The orchid is a flower of extraordinary beauty and much appreciated among gardening and floriculture enthusiasts, and there are many contests to see which one has been cultivated best and which is the prettiest, to reward new varieties and associations and clubs. Of exclusive orchid growers.
The orchid has the characteristic, which makes it very popular, that it forms a very extensive botanical family, with more than thirty thousand differentiated species, and more than 60,000 crosses between one and another of these species, a figure that increases from year to year. Year.
The orchid is the flower of a plant that grows mainly in tropical lands where it usually rains a lot and with warm temperatures. It grows at altitudes between 800 and 2000 meters. But orchids are actually grown all over the world, including in the Arctic Circle. They are also grown in cooler areas, such as Europe, including Spain, but are less showy than South American, Asian or Australian orchids.
The orchid is a delicate cultivation plant and needs a lot of attention so that it grows and remains alive in our garden. Of course, the reward is magnificent, because the beauty of these flowers is captivating. We give you various information so that you know how to care for an orchid successfully.
Three families of orchids
Orchids have been organized into three families, based on the description of the roots of the plant: the terrestrial ones, which take root in the ground, the epiphytes, which are the most numerous, whose roots grow in the branches of the trees and various plants, and lithophytes, which tend to take root in stones.
The epiphytes, which develop in the trees, are not parasites of these nor do they feed on them, but rather they feed on rainwater and the nutrients that it drags.
The vanilla orchid
The well-deserved fame of orchids is due to their beauty and variety of drawings and colors full of harmony, but what is not so well known is that vanilla is an orchid, vanilla plan folia. Its fruit is the dark pod that we can buy to use as a flavoring in cosmetics or in gastronomy, such as cakes and ice creams, or even in meats, such as Juan Mari Anzac’s famous recipe for veal cheeks with vanilla sauce. It gets its name from the Spanish conquerors that went to present-day Mexico, and they called it that because it resembled a small sword scabbard.
Another traditional use of vanilla in different countries has been to make healing products. For example, in Turkey they prepare a drink with the starch of the root tuber of two species of orchid called sale. This drink has properties of prevention and relief of health problems such as colds, diarrhea, lack of appetite, and even aphrodisiac qualities are attributed to it.
In cosmetics
The orchid is also widely used in beauty and cosmetic treatments. Generally, a couple of species are used, such as the blue or the cymbidium, for their great properties of protection and repair of the skin, reduction of wrinkles, reduction of free radicals and for their richness in vitamins and minerals.
The Hispanic Orchid
In the Iberian Peninsula there are about eighty species of country orchids, although it is not very well known because they do not have the beauty, size or attractiveness of American or Asian orchids, which can be found in nurseries and flower shops. This means that they are not cultivated or marketed, so they can only be seen in the natural environment.
Know your orchid
If you have just entered the wide universe of orchid cultivation, the first thing you should address is to know its variety, to be able to plant it in your garden with a minimum probability that it will come out ahead and give those wonderful flowers that so fascinate the great majority. Most people. Each orchid is a world and may need very different care than other orchid species. If you have received it as a gift, a Cambria is not the same as a vandal or an indicium. To find out which orchid you have, just asks the nursery clerk or they may have a label with the pot so you can focus on what your particular orchid needs.
Location and conditions
Once we know what species of orchid you have and its main characteristics, you have to think about where you are going to have the plant, if it is going to be in a garden or on a patio, inside your house, on a terrace…
You must bear in mind that the orchid needs abundant light, but filtered, so that if you have it inside the house, place it near the windows or balconies, but that it receives the light through a curtain or net curtain and does not give it the direct sunlight, and if it is in the garden, in a place that gives it a light shade.
It also needs good aeration, because this flower does not tolerate environments full of vapors, such as in the kitchen, or smoke such as tobacco or others, or pollution. But it must give it air without currents hitting it fully, because it spoils them and the leaves will fall off, although some species, such as the vandal, are not so delicate in this regard.
As for the temperature, it should not be in an environment that is too dry, and therefore it does not resist wellbeing in an environment that is too hot, such as a heated room, as is normal in winter, where there could be very hot spots where the unit should not be placed. Orchid. The temperature should never exceed 30 degrees -if it is very humid- or drop below 10 degrees Celsius, which already warns us that in the summer we must be extremely careful about where to have an orchid. In reality, the optimal temperature will be between 14 and 24 degrees.
And on the other hand, as tropical plants, these flowers need a lot of humidity, of the order of 35-40 percent, something high for human comfort. One way to provide them with moisture is to place them near other plants, or place them in places with a higher level of humidity, such as a bathroom or a laundry room, which have enough light. It is also advisable to place a plate with a little water on gravel or clay fragments at the base of the pot, without touching the roots, so that it receives moisture.
The orchid needs to be in a place that imitates as much as possible its natural conditions in the tropics, so that it does not wither and die, and once placed in a spot where the plant resists well, flourishes and looks healthy, leave it there and not change its place for decorative or functional reasons or on a whim.
Irrigation
Given that orchids are flowers whose roots are in many cases in the air and are held inside a basket or rope bag or similar hanging from the wall, the best form of irrigation is by immersing those roots in a container with water, although it could be replaced by irrigation with a shower.
We must take advantage of this type of irrigation and humidity supply to dissolve in the water the nutrients that we must provide to the plant, such as the different fertilizers. We must make sure that the flower that we submerge is healthy, because if it is not, it could transmit the disease that it suffers to other plants through that aquatic environment.
Ordinary tap water should not be used, because it is either too hard for these plants or has too many minerals. It is preferable to use bottled or filtered mineral water with a system such as reverse osmosis so that the orchid resists and lasts.
Another very important issue is that the roots or the gravel or stone substrate used should not be flooded, because that excess moisture is the cause of different diseases such as fungi and bacteria and it would rot. The irrigations must be spaced out, monitoring the state of the plant, so that the roots are dry but with a very slight humidity. If the roots have a white color, they lack water, but they will have the necessary moisture if they have an intense green color. Obviously, in summer the irrigations or immersions will be frequent and in winter there will be more time between them.
You can also give the orchid moisture by sprinkling water, especially in times of heat and low humidity in the air, when you have to be careful to provide the plant with enough water, remembering once again that without puddles.
The fertilizer
Orchids need to be paid regularly, with specific products for them, avoiding excess. The most frequent time to fertilize them, every ten days, is immediately before the flowers appear which occurs in most species at the beginning of spring. When flowering is underway, then it will be fertilized every twenty days, to extend the time between each fertilizer in autumn and winter, which is its rest stage, doing it every month or even stop fertilizing the plant.
Among the subscribers, with the irrigation water, it is good to carry out some irrigation without fertilizer so that an excess of nutrients is not produced that would cause the tips of the leaves to turn yellow.
Pest control
It is necessary to control possible insect pests in the spring season through the use of a natural insecticide such as neon extract.
