Orchid Growing

It used to be that orchid growing was a hobby reserved for the rich. Not anymore! Thanks to modern breeding techniques and newly developed orchid hybrids, orchid growing is open to everyone.

Although orchids require more care than the average houseplant, orchid growing can be a pastime that offers great rewards. Not only are the orchid flowers beautiful, orchid growing offers a glimpse into the amazing world of this unique plant.

In order to succeed at orchid growing, you need some basic knowledge about how orchids grow and the various types of orchids that are available. There are two major types of orchids - terrestrials (which grow on the ground) and epiphytes (which grow above ground and have aerial roots). Epiphytes are more commonly grown as house plants than terrestrials.

No matter which type of plant you choose for orchid growing, they both share a similar flower structure which should be learned by anyone who is interested in orchids. Each orchid flower heads three sepals which form the outer whorl and three petals which make up the inner whorl.

One of the three orchid petals is either larger or otherwise distinct from the other two. This petal is known as the labellum or lip.

At the center of the orchid flower are the reproductive structures. The anther produces pollen and below that is the pistil which has a sticky stigma. Below the pistil it is the ovary which develops into the seed capsule after pollination. The seed capsule contains thousands of tiny seeds.

Orchid Growth

There are two classes of orchids - sympodial and monopodial. Sympodial orchids produce several new stems each of which has flowers leaves and roots. Sympodial orchids grow laterally as opposed to monopodial orchids which grow vertically with a single upright stem.

Sympodials have pseudo bulbs which are fleshy stems made up of overlapping leaves. Pseudo bulbs are attached to the rhizome (root) and help the orchid to survive when growing conditions are bad. One pseudo bulb is produced every year and each pseudo bulb produces a flowers shoot which may take several years to bloom.

Monopodial orchids to not have pseudo bulbs, but instead have aerial roots, leaves, and flower spikes which grow along the stem.

Comments

pahre
06 Feb 2009, 05:09

I am Pahre, a Myanmar National. Now, I am studying in Phillipines and Tissue culture technique is my special subject.
As a Myanmar National, I want to know about the orchids which are produced from Myanmar, especially from Chin state. I will be very pleased if you can tell me the species name or genus name of the orchids from that region.

Thanks a lot.
Sincerely,

Hre

Dianne Butrick
30 Jul 2011, 13:27

Hi I need help.I have two questions:(1) I have a beautiful white orchid. It has flowered for one full year. I cut a stem as told to do when the flowers stop flowering, and now two leaves have grown where the flowers were. Should I cut these below the leaves and begin a new plant or just leave them.
(2) The plant has very large leaves and they have grown out of the pot. I have cut the leaves that began to wither and then more leaves grow and grow. How do I get the plant to flower again. Also there are "lots" of, I think, roots growing up the plant I think that is good, YES? Thanks Dianne

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Orchid Growth

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