Orchids have many fans. Such love is caused not only by the delicate beauty of these tropical flowers, but also by the fact that many types of orchids bloom in the winter months, when everyone lacks positive emotions. The advantage of orchids is their long flowering, the flowers retain their original appearance for 5-8 weeks.
Many believe that it is extremely difficult to grow orchids at home, as these plants are very whimsical and capricious. In fact, this is not entirely true, just for the normal existence of orchids you need to create the right conditions.
For example, you should know that among orchids there are land plants, that is, those whose roots are in the soil, and epiphytes, that is, growing on trees. The latter species is more common among domestic orchids. For epiphytes, not a simple soil mixture is needed, but a special loose and water-permeable substrate, consisting of pieces of bark, moss and ground fern roots.
Novice gardeners often ask how to water orchids. Indeed, how well the irrigation is organized will determine how long the plant will delight its owner.
Often, having heard that tropical plants need high humidity, gardeners begin to water abundantly and often. Such zeal leads to the fact that the roots rot in the orchid, and this leads to the death of the plant. Therefore, reflecting on the question of how to water orchids, it is necessary to firmly understand that overflow for these flowers is more harmful than underfilling.
So, how to water an orchid? The basic rule is that watering should be done only if the substrate is already completely dry and the roots are dried. But follow the instructions that you need to water the plants every five or seven days, should not be. The fact is that this approach is fundamentally wrong. After all, how quickly the substrate dries in the pot is affected by many nuances. For example, air temperature in a room, humidity, pot size and other factors. Therefore, it is possible to answer exactly how to water orchids and how often this should be done, taking into account specific conditions.
Water for irrigation must be prepared, because in nature orchids feed on rainwater, and the liquid that flows from the tap in the city has a completely different composition.
Water for watering orchids should be soft or moderate hardness. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to analyze and accurately determine the hardness of tap water. But you can focus on such an indicator as an increase in the scale layer on the teapot. The faster the scaling forms on the walls of the dishes, the harder the water.
To soften hard water, you can use oxalic acid, you can purchase this substance in the form of powder in stores for gardeners. For ten liters of water you need to add a quarter of a teaspoon of oxalic acid. After this, the water must be set aside for a day, and then transfused, being careful not to agitate the sediment.
When deciding how to water orchids, some gardeners prefer to use distilled water. This is the wrong approach, because during the distillation process, water is deprived of the salts that are necessary for plant nutrition. Therefore, when using the distillate, it should be diluted in half with ordinary water after daily settling.
You can use water that has passed the filtration process. Modern filters purify water from the presence of heavy metals, bacteria and fungi. Water the orchids with water at room temperature, and even better, warm it to 35 degrees.
You can water orchids in many ways. The “hot shower” is considered to be the most optimal when the plants are placed in a basin and watered with prepared heated water using a shower head.
Another way is to immerse the plant pot in water. The immersion time is 30-40 seconds, then you need to get the plant and give time for water to drain. This method can only be used if the plant is absolutely healthy.
You can water it with a watering can, supplying water in a thin stream, avoiding moisture in the sinuses of the leaves. Using this method, watering should be done in the morning. For plants growing without a substrate, root spraying is used. In this case, watering is carried out through the spray gun, setting the regulator to the finest spraying.