subject: Caring For Orchids [print this page] Orchid care is very rewardingOrchid care is very rewarding. It is difficult when you begin but once you have a little experience then you should be able to put what you have learned into practice. Once you get the orchid bug then trying to grow the perfect orchid will become a passion and a life long goal.
If you do not own your first orchid yet then the best place to purchase your first is the local garden center or a specialized store. The local garden center is great because you can go a long and chat with members of the garden center staff. People who work in garden centers are usually really friendly and helpful. If you do find a memeber of staff that you like remember their name for next time. Specialzed stores are great but I am pretty sure that you won't have one around the corner from you. Often they operate on the internet and offer a mail order service. Owners tend to have a lot of knowledge of orchid care so they are a good service to use.
Orchid care is more of an art than an exact science. You don't have to follow all the guidelines by the book but as a starting point do you best to follow them exactly. Then when you become more confident you can experiement a little.
Watering is one of the hardest elements of orchid care. The right volume of watering needed is hard to assess. Commonly there seems to be a bias to offer excessive amounts of light for your orchid, also it is normal for the orchid to be over watered. Orchids need a lot less water than orchid growers realize. You will need to water more during the summer than you are required to during the winter. You ought to use rainwater where workable as this is more desired than house water. Think about starting a rain harvesting arrangement into your garden in order that you will constantly hold an ample volume of rainwater. When you are not definite if your orchid flower needs watering it is typically hold back and hold your fire as orchids will continue through temporary dry periods.
Once you have masterd the watering then you need to think about the lighting and the temperature for your orchid. You want to find a spot that is quite warm, temperatures ranging from 50F to 60F, but is not in direct sunlight. The difficult part of orchid care is trying to balance these 2 areas. Make sure that you monitor the leaves because if they change color to a reddy color then the orchid is getting too much light. If that happens then try and find ways of creating shade.
