8 Tips to Make Your Orchid Bloom Every Year
With its dazzling flowers, the orchid is undeniably a popular plant that cheerfully adorns our terraces and balconies. Cool and elegant, it brings a truly lush and tropical character to your interior. You are so attached to it that the thought of its petals wilting makes you tremble. Indeed, its flowering doesn’t happen naturally; all the right conditions must be provided for it to be abundant. How can you help your orchids bloom better and protect their beautiful flowers? Here are 8 tips to follow diligently.
Enhance Your Orchid’s Flowering
An orchid is undoubtedly the perfect indoor plant to add freshness and elegance to your home. It often steals the spotlight from other indoor plants, and for good reason – its striking flowers can appear up to three times a year in various colors, ranging from white and pale pink to yellow, cyclamen, and purple. Some petals are even speckled or blend different shades. If you have one at home, consider yourself lucky. However, to make the most of it, you must understand its needs for optimal conditions to bloom.
First and foremost, you must know the origin of your plant and the climate it comes from to better understand the type of care it requires in terms of light, humidity, and temperature. Several factors must be considered to ensure your orchids bloom sustainably.
Check Your Orchid’s Health
Do you notice with regret that the leaves are starting to wrinkle? This is a sign that your orchid is suffering and needs more attention to stand tall again. Perhaps you’ve been too busy lately and neglected it a bit. Common causes of wrinkled leaves are either a lack or excess of water, sudden diseases, or low humidity. A proper assessment of its growth should help you identify the source of its distress and find a remedy.
Ensure It Receives Sufficient Light
Light plays a crucial role in your orchid’s growth. Is it getting enough light, or is it perhaps excessively exposed to the sun and suffering from it? Again, you must absolutely know its light requirements to avoid any mistakes. Provide the right amount of brightness according to its species, or else it will inevitably become sick if it doesn’t receive enough light or, conversely, is exposed for too many hours.
Provide Adequate Nutrition
Dreaming of abundant flowering? Well, there’s no secret – you must also consider its nutritional intake. Provide the correct fertilizer that can meet all its needs. Keep in mind that the amount varies depending on the time of year. In this regard, we strongly recommend maintaining the fertilization program until the end of your orchid’s flowering.
Keep Your Orchids Moist and Well Hydrated
A lack of humidity is enough to make your orchid look gloomy! Yes, humidity plays a significant role. So make sure it receives good ambient humidity to bloom in excellent conditions. A little tip: use a hydrating foliar fertilizer to better nourish the leaves and stimulate flowering.
Repot It
Oh, your orchid hasn’t bloomed in a long time, but that’s normal – look how suffocated it is in that small, narrow pot! Your plant needs more space to grow and bloom. So try moving it to a larger pot to feel the difference. Often, transplanting the orchid to a new pot with fresh soil is an unstoppable solution.
Thermal Treatment
Did you know that some types of orchids require thermal treatment to stimulate flowering? Yours might be one of them. In that case, the ideal method is to place them in a plastic bag with a ripe banana and seal it tightly. Leave them like that for a few days to create a warm and humid environment that will greatly favor flowering.
Root Stimulation
Ah, yes, some experienced gardeners also recommend gently scraping the roots of orchids with a sharp knife to stimulate growth and flowering. You should follow this wise advice!
Trim Leaf Tips
Finally, if you notice that the leaves are growing en masse and even seem to be suffocating the plant, don’t hesitate to gently trim the leaf tips to release the pressure and allow the orchid to flower properly.
