Hi All!
Very new to orchids here, and have a question...
Everyone seems to be after the biggest blooms and as often as they can get them.
I want to grow my orchids 'hard', with little to no babying, and I'm not upset if I don't get blooms - to tell you the truth, I like the foliage and even just the root forms on my 2x phalaenopsis and 1x Vanilla planifolia...
Is this wrong? Should I grow them with more food?
I think it looks very Zen before the blooms come, and whilst the flowers are gorgeous, I won't be heartbroken if they don't flower, or have much smaller blooms as a consequence.
I seem to be going against the current, though, and don't quite know what to take on board. I know zilch.
My instinct is to use 1/16th strength or less fertilizer/trace elements on my mounted, (all 3), orchids each time, to mimic the very little nutrient they'd have from rainfalls 'in the wild' as it were, rather than bigger doses at lesser intervals. Is this a no-no for any reason?
I only recently acquired the phalaenopsis, however have been doing just this for more than 12 months with the vanilla, which is Happy as Larry, so far, though slower growing than if fed with more largesse. The Vanilla will be transferred to a terrarium to try and increase humidity, and we'll see what happens.
Seeing as the NoID supermarket phals are bred up a little more, am I just retarding the plants to their detriment?
The biggest, super perfect blooms always look a little fake to me, and I'd rather achieve a somewhat more natural effect - I don't want perfection, just a nice natural looking, healthy plant, and if it flowers, that's a bonus.
I hope that's not a wrong thing?
I do that with my cymbidiums in the shade house - just remembered I had them,
And I do almost nothing for them except repot every few years and occasional weak food - they're healthy with many flower spikes every year. To be honest, I don't really think of them as orchids - so easy to grow, here. Throw them in the garden under the shade and you're done except for summer watering with the rest. I sink the pots into the ground with the bromeliad pots...
Does any of that make sense? lol
Should I be more finicky with the phals?
Not totally enamoured with big blooms...
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