Hi Fleurings lovers! This blog post is all about growing orchids, and tips to care on how to care for them at home. Orchids have become a fast favorite indoor plant in most homes, and favorite flower for wearing in Fleurings. Phalaenopsis orchids are especially beautiful to wear because of their wide petals and stunning shape.
These elegant flowers have vibrant colors and can last up to 3 days in Fleurings if you wear them with care. Remove your fresh orchids from your jewelry and float your flowers in a glass at night. Also make sure you keep water in your Fleurings jewelry while you are wearing them. This will keep them lasting longer.
Over the years orchids have become more and more affordable and easy to find. But once you get your new plants home here are some tips on how to keep your orchids happy and blooming time and time again. They should bloom every 6-8 months, so here's how to keep them blooming!...and re-blooming!
Let's start with this brief video that just give a nice overview of our favorite air plant, the orchid. In this video below notice she is working with a Phalaenopsis orchid. This larger Phal wears beautifully in our Fleurings medium size vase necklace whereas mini Phal's will fit in our earrings and small vase necklaces.
Here are the Rules :
1. Watering
It is important to water your orchid regularly, without overwatering. Water the plants early in the day to allow time for it to dry properly. Once a week is enough for watering. You may also use the "ice cube" technique which is simply to place an ice cube or two on the roots.
2. Trimming ( For Re-Blooming)
Get your orchids to re-bloom by trimming back the flowers after they have bloomed to a spot on the stem that is just a few notches back. See the video above to learn exactly where to cut. You will often see a new shoot of blooms come from the existing stem if you cut your orchid back to the right spot and keep giving it the right care. Here is one more video demonstrating this cut back technique.
3. Light and Temperature
Most orchids are from tropical climates with good air, some humidity, plenty of sunlight and a warm temperature. Good light is essential for orchids to flower. Some mini orchid varieties will do very well in an office with fluorescent lighting. So, that is great news! You can keep one on your desk and expect it to live quite well. After they bloom the plants will need plenty of light on the leaves in order to re-bloom several months later. This of this as a hibernation period when the plant needs to juice up it's battery to bloom again. Just be careful it is not in direct sunlight which may cause a sunburn on the leaves. Generally the larger the leaf, the less light it needs.
4. Fertilizing
Orchids flower best and are at their healthiest when fed on a regular basis. Use growth and flowering fertilisers. Follow feeding directions on the product label. Orchids love to be fed and I have never heard of an orchid that died or suffered from being fed to often.
5. Re-Potting Your Plants
It's a great idea to re-pot your orchids from time to time. When you bring them back from the store or even months after you have had them. At some point you should consider removing your plant from the existing container, moss or bark that it came in and cleaning up any dead roots. I personally love clay pebbles or bark for Phalaenopsis orchids. Note that the orchid family is huge, there are over 25,000 species of orchids. Cattleya do well in charcoal. Oncidium orchids like to be submerged in water and soaked for about an hour every couple of weeks. So as you can see... different species have different requirements. But all do require re-potting.
Click here to watch a video of one girl who planted her Phals in some beautiful glass vases with clay pebbles. The roots on her plants look so healthy and amazing. This is a very classy nice way to re-pot these orchids.
The photos below showcase some photos of Phalaenopsis orchids in our vase jewelry pieces.
