Most indoor orchids follow a rhythm – slow through the winter, then pick up again as the days grow longer and temperatures rise. By May, this change has already begun for most varieties.
Roots are more active, new growth is appearing on many plants, and adjustments to watering and feeding are making more of an impact now than in the slower months. Good orchid care in May and early June makes a noticeable difference as spring fades into summer.
To ensure your orchids bloom well and produce tons of healthy growth this season, there are a few basic care tasks you should do now before summer officially arrives.
1. Address Faded Flower Spikes
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If you the orchid has just finished bloomingnow is the time to deal with the spike where the flower was. A green one orchid flower spike with intact nodes can sometimes induce a secondary bloom. They will be smaller flowers than the first, they will be fewer, but allowing a second bloom is perfectly fine as long as your plant is healthy.
Phalaenopsis orchids they are the most likely to rebloom from an existing spike. Many more species of orchid it will not extinguish another batch of flowers. For phalaenopsis orchids, cut just above a healthy node near the middle of the spike and let the cut callus grow out on its own.
If the faded flower spike turns yellow or black, cut it off at the base and let your plant redirect that energy into new growth. A full recovery cycle tends to produce stronger blooms the following season than pushing a tired one. orchid to bloom again.
2. Restock Crowded Plants
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Immediately after flowering is a good window for transplanting orchids. Your plant is not in bloom and the spring heat helps it settle into fresh media faster. Most orchids need repotting every one to two years, but watch for other signs, too.
The roots that circulate outside the pot are among the cleanest signs that your orchid needs repotting. Broken, soggy growing medium is another. A plant that is too heavy to stand is also telling you something.
Regular potting soil is the wrong medium to use – it holds too much moisture and the roots can suffocate from overwatering. Orchid bark or dedicated Orchid mix, like this one from Amazonit provides the drainage and air flow that the roots need.
Before transplanting, cut off any old plants that are brown and hollow. Healthy roots should be firm and either green or white.
3. Adjust your watering schedule
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Orchids in the active growth stage drink more than dormant plants. May is when this change occurs for most indoor orchids. Phalaenopsis like their mix to dry out somewhat between waterings, but not completely dry out.
Water your orchids approximately every seven to ten days in summer conditions. Although the roots are the real guide, look for them signs that it’s time to water. Silvery-white roots mean it’s time for a drink, but green roots still have some moisture, so you can wait.
The sink method works well for watering. Place the orchid pot in a few inches of water for ten to fifteen minutes, drain it well, then return it to its original position. This saturates the potting medium without allowing water to sit around the crown of the plant where root rot can be installed.
Cold water can stress the roots, so use room temperature water for orchids. Heavy chlorinated tap water should sit overnight to off-gas some of the metals and salts, although it will not remove chloramines. Filtered water or rainwater is best for watering plants.
4. Start a feeding routine
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The best time for pollinate orchids is as they enter the active growing season and May is the beginning of that window. A formula high in phosphorus may encourage flowering, but a balanced orchid fertilizer, such as Amazon’sit is fine throughout the growing season. Dilute the herbal food to quarter to half strength and apply weekly. The phrase “weak, weekly” makes it easy to remember.
Overfeeding is a more common problem than malnutrition in orchids. It can cause salt build-up, root burn and browning of leaf tips. So, go easy on plant foods. Rinse the growing medium with plain water once a month or so, because accumulated salts from regular feeding can build up quickly.
5. Switch to Brighter Light
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Indoor orchids want bright indirect light and the lengthening days of spring make it easier to get there. A plant barely scraping through the winter in a dim corner will respond well to a spot closer to an east- or south-facing window. But Direct sun can burn the plantsso use a sheer curtain to remove the edge.
The difference from changing lighting conditions tends to show up in the leaves within a few weeks under ideal conditions. May is a good time to experiment with light requirements for orchids since plants are actively growing and usually respond quickly.
Leaf color is a useful way to know when it’s time to move plants to a different spot. Dark green means very little light. The plant compensates by producing chlorophyll, but tends to flower less. Lighter, yellowish green indicates too much light. A medium green green is what looks like healthy growth under proper lighting conditions.
6. Check the roots and soil
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Even if you don’t need to reload, now is a useful time to check what’s going on beneath the surface. Clean orchid pots, like these from Amazonmake it easy If you have an opaque container, probe the medium with a finger or chopstick or gently lift the plant out of the pot.
Orchid for pot that comes out wet and compacted or smelly does not provide the aeration the orchid’s roots need. If this is the case, your culture medium probably needs to be changed.
A few dead roots among many healthy ones is nothing to worry about. Just cut them up and put them back into your existing pot. But the majority of brown, hollow roots indicate a watering or medium-sized problem that repotting can solve.
Aerial orchid roots Growth outside the pot is also normal. They do what orchid roots do in nature, so leave them alone. Cutting them off will delay your plant longer than leaving them alone.
