottom should be placed drainage, for which take small pieces of polystyrene foam (up to 1 cm). Then the substrate is laid at 75% and the plant is placed. This should be done very carefully so as not to damage the roots - do not crush them. After installing the orchid, the remaining substrate is added to the pot. The plant needs a transplant no more than once every three years.
Orchid Phalaenopsis: care and watering
It is necessary to moisten the substrate in the summer every two days, and in the winter not more often than once a week. It is necessary to ensure that in the intervals between waterings, it completely dries out. Water the flower with warm, settled water. For irrigation take distilled or boiled water, since hard water forms salt, which leaves a whitish coating on the leaves. During flowering, spraying is carried out so that the liquid does not fall on the buds. Plant nutrition during growth is carried out twice a month at the same time as watering. To do this, use special fertilizers that are designed for orchids.
Orchid Phalaenopsis: care and flowering
To increase the splendor of flowering, pruning of the peduncle should be performed above the upper sleeping bud in the middle of the plant. This will cause a new flower panicle to appear. In the Phalaenopsis orchid, the panicle is cut only after it dries.
Orchid Phalaenopsis: care and reproduction
Plant breeding is done by dividing the bush, stem cuttings, apical shoots forming the roots. With proper care, after a couple of years, even from a small shoot you can get a full-fledged plant, ready for independent flowering, which can form processes.