Orchid’s are a lot easier to maintain than you might think and make a great first houseplant. What’s not to love with their elegant stems and beautiful long lasting blooms! If you want to learn proper orchid care and maintenance, continue reading further for more steps and tips to help you succeed!
What Is An Orchid?
Orchids are apart of one of the largest body of flowering plants, with roughly over 30,000 different kinds! As a plant lover this is music to my ears. With their anatomy being slightly different than typical flowers, it really causes these flowers to stand out from the rest. I recommend reading this article for a deeper dive into the different characteristics if you are curious.
These beautiful plants grow in a variety of different climates, lending them to be fairly tough and adaptable. This is a prime example of why they make wonderful houseplants as they are very low maintenance! And under proper care, these babies can bloom year after year.
How To Maintain An Orchid Indoors?
I like to break orchid care down into three parts:
- Soil
- Water
- Pruning
To break it down even further…
What type of soil are you using?
- Orchids need to have very loose draining soil to be happy. You can usually find several mixes of special orchid soil which are made up of cork nuggets, lava rocks, perlite etc. The main goal is to use a soil that has plenty of aeration and drainage.
How often are you watering?
- There are several different methods you may hear of on how to properly water your orchids. One method is taking an ice cube and placing it on top of your orchids soil once a week.
- The method I like to use is to fully submerge my orchids pot into a bowl full of water and a tiny bit of orchid food. I do this every two weeks and have it sit in the bowl for approximately 20 minutes to get a deep soak.
- If you do the soak method I recommend you have your orchid potted in a breathable and porous container such as terracotta. This allows oxygen to flow in and out and absorbs water more thoroughly into the container.
- Another note is to be careful not to water in the center (crown) of your orchid. It is thought this helps to prevent any rotting from occurring.
- Additionally, try to wipe down your orchid leaves after watering to keep them clean. You’ll notice some water spots in the picture below.
- If you do the soak method I recommend you have your orchid potted in a breathable and porous container such as terracotta. This allows oxygen to flow in and out and absorbs water more thoroughly into the container.
- Lastly, only water when dry! Typically you will be only watering once week-every two weeks.
When and how should you prune?
- The best time to prune your orchid is after it has finished blooming and the flowers have fallen off the stem. I also like to wait until the stem begins to turn yellow as this means the plant is no longer drawing energy from the stem.
- Prune just below the last spent bloom / right above a node. This helps to direct energy into growing a new stem and creating new flowers!
Orchid Care Supplies
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a small commission if you purchase through my link. This is at no extra cost to you and helps me to keep my garden going, so thank you!!!
If you get all three of these components down, your orchid will be very happy! For a list of other easy houseplants to maintain, check out my other post here!
Cheers!
-Kate