The difficulty of raising orchids on the balcony is indeed much greater than in the natural outdoor environment. Even the best common spring orchid and cymbidium often encounter various problems when raised on the balcony. So, what are you most afraid of when growing orchids on the balcony?
The purpose of orchid care is nothing more than two: leaf viewing and flower viewing. Many orchid lovers have carefully maintained their orchids and learned how to prevent orchid root rot and seedling rot, as well as how to manage insect pests. The orchid seedlings are indeed in good condition, but why can't they produce buds and bloom normally and smoothly?
There are also some spring orchids and cymbidiums raised by orchid friends. After correct fertilization and water control, the orchids will soon produce buds. However, these flower buds will wither and even bloom out of season (abnormal flowers blooming out of season) before long. What is the reason for this? How can we make the buds of orchids grow normally (including stopping growth when dormant) so that they can bloom normally?
In fact, the biggest fear of balcony orchids is not rotten roots or seedlings. As mentioned in previous articles and videos, as long as the plant material has good permeability, orchids rarely have root rot. Rotting has a lot to do with the environment. If the environment is well ventilated and drugs are used for prevention and treatment in a timely manner, the phenomenon of rotting can also be controlled.
The problem now is, if the orchid seedlings are in good condition, why can't they successfully germinate and bloom smoothly? This is also the key problem with growing orchids on the balcony. The biggest fear is that you don’t know the reason and therefore miss out year after year.
In the previous article, it was mentioned in detail that balcony orchids need timely water control in summer to promote the germination of flower buds. There are three factors related to the germination of flower buds:
1. Apply more phosphorus and potassium, and stop or reduce the application of nitrogen.
2. Control water in a timely manner (some orchid friends also call it water deduction).
3. Increase the temperature difference between day and night and use the temperature difference to conceive buds.
In the past two days, many Lan friends who have read that article have left me messages (due to personal time allocation, some messages have not been replied, so I will answer them all here). Why does the flower bud gestation period for natural spring orchids and cymbidium orchids occur in late July and mid-August, but when growing orchids on the balcony, the water control (flower bud promotion) period must be delayed by one month?
If you have observed carefully, you will understand that every year from late July to late August (during the period from Great Heat to and ), it is the hottest season of the year, and it is also the season with the smallest temperature difference. Due to the environment in which natural orchids are located, the valley wind, tree shade, and fog can play a regulating role, so even at that time, the temperature difference between day and night in the environment is not too small.
But this is not the case on the family balcony. For example, if we control water for orchids in mid-to-late July, the flower buds may be exposed by late August. When flower buds encounter a high temperature environment with a low temperature difference, they will most likely wither. I have encountered many such examples myself. At that time, flower buds generally had two trends: blooming quickly and withering quickly.
The water control period was postponed by one month, taking advantage of natural climate changes. It was late September when the flower buds came out. Although it was still a little hot during the day, the nights were very cool, and the temperature difference between day and night was much larger than in summer. Orchids in large temperature differences can accumulate more nutrients, especially cymbidiums. Only in such an environment can buds be successfully conceived and grow into strong buds.
Of course, there is another reason for delaying the water control period, which is to give the new seedlings that sprouted that year more room to grow. Orchid seedlings like water very much during the peak growth season. Once the water is controlled, it will inevitably affect the growth of new seedlings. The larger the new seedlings grow in that year, the more energy they can absorb and produce, which is also very beneficial for the flower buds to survive the winter.
Combining these factors, plus the data obtained from communicating with orchid friends, most Chunlan and Cymbidium orchids that do not have normal pregnancy buds on the balcony basically control water too early. Last year, several orchid friends postponed the water control period for about a month, and the orchids they had raised that had not bloomed for several years began to bloom normally again.
Lan friends can use it as a reference, and it is not recommended to completely imitate it. It is not easy to be original. Plagiarism is not allowed. If you like it, please click and follow it!
