Are orchids hard to take care of?

[ConnieSantiago]

Hello friends,
Orchid is a very beautiful flower. I am a person who loves to grow ornamental plants, especially flowers. During a trip, I saw people growing orchids. I am really impressed by its beauty and want to grow it at my home. Not sure if this plant is easy to care for? Please help me answer.
Thank you very much.

[Fairorchids]

There is no single answer. And, as we don't know what state you are located in, we can't tailor our comments to your location.

Many orchids are relatively simple to care for, though different groups can have widely diverging requirements in terms of light intensity, temperature range and watering/fertilizing frequencies.

Then there are some, which require more extreme conditions, with the care requirements varying widely at different times of the year (or growth/bloom/rest cycle).

If you have never grown orchids before, a good place to start would be:
Phalaenopsis (aka moth orchids). These are available in stores everywhere. They need bright, but indirect light. When you water, drench, then let almost dry out (can take from 3-10 days at different times of the year), but never fully. Very light dose of fertilizer every 3-4 weeks.
Do not follow the instructions that come with the plants, they are known to be unsuitable.
Paphiopedilum (aka lady slippers). These will do well with the identical conditions, except for:
The 'multi-florals' need significantly higher light.
Two species (armeniacum & micranthum) come from areas with significant variation in temperature & rainfall. Don't attempt those till you have had success with the other types, and then pay attention to how these two should be treated.

Once you are comfortable with these basic types, you can branch out. It would probably also be a good idea to join a local orchid society; at their meetings you will see many types of orchids, and you can learn how each should be cared for.

[Ray]

Orchids are the most highly evolved of all the plants. Each one has evolved to survive in their particular “niche” of growing conditions - temperatures, light levels, humidity, watering, air movement, and possibly seasonal variations in them.

If your growing conditions match the needs of a particular plant, they are very easy to grow. If they don’t, they’re not - and it’s all a matter of degree, not an “all or nothing” situation.

[Shadeflower]

Orchids are an amazing addition to a house and by now I think they are easier to care for than a regular soil grown houseplant.
What someone new to orchids has to grasp is that orchids do not grow in soil. They have evolved to not need it and this is the main challenging part. How do you keep an orchid well watered without growing it in soil so that is doesn't dry out too much. There are growing methods that provide plenty of aeration to the roots and don't need much watering but the problem is there is no easily replicable method like there is with soil.
With soil you just add soil to the pot and done and anybody can copy that. With orchids you have to tailor the substrate to the needs of the orchid a bit more so that the plant doesn't stay too wet or too dry between watering.
So you need to do research and find what growing method would suit you best and there is lots to pick, you can grow using bark, or moss or clay pebbles, you can grow orchids mounted on cork or clay plates, new methods include semi-hydro and self watering pots.

Each orchid grower has to weigh up the pro's and cons. Like generally mounted orchids with lots of aeration around the roots will grow best but only if they get regularly watered every single day so if that is something a grower can do then they might prefer mounted best. Someone else who only has time to water their orchids at the weekends will need to pick a potted method that can retain enough moisture for a week without being too wet so the roots can't breathe.

Those are the challenges to orchid growing but once you have figured out what they like they can be very forgiving and rewarding plants. Like they can dry out more than one would expect. They are not quite cactusses but at times they can go for long periods without much water.

As a last note I will just add that even if you are not a good grower, trying to figure out what makes orchids grow is a great hobby and I couldn't imagine going back to not knowing orchids. Each one is unique in its own way and there are thousands to explore which would take a few centuries to grow them all.

But I would suggest you get a really easy and healthy orchid to start with as they are not cheap. Finding the right orchid is half the challenge most of the time cause if you get a weak one to start with your chances of success will alreay be cut in half so ask your friends where to get a really halthy easy one and start from there.
Asking people who grow in your climate is beneficial as their growing method should work for you too since it is the same climate.

[rbarata]

I am really impressed by its beauty and want to grow it at my home.

First of all, welcome Connie.
To make things easier for you and us, can you post a link to a photo of the orchid you would like to have?
You know...there are around 25.000 species...if we count the hybrids, they'll be much more.

Please post a link and we will tell you if it's easy or not.

[Leafmite]

The main difference between orchids and other plants is that most orchids grow with their roots either completely or nearly exposed to the air (some do grow in the ground, some have roots that trail in running streams, some have roots that grow in small, shallow pockets of organic matter, some grow in the leaf-litter in forests but many have roots entirely exposed). With roots adapted to being exposed to air, the biggest problem is often the suffocation of the roots by medium that doesn't allow fresh air to pass to the roots freely. Fresh air helps to kill/reduce many of the pathogens that can rot roots.
The medium, therefore, is to keep the air around the roots humid and to give them something upon which to cling. So, for us that have long grown other plants, this is the big adjustment we need to make.
How easy an orchid will be for you really depends on your growing environment and what type of orchid you wish to grow. Choosing orchids that need the same conditions that you can offer makes growing the orchid easier. Also, making small adaptions to compensate helps, too. Most orchids that have been grown 'in captivity' for many generations become easier to grow than those who have been recently taken from the wild so growing orchids is not as difficult as it once was. Buying the orchids from a place with the same climate can make growing that orchid a little easier, too.

With your experience growing other plants, I really think that you can do this. Good luck!