Demystify orchid fertilizing with these expert-recommended tips to encourage lots of flowers.
Fertilizing orchids is a little different thanfertilizing other houseplants.
Heres how to get the fertilizer right to get more stunning flowers from your orchids.
Credit:David A Land
Justin Kondratis lead horticulturist at the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection, where he cares for the nations orchid garden.
How Often Do Orchids Bloom?
Orchids typically bloom once a year, says Justin Kondrat, lead horticulturist at the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection.
Producing those beautiful flowers takes a lot of energy for orchid plants.
They’ll need to replenish themselves to be able to bloom again.
Use 10-10-10 Fertilizer Formulated for Orchids
Dilute the fertilizer to 14 the strength indicated on the label.
This is very important.
Lots of small meals are better for your orchid than one or two big meals, says Kondrat.
The plants need extra nutrients to fuel this growth and to develop flowers.
He suggests you begin fertilizing in April, but that may vary slightly depending on where you live.
Further south, you could start in March, and further north, you could wait until early May.
Whenever your plant starts showing signs of new growth, that’s when to start feeding.
The magnesium and calcium in the Epsom salt encourage the leaves to make more chlorophyll.
Its like a vitamin for your plant, Kondrat says.
The light levels are lower and temperatures get cooler.
That signals to the orchid that its time to grow a flower spike, he says.
More fertilizer now wont force the plant to make more flowers.
Its all about a cycle, he says.
The blooms you will see in a few weeks have already started.
Cymbidiums are the hungry hungry hippos of the orchid world, Kondrat says.
They need a lot of food.
