For the first time the word “orchid” arose in my mind while reading detective novels, where detective Niro Wulf spent all his free time in his greenhouse. In the aloe-ficus era, it was not clear how one could spend money and time on such a pastime. Even now, when orchids have become the rightful owners of our window sills, something elusively aristocratic, romantic arises when you come across these flowers. Now it is not surprising that lovers of these flowers, the number of which is increasing, may seek to get a rare variety or other color of the plant. Fortunately, there are all conditions for this, because the orchid family is very numerous.
In nature, you can meet a growing orchid everywhere, with the exception of deserts and polar regions. In Russia there are representatives of such genera as venus slipper, lyubka, and orchis.
Venus slipper, named after the goddess of beauty, lives up to its name. Popular definitions apparently differ from the place of growth: cuckoo shoe, marie shoe, Mother of God boots, lady's shoes. Everything is connected with shoes for a reason, the flower cannot be confused with any other, since it really looks like a woman’s shoe.
The flower has several varieties. The largest orchid is the venus slipper large-flowered. Since it is difficult to meet these plants in the wild, flower markets offer artificially grown various hybrid varieties that are better suited for indoor breeding.
If you are lucky and you become the owner of such exotic, then you need to familiarize yourself with the agrotechnical methods of cultivation. Orchid venus slipper is a plant of temperate latitudes, so direct sunlight is fatal to it. East and western window sills, shelves with artificial lighting are the best places to grow these flowers.
Another important condition is the constant flow of fresh air to create drying conditions after irrigation.
Watering itself should be constant throughout the year, since the slipper venus, like other types of orchids, does not have a rest period. It is possible to ensure that the extract is moist, but not moist, by lowering the pot to the base of the stem in a container of water for 10-15 minutes. Some gardeners place a thin wooden stick at the desired depth of the substrate closer to the center of the pot, after a few days they look, if the stick is a little wet, it means you need to water it.
Air spraying around the plants is also required to maintain the required moisture level. Experts believe that high humidity is one of the most important conditions when growing orchids. When leaving, you can put the pot with the plant in a container, place moist expanded clay around.
In the spring-summer period, dressing is added to the care of plants by spraying the leaves. Avoid getting fertilizer solution on the flower.
Venus slipper is a plant with fragile roots, so a transplant is done once every 2 years after flowering. In this case, it is better to use plastic pots of a dark color. If there are no holes at the bottom or there are few of them, then you need to make, as well as provide for an additional few side holes to quickly drain excess water. Before landing at the bottom of the pot, drainage is surely filled up. Calcium is additionally added to the extract. Some orchid lovers add chalk. From above the pot can be covered with moss, after spraying it will maintain air humidity near the plant.
When creating the right conditions, it’s no harder to grow a slipper venereum than other types of orchids. The reward for work and care will be the flowering of a unique, airy beauty who will fill life with joy and beauty.