Orchid Culture
Orchid Culture
General Guidelines for Dendrobium, Cattleya, Oncidium, Intergeneric Oncidinae, Miltonia, Pahiopedalum, Zygopetalum and Masdavallia
Temperature – 55 – 85 degrees
Light- filtered (30 -50 % shaded) no direct sun
Watering - 3 times week (once with fertilizer) in the morning for 3-5 minutes. Allow the plant to moderately dry out in between watering.
Do not water any orchids at night, as that will increase the chance of root decay from staying too wet.
Fertilizer - Water heavily with a well balanced, liquid, foliar fertilizer such as 20-20-20 once a week. Water plant first, and then water again with fertilizer.
Humidity – A pebble humidity tray helps keep the air moist around your plant if you are in an extremely dry area. Bathrooms are also good, for they tend to be more humid.
Miltonia, Paphiopdilem, Intergeneric Oncidinae and Zygopetalum and Masdavallias do not like to dry out completely in between watering and I suggest a humidity tray for these and more frequent watering in warmer weather.
Cattleyas and Dendrobiums like to dry out completely in between watering.
The American Orchid Society has individual culture sheets for many different orchid genus that can be down loaded from their web site linked below.
www.aos.org
Membership to the American Orchid Society not only provides you with a beautiful magazine, -Orchids, 12 times a year which is packed full of information, but a member discount on books and gift items purchased through the Society.
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