I love orchids for the beauty they add to my home. The delicate shapes and colors are exquisite. Over the last few years I would visit a local orchid grower and find the most beautiful specimens only to be left with a few green leaves after the beautiful blooms had faded away.
The leaves and roots were still growing but after a year or more of following the growers instructions still no new flowers! I was getting tired of constantly caring and watering with no reward in sight. I had a couple of these dormant orchid plants and decided to start experimenting with different ideas I found online or through speaking to other people. After trying different things I found the quickest way to get my orchids motivated again… hey we all need a little push sometimes right??
You will still need a good dose of patience since the process of growth can be slow but totally worth the wait.
What I’ve learned is that orchids need a good temperature drop at night to signal the orchid to start producing again. This was a key factor for me to figure out and things started progressing right away.
Find a room in your house that gets chilly at night. For me it was my master bath. The way the heating system is balanced this room just doesn’t warm up as much as the rest of the house. I placed the plant on the bathtub surround near a window with indirect light. you don’t want too much direct light as the leaves will burn.
I kept a watering schedule of just once a week because if you over water you can kill the plant or cause root rot. Also remember to not let water sit in the crown of the leaves. just dab with a paper towel to absorb any excess water. Also make sure your container has very good drainage. Usually inside your decorative pot there will be a plastic container that actually hold the plant. This is the part you remove and water, let drain well and then replace in the decorative pot. if you don’t have this combination I would consider repotting.
The next step was adding a spray style feed/fertilizer. I always mixed the powder kind and quite honestly no results. The spray is so much easier and effective. Just spray the leaves and roots along with planting media when watering. Just remember once you have blooms you can stop the fertilizer. It’s worth every penny and this one bottle will last a long time. The one I used can be found here.
Early Spike StageAfter I started doing all of these things I finally saw a flower spike starting to grow. Very exciting moment! Things just kept on developing from there and now my plant has buds and is close to flowering.
The progress pictures show different stages of growth up until now. Just to give an idea on the timeline the first signs of growth began in April and the last photo with the unopened flower buds was taken beginning of June. It’s mid June and the blooms have begun to open.
If there’s any questions you might have I will do my best to share whatever I know. if you try these steps please let us know how it goes! I also found a lot of great orchid supplies including pots & planting media here.
