Some say you can; some say you can’t. All I know is that we do grow orchids in our living room.
Quietly defying all the people who said we could never grow them at home, we brought some budding plants back with us from Guatemala after getting permission from the proper authorities.
To the amazement of our skeptical friends and even our own, they began to thrive and flower.
Gradually, we slipped deeper and deeper into a world of pseudobulbs and back bulbs, osmunda fiber, and sphagnum, and always more and more orchids.
What we’re doing is anyone who wants to do it. Although many protest that orchids growing in the average home is impossible, I will tell you how we did it.
The Charm of Orchids: Colors, Shapes and Fragrance
But first, why grow orchids? What is the charm of this plant? Why is it considered exciting to raise?
One of our first discoveries was that orchid flowers last a long time. One year, a Cypripedium maudiae lasted six weeks.
Then we found that orchids come in every color, shape, and size, from huge cattleyas to tiny spray orchids with exquisite markings on the petals of some and designs in the hearts of others. What a range to choose from!
Furthermore, most orchids are fragrant. When bought from a florist, their perfume is often lost, but the scent of the homegrown kinds is another reason why there is joy in growing them. So much for the “why,” and now for the “how to.”
After asking questions, experimenting, and reading a book or two, we discovered this about growing orchids indoors, and this is a pleasure to share.
Growing Orchids Indoors
Heat and Humidity
With good ventilation and fresh air, orchids are a must-have. For ample light, they should be grown in a southern, eastern, or western window where direct sunlight can only hit them from mid-October to mid-February.
Most important of all is humidity. It is possible to grow some orchids lost in the house in trays full of water and pebbles. Certain sorts will thrive this way if they’re top-sprayed several times daily.
A more successful way is to enclose them in a glass case. One orchid plant will flourish under a bell jar. A few will settle happily in an aquarium with a glass top.
But any kind of glass case will do. One may be made of an old-fashioned bookcase or dish cupboard with glass doors. Substitute glass for the wooden back set it in a window, and there is a perfect or
Building an Orchidarium: Materials and Design
In making an orchidarium, provisions should be made for glass on all sides, adjustable vents on top and bottom, and a tray to fit inside the case with pebbles and water in it. These provisions result in plenty of light, circulation of warm air from the room, and humidity.
Our first case was made simply and placed against a southern window. Outside measurements were 38″ inches high by 22″ inches wide by 14″ inches deep. Construction was of this size simply because it happened to fit our window.
Although an orchidarium gets almost enough heat from the room, we devised a simple and inexpensive way of heating it and raising the humidity at the same time.
We turned a clay flower pot on its side, set it in the pebbled water tray, and ran a 100-watt bulb from the nearest electric outlet to the pot.
We placed the bulb inside the pot above water level and draped a crash washcloth over the pot, trailing its ends into the water. The cloth behaved like a wick, soaking up water continuously evaporating by the light bulb’s heat.
This method heated the case and increased its humidity by swirling the steam around the plants.
This orchidarium costs under 10 dollars. It held 12 plants, some in the tray raised above water level, some on shelves, some hanging. Our second, built two years later on the same principle, was larger. It holds 30 plants.
Orchids require the even rhythm of a temperature change every twenty-four hours. In their native habitat, nights cool off, and the air chills drastically.
Orchid Care: Temperature, Watering and Syringing
In winter, our orchidarium remains 65° to 70° degrees Fahrenheit by day. Following the house temperature at night, it drops to 50° degrees Fahrenheit or less.
On sunny summer days, the temperature may run to 80° or 90° degrees Fahrenheit, but we keep the vents into the house open, keep the humidity up (60° to 80° degrees Fahrenheit is a good average), and all’s well.
From March to October, it’s wise to place a curtain or a few layers of cheesecloth between the plants and the window lest the sun burn the foliage. If the climate demands it, place a layer of cellophane between the window and plants to temper the cold.
The pseudobulb, a green, banana-like object at the base of the leaves, is a very interesting and vital part of the orchid plant. In it, the food and moisture obtained from the air and water (the orchid’s sources of nourishment) are stored.
This fleshy plant part is a sort of gauge of the plant’s health and well-being. If wrinkled and dry, more moisture is needed.
If yellow, the plant needs more light or may get too much water. If it rots, much less water is the prescription. If you are fat and full and green, all is well. One soon learns to strike a happy medium.
Repotting Orchids: Signs and Techniques
The few minutes of daily care that orchids require is mostly a matter of watering. Those grown loose in the living room should be submerged, pot and all, in a pail of room-temperature water for half an hour a week.
The plant tops should be sprayed a few times a day. Two homemade humidifiers, the style I’ve described above, will keep six orchids hale and hearty if the light bulb is on most of the time.
Those grown in a case should get a thorough soaking once a week till water runs out the bottom of the pot.
Leaves should be syringed daily. The chemicals in most city reservoirs aren’t fatal to orchids, but neither are they beneficial.
We use rainwater collected from one of our house gutters. In winter, we use melted snow stored indoors till it is room temperature.
Orchids depend on top spraying and humidity for their general health because most kinds cannot take adequate amounts of water through their roots alone.
They absorb additional quantities through their leaves. In a sense, they have amphibious instincts. Their roots need air and moisture, and their tops want water and air.
Additional Tips For Thriving Orchids
Grow—pause—flower—rest is the annual growing cycle of the orchid. When the plant is growing actively, it needs more water. When its new growth is complete, the orchid must make a decision.
If the plant is kept warm and wet, it makes more fresh greenery. But if, at this point, it is given less water, its urge for reproduction is quickened, and the decision is made in favor of a flower spike.
When a new plant is bought, it is usually properly potted. It needn’t be disturbed for a year or longer.
Three ways to tell when an orchid needs repotting are when the osmunda fiber in which it is planted rots when the plant looks sick (perhaps due to inadequate drainage), and when it outgrows its pot.
Orchids have a cheery habit of sprawling new growth across the pot from one side to another. When it dangles new, pale green roots over the edge of the rim, it’s time to report it.
For a modest fee, orchid nurserymen will repot plants. There’s a special way of ramming fiber in with a stick until the pot is full and then ramming in still more.
Watching an expert do this once or twice is the best way to learn. At this time, the back pseudobulbs should be cut off with a sharp knife and potted separately. Thus, you get new plants.
Besides repotting and watering, there’s a need to air the plants daily. Open a window or door in the next room and swing the case door wide open for a few minutes every morning.
Now come the extra favors that keep plants thriving and healthy. Turn pots regularly so that the greenery will grow straight. Keep leaves of adjoining plants from rubbing against each other.
Scrub the outside of pots frequently so that air may get to the roots through the porous clay. Shine a 100-watt bulb a few hours daily on the plants at dusk on short winter days.
Trim off brown leaves. Cut off rotted pseudobulbs and paint the scars with powdered sulfur.
The few tools necessary are tweezers for removing old, dead fiber; a sharp knife and scissors for pruning and trimming; plastic labels to identify plants; an old toothbrush for scrubbing the foliage every month or so; a sponge for wiping off the leaves occasionally; a long spouted watering can, a humidity gauge and thermometer.
Orchids: Delicate or Resilient? Truth About Touching Them
One more thing about orchids. Most people don’t realize it, but orchid flowers and plants are wonderful to touch. The leaves and pseudobulbs have a kind of firmness and strength.
I grew up on the myth that orchids were fragile, and that to touch a bloom was sacrilege. It isn’t at all!
Run your hands up under the bloom, cupping your fingers around the petals. It will feel good, resilient, pliable, alive, and vital!
Far from being delicate and difficult, orchids have a husky tropical love of life and an urge to grow. Not even the steam-heated climate of most houses quenches this.
Buy a Plant
Watch it and send out greenery and a flower spike or two. Watch the blossoms unfold, filling the house with fragrance.
Pretty soon, orchid catalogs will be sprouting from your bookshelves. You will be poring over the lore of Vanda coerulea, the blue orchid of India, or other rare species from the Himalayas, and all the while, more and more orchids will fill your window.
44659 by Jean Hersey