Indoor Orchids
- Amazing, exotic flowers
- Vast range of types
- Often easy on windowsills
- Many bloom in Winter
- Can flower for months
Local Advice for Local Gardeners
Nothing makes people think you have an astonishing green thumb faster than having orchids blooming in your house, yet many are easy to grow. With over 25,000 species and 200,000 hybrids, a vast range is available, and the trick is to choose ones that do well in your growing spots. The most popular orchids for the home are also the most reliable, thrive better on neglect rather than over-fussiness, are often fragrant, in bloom at least a month, and usually make great cut flowers.
Orchids like:
- Potting Mix - Usually happy in pots of medium orchid bark potting mix. Paphiopedilum and Cymbidium prefer a finer bark mix in deep pots
- Light - Most bloom in medium-bright light, so that their leaf color is bright green, not dark. Give Cymbidium and Oncidium higher light; lower light is preferable for Phalaenopsis and mottled-leaf Paphiopedilum
- Temperature - Most do well in intermediate house temperatures with nights at 55º F and days below 85º F. Ascocenda, mottled Paphiopedilum and Phalaenopsis prefer warmer nights of 65º F. Cymbidum need cool nights of 45º F.
- Watering - Orchids must be well-drained, never standing in water. When the potting mix feels dry 1/2” down, water so that it runs out the bottom. Raise the humidity by standing your plant on a tray of pebbles filled with water, with the pot above the water. Don’t mist flowers, to avoid brown spotting
- Fertilizer - Give a weak soluble orchid fertilizer (20:20:20 or 30:20:20) weekly
Where to grow plants
- East windows - Good low to medium light for Phalaenopsis and mottled leaf Paphiopedilum
- Southeast windows - Good medium light for most orchids (Cattleya types, green-leaved Paphiopedilum, Dendrobium, Zygopetalum)
- South windows - Good high light for Cymbidium
- West & Southwest windows - High light/high heat loving orchids are best here (Ascocenda, Oncidium)
- North windows - Too little light for most
- Cool sunrooms - Cymbidium are good here, summering outdoors
- Small, well-lit bathrooms - The fragrance of orchids such as Zygopetalum is best in an enclosed space
Getting orchids to rebloom
If your orchid doesn’t bloom, it’s probably not getting enough light. The leaves should be grassy green rather than dark green. If not, move your orchid to higher light. Your plant may also not be getting enough temperature difference between day and night - to trigger blooms, provide a 15-20º F drop at night, particularly in the Fall. Don’t just guess; buy a “Maximum/Minimum” thermometer to check the orchid’s spot.
Seasonal care
- After Bloom (Usually Spring) - Cut back the flower spike at the base, except for Phalaenopsis, which often reblooms from the old spike. After flowering, when the Phal spike tip is brown, cut the spike just above the second “notch” on the stem; it may send up another spike. If the spike tip is still green after blooming, leave it to develop more buds. Repotting time, into fresh mix.
- Summer - A summer outdoors out of direct sun is beneficial. Your plants will need more watering
- Fall - Give orchids a 15º F drop in temperature at night to trigger buds. Before bringing orchids back inside, wash off the plant, and put the pot in a bucket of water to float out bugs
- Winter - As buds develop, provide stake support. To prevent twisted flower orientation, do not move Phals as the buds form and develop. Once your orchid is flowering, move it into lower light for display
Terrain’s Top Ten Orchids
- Ascocenda
- Brassolaeliocattleya
- Miniature Cattleya types
- Miniature Cymbidium
- Dendrobium phalaenopsis
- Oncidium varicosum
- Mottled leaf Paphiopedilum
- Phalaenopsis
- Maclellanara
- Zygopetalum
A good tip: Join the American Orchid Society for more info! www.aos.org
Did you know… Orchids are not just tropical, for they grow everywhere on earth, and as far north as the Arctic Circle. There are even orchids for the garden – try Bletilla, whose tubers are often sold and grown like bulbs
Written by Graham Rice