How to water orchids so as not to harm plants?

Orchids have many admirers. Such love is caused not only by the gentle beauty of these tropical flowers, but also by the fact that many types of orchids bloom in the winter months, when everyone so lacks positive emotions. The advantage of orchids is their long flowering, the flowers retain their original appearance for 5-8 weeks.

Many believe that growing orchids at home is extremely difficult, since these plants are very capricious and capricious. In fact, this is not entirely true, just for the normal existence of orchids you need to create suitable conditions.

For example, you should know that among the orchids there are terrestrial plants, that is, those whose roots are in the soil, and epiphytes, that is, growing on trees. The latter species is more common among domestic orchids. For epiphytes, a simple soil mixture is needed, but a special loose and water-permeable substrate consisting of pieces of bark, moss and ground fern roots.

Beginners are often asked how to water orchids? Indeed, on how well watering will be organized, it depends how long the plant will please its master.

Often, having heard that tropical plants need high humidity, the growers begin abundantly and often water the flowers. This zeal leads to the fact that the orchids rot roots, and this leads to the death of the plant. Therefore, when thinking about the question of how to water orchids, it is necessary to make it clear that the overflow for these flowers is more destructive than not.

So, how correctly to water the orchid? The main rule is that watering should be done only if the substrate is completely dry and the roots have dried up. But follow the instructions that you should water the plants every five or seven days, do not. The fact is that such an approach is fundamentally wrong. After all, how quickly the substrate dries up in a pot, many nuances influence. For example, the air temperature in the room, humidity, pot size and other factors. Therefore, to answer exactly how to water orchids and how often it should be done, it is possible only taking into account specific conditions.

Water for irrigation should be prepared, because in nature orchids feed on rainwater, and the liquid that flows from the tap in the city has a completely different composition.

Water for watering orchids should be of mild or moderate hardness. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to conduct an analysis and accurately determine the rigidity of tap water. But you can focus on such an indicator as the buildup of a scale on the kettle. The faster the scale is formed on the walls of the dishes, the harder the water.

To soften hard water, you can use oxalic acid, you can buy this substance in the form of powder in shops for florists. For ten liters of water you need to add a quarter of a teaspoon of oxalic acid. After that, the water should be set aside for a day, and then poured, trying not to shake up the sediment.

Solving the question of how to water orchids, some growers prefer to use distilled water. This is a wrong approach, because during the distillation process, water is deprived of salts, which are necessary for plant nutrition. Therefore, when using distillate, it should be diluted with half the usual water after 24 hours settling.

You can use water that has passed the filtration process. Modern filters purify water from the presence of heavy metals, bacteria and fungi. Pour orchids need water at room temperature, and even better to warm it to 35 degrees.

You can water orchids in many ways. The most optimal is a "hot shower", when plants are put in a basin and poured with pre-prepared warm water, using a shower head.

Another way is to immerse the pot with the plant in water. The dive time is 30-40 seconds, then you need to get the plant and give time to drain water. This method can be used only if the plant is absolutely healthy.

You can water and watering can, feeding water in a thin trickle, avoiding moisture penetration into the axils of the leaves. Using this method, watering should be done in the morning. For plants that grow without a substrate, spray roots are used. In this case, watering is carried out through the spray gun, setting the regulator to the smallest spray.