Multiplication of beauty or reproduction of orchids at home

Carefully looking at the orchid, you will immediately understand that it is not an easy task to take care of such a beauty, but it pays off a hundredfold. It has everything you can desire: fragility, extravagance, defenselessness. And the flower growers are pleased to indulge the capricious plant, trying to deserve its flowering.

Orchid is a rare and rather expensive flower, so the question "how to propagate an orchid at home" is quite relevant.

Reproduction of an orchid can be carried out by vegetative methods (layers, plant division, cuttings) and sex (seeds). For home breeding, only vegetative variants are suitable.

Reproduction of orchids at home by vegetative methods.

The vegetative reproduction of orchids at home is accomplished by one of the following four methods:

1. By dividing a large plant. It is best to do this in the early spring. The plant is taken out of the pot and the roots are freed from the soil. With a disinfected sharp knife, the rhizome is cut in such a way that each of the parts obtained includes at least three fully developed false bulbs. Places of cuts are sprinkled with pounded charcoal, which should protect the roots from infections. New plants are planted in pre-prepared pots.

2. Reproduction by apical cuttings. This method is suitable for fast-growing species of orchids (vandas). The shoot is cut at half level with a clean knife and the resulting stalk is placed in a new pot. After a while, the root gets rooted, then develops into a full-grown plant and starts to bloom.

3. With the removal of a long stem into a new pot. A long stem of orchids is taken to a pot filled with a substrate, and fixed. After a while, the brood takes root and is cut off from the mother plant.

4. The easiest way is to reproduce orchids at home by separating the lateral shoots (children). The shoots are left on the mother plant until they grow up and form their own roots. Ripe shoots-babies are cut off with a disinfected knife and transplanted into a separate pot. The cut is sprinkled with charcoal powder. True, this method is suitable only for those varieties that such side shoots form (phalaenopsis, dendrobium).

Reproduction of orchids by seeds.

It is difficult to grow an orchid from seeds. This is explained by the fact that the seeds of these plants, unlike most "normal" seeds of other plants, do not have a supply of nutrients. Light as dust, they can germinate only if they are placed in a special nutrient medium.

And since such an environment easily develops not only orchids, but also numerous bacteria dangerous for plants, then it is necessary to grow new generations in sterile conditions. If you add to this and long enough time for the development of the plant, it becomes clear why the reproduction of orchids in the home is best done in vegetative ways.

To ensure that the resulting orchids normally develop and reach the age of flowering, they need to create the appropriate conditions for their kind. Briefly, they can be characterized as follows:

1. Temperature regime. Of course, the conditions of detention depend on the species (and their thousands), but the general rules are as follows: daytime temperature should be 2-3 degrees above night. Daytime summer temperature is about 20 degrees, winter temperature is about 17 degrees.

2. Lighting. The orchid loves bright diffused lighting, but does not tolerate direct sunlight. For normal development, it takes 10-15 hours of light per day. In winter, lack of light is filled with artificial lighting.

3. Watering. Orchids are poured with soft warm water. Soil must always be moistened. Some species (miltonia, katleya) require the drying of the earth mixture between waterings.

4. Air humidity. They need moist and fresh air. Regular spraying is required, in summer abundant, in winter moderate. Screws, especially cold, are harmful to orchids.

5. Orchid transplantation at home is carried out when, due to the tightness of the pot, the growth of the orchid is suspended.

The above rules of growing orchids are not that difficult and suitable for most species of orchids living in the home. But, when you plant an exotic beauty at home, ask if she (her kind) has special preferences, and if there are any, hurry to fulfill them.