Orchid is a tropical plant with beautiful, fragrant flowers of various shades and shapes. In nature, there are a huge number of varieties of this flower. Many are suitable for growing at home. Read about some of them in the article.
Flower Overview
Orchids belong to the Orchid family, which number thirty thousand natural species and two hundred and fifty thousand hybrids. These are ancient plants, they appeared one hundred thirty million years ago. Translated from Greek, orchid means "testicle", obviously in the shape of a rhizome.
People know three and a half thousand species of the subfamily Orchidaceae. Among them there are tiny and many-meter specimens with different shades of flowers and leaves. But they are united by one feature - the same structure: three sepals and three petals. Each plant has a column with stamens and pestles. Orchids are classified by ten types of growth, gardeners are interested in two: monopodial and sympodial.
Orchids are sympodial
In plants of this species, the growth form is horizontal, like that of a vine, with several growth points. When the shoot reaches a certain size, the bud at the very top dies or forms a new inflorescence. The growth of this shoot in length stops, but a new one develops at the base. Subsequently, a lateral inflorescence is formed from a kidney located on it.
The stems of sympodial orchids are very thickened, due to which they turned into tubers, which are called bulbs, which have a different shape: round, elongated, spherical. Bulb tissue is filled with mucus. For a plant, they are reservoirs in which nutrients and water are stored, so orchids can withstand prolonged drought. Symphodic orchids breed in bulbs. Suitable for home floriculture: Cattleya, Lelia, Oncidium, Miltonia, Cymbidium, Dendrobium.
Monopodial orchids
These plants do not have bulbs, so water and nutrients are stored in fleshy leaves and succulent stems. Monopodial orchids of their Vietnam have one growth point and one stem, which grows endlessly. In nature, orchids are found that grow on a branch. During a strong wind, they are torn off, they are caught in a snag, and then they straighten again and grow evenly.
An example is the Wanda orchid. Differ from sympodial in the absence of pseudobulbs. The following orchids belong to this variety : Wanda, Phalaenopsis and others.
Orchid from Vietnam: home care
In order for the plant to please with luxurious and long flowering, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for it, and this is possible only with the organization of proper care.
- It is important to observe the lighting mode. The orchid needs light, but not direct sunlight, from them leaves can get burned. For a plant to develop normally, daylight hours should be twelve hours. During the winter period, additional lighting must be created for the flower. For reference: if the leaves are dark green in color - there is insufficient lighting, if they turn yellow - the lighting is in excess.
- For continuous flowering, it is necessary to constantly monitor the temperature difference between day and night, it should be approximately four to five degrees.
- Orchid care provides for proper watering. Growing in the wild, the flower absorbs the necessary moisture from the environment. Therefore, the moisture in the pot should not stagnate, but it is impossible to allow the substrate to dry out. The optimal watering in the summer is twice a week, in the winter - one. Use warm water, preferably rain or melt. Orchid prefers top watering.
- In the room where the flower is contained, the optimum humidity should be sixty to eighty degrees. If it is below the required mark, the plant is placed on a tray with trellises, into which water is poured.
- It is necessary to feed orchids from Vietnam. Cultivation is possible only with special fertilizers intended for this type of plant. Top dressing should be done twice a month during the flowering period. At the end of flowering and in winter, the plant does not need it.
Orchid Cymbidium: reproduction by division
This flower belongs to sympodial plants. Hybrid cymbidiums obtained by the selection method are very popular. Some of them reach seventy centimeters in height. Bloom in the winter for several months. Flowers are medium sized in pastel shades. Peduncles erect, strong. Only adult plants reproduce by division. Often this process occurs independently. Orchids from Vietnam grow strongly in the spring, they need to be transplanted. Plants are taken out of the pot and freed from the ground.
How to plant an orchid? First, the shoot is cut into pieces between the bulbs with a sanitized knife. Each shoot segment must have up to three pseudobulbs with roots and leaves. To prevent rotting of the roots, the places of cuts should be treated with crushed coal. Orchid bulbs from Vietnam should not be damaged when cut.
Each part of the plant is planted in a separate container. The Cymbidium orchid also propagates with old bulbs without leaves, which should be separated when transplanting the plant. There is a belief that Cymbidium has the ability to help people.
Orchid Dendrobium: propagation by cuttings
This type of flower belongs to monopodial plants. In this way, fast-growing orchids from Vietnam propagate, including Dendrobium. Reproduction is carried out only by young shoots.
They are cut with a disinfected knife over the leaves. The height of the cuttings is twenty centimeters. Slices are processed by coal. The cuttings are dried, for which they are placed in a place blown by the wind for exactly one day. Planting material is ready for use.
Orchids from Vietnam prefer a light substrate that needs to be watered in advance for swelling. To create increased humidity, it is better to place pots with plants in a mini-greenhouse. It is important to maintain a constant temperature in the room, twenty-five degrees. It takes four weeks to root the cuttings. If after this time new leaflets and roots appear, the cuttings are accepted.
Phalaenopsis orchid, breeding by children
On the peduncles of this plant, many lateral shoots are formed, children that can be used for reproduction. When an shoot forms on the orchid, the flower should be sprayed more often and wait for the emergence of new roots. During this time, the escape will grow, get stronger.
How to plant Phalaenopsis orchid? For this, the shoot is cut and planted in a new pot. The shoot compartment should be made with a disinfected knife, and the cut should be treated. New plants need high humidity and high temperature.
Note: sleeping buds are located on peduncles. For their awakening and the formation of lateral shoots (children), you can use a special paste, which is applied to the bud at the end of flowering plants. But first, the kidney should be cleaned of scales.