subject: Pruning Your Orchids: A Double-Edged Controversial Job! [print this page] First of all, there's that big "when." First of all, there's that big "when."
The best time to for pruning orchids (in general) is usually in October or November. That's when most orchids have finished blooming. If you're lucky enough to own an orchid that blooms a few times over the course of the year, you may have to make your own decision as to the best time of year to prune but, ideally, it's after blooming.
Keep in mind that all orchids need a mini-pruning as they bloom.
As each flower dies, it should be cut off with a sharp, sterile knife or scissors. When cutting an orchid for any reason, always use sharp, sterile tools to minimize the chances of passing diseases or pests around among them when caring for orchids.
Also note: sometimes, after you've removed one or several dead blooms, a new bloom will take its place.
Tool Tips: Two easy and reliable ways to sterilize your tools is to hold them under a flame or wipe them with alcohol. A handy sterilizing tool to keep in your gardening toolbox is a crme brulee torch one of those little torches chefs use to caramelize crme brulee. It does a great job of sterilizing all your gardening tools.
Is it really time to cut?
As mentioned earlier you generally will want to prune your orchids around October or November, if your orchids bloom just once a year and are finished blooming.
This is also when the controversy begins: to prune or not to prune? That, dear Hamlet is really the question!
Some experienced growers say, "Cut" when the flower stalk has dried up and the orchid has yellow leaves or the stalk has turned brown. Others say "Cut" when it's still green!
Each has supplied their own rationale:
School of thought A: Cut the flower stalk down when it's still green. This is because it's possible, if the flower stalk is cut down while it's still green, that the plant might produce a keiki.
"Keiki" is Hawaiian for baby and that's what your orchid might surprise you with a baby orchid plant that's a clone of the mother plant. When the keiki sprouts a few roots, the grower can snap or cut it off and pot it in growing medium.
School of thought B: No! Don't cut a flower stalk off while it's still green! If the orchid produces a keiki, the energy of the orchid will be sapped and the next blossoms will be smaller than the first blossoms. The orchid will not be as sturdy as it was prior to producing the keiki.
So, the question you need to ask yourself, and answer is: do you want a Keiki now and risk the possibility of smaller blossoms next year and a less robust orchid? Or are you going to say what the heck and cut the green stalk and hope for a new plantlet?
If you decide to cut the flower stalk while it's green, cut it right above a node, or a small bump on the stem. Leave about inch of stalk above the node.
Two important pruning hints
Never prune away leaves unless they're at the bottom of a mature plant and obviously dead. Orchids don't have many leaves and they need to keep the ones they have.
Also, don't prune dendrobiums. As important as orchid pruning is to other species, dendrobiums will not bloom if you cut off the flower stalk. Dendrobiums bloom on the same stalk year after year.
Don't forget to prune your "once a-year blooming" orchids this fall, unless you have a dendrobium. Then, please, do forget it!
Pruning Your Orchids: A Double-Edged Controversial Job!
