3 Essential Tips For Successfully Growing Indoor Orchids

Indoor orchid growing is somewhat more challenging than growing other house plants. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Perhaps that’s the pleasure in the pursuit. Then there are the spectacular blooms that your orchids will provide you with if you do a good job of providing them what they need to be healthy, happy houseplants.

Here are some tips beyond water, light and potting that may help you be the best indoor orchid grower ever!

Tip # 1: Fertilize weakly weekly:

• What does THAT mean? It means to use a weak fertilizer solution, perhaps 25% of what you’d use for other houseplants, and use it once a week.
• Use orchid plant food that is 20% or less nitrogen.
• Always feed when orchids are growing. If they’re not growing, don’t fertilize.
• Orchids prefer too little fertilizer over too much fertilizer.

Tip # 2: Keep the orchid pests away:

Orchids can get pests, just like any other indoor plant.
• Aphids are tiny, green, yellow or black bugs that gather together to suck out plant juices. You can get rid of them by running your orchid under water (not really cold water). You can also spray the orchids with insecticidal soap.
• Mealy bugs: Look like little pieces of waxy cotton. Use the Q-tip and alcohol method or insecticidal soap.
• Thrips: Are about the size of an aphid but like to chew up leaves and flowers. Insecticidal soaps and oil sprays work on this little bug.
• Spider Mites: They look like tiny rust colored spots on the leaves of indoor orchids. Kill them with insecticidal soap.

Tip # 3: What to do about disease:

First you need to know what you’re looking for. Orchids get both viruses and funguses. Viruses are fairly unusual. You can pass viruses around by using tools that are not sterile or aphids can pass the viruses around (see Tip # 2).

• Always try to buy or swap healthy orchids.
• Always use sterile tools when cutting, repotting or propagating. Wear latex gloves.
• Repot one orchid at a time and then clean your work area and sterilize tools again. Don’t reuse papers you have spread on your workbench to keep the mess down.
• If you believe that your orchid has a virus, get rid of it before it spreads because it can’t be cured.

And then there are funguses. Funguses can be prevented by not watering too often so that roots do not rot. Arrange for air circulation around your indoor orchids using a fan or keeping the windows open.

• Root rot fungus: Orchid leaves will droop and become stunted. Leaves will yellow. To get rid of this fungus, cut off all of the rotten roots and infected areas. Sterilize your tool AFTER EVERY CUT. Repot in a new pot with new potting medium. Saturate the whole plant with a fungicide. Do that outside.
• Black Rot Fungus: Your indoor orchids can get this fungus is their roots are too wet or their growing medium is old and rotten. The leaves will have spongy, rotten areas. They’ll look brown at first and then turn black. Get rid of this fungus before it kills your plants. See the remedy for root rot fungus.

I hope that the information above will be a further help to you in your quest to grow indoor orchids that are happy and healthy!

By: Pigmans

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Paul Pigmans is publisher of www.OrchidsGrowingInfoGuide.com. On his website he provides information on indoor orchids, and other general information on growing orchids. You can also register for FREE Mini-Course on how to care for your orchids.