Our intention here is to give you some very basic guidelines on how we manage to water & feed our orchids. As many of you already know, there are many variables that can influence this perfect state of balance. I hope you find this information useful, but please understand that our growing conditions probably vary from yours, so please keep that in mind. Careful observation of your plants, your daily weather and what type of orchids you are growing, coupled with appropriate care will have your orchids not just thriving, but flowering.

Quick and dirty orchid growing advice:

Water

Sparingly, long before nighttime so they dry off, and don’t let plants stay wet. If the media looks moist, don’t water it. Try to water at the base of the plant, avoiding the leaves and flowers. Rain water or distilled water are best.

Potting Mix and Repotting

Use new media to repot, around every 2 years and after flowering. Bark and sphagnum are good - don't use potting soil.

Light

Bright and indirect light - think: sunshine filtered through the upper canopy of a tree, blowing in the breeze.

Environment

High humidity, through evaporation or machine-generated, but also regular ambient airflow from fans or breezes.

Fertilizer

‘Weakly, weekly’. Around ¼-⅛ of the concentration used for other plants, and look for equal numbers in the mid-teens (e.g. 13-13-13, 16-16-16, etc.). For slow-release, add 1-2 times a year.

Dendrobiums

For the ‘hard cane’ types, they like it moist, but not wet. 

Ladyslippers

These mostly grow on the jungle floor, rather than in the canopy. They like more moisture than most of the other types, and have fuzzy roots which are optimized for taking it up. That being said, they don’t like it wet and want enough water that they can slowly take it up at their leisure, but not be saturated.

Phragmipediums 

‘Phrags’, the South American slippers, are the exception and often grow near water, so most tolerate sitting in water if it is clean. 

Stanhopeinae

In order to enjoy these types of orchids, with their pendulous flowers, we often grow these in hanging pots with open slats on the side and bottom. This gives them more evaporation than other potting situations, and they’ll appreciate being kept moist.

Potting and Potting Media

There are an incredible range of things you can grow orchids in. We’ll cover the more common options here but, as one of our orchid mentors used to say, ‘a good grower can keep an orchid alive in cigar butts and sherbert’ (not recommended for us mere mortals, though). Some orchid growers use elaborate recipes for each type of plant - one friend said he had 21 ‘ingredients’ in his ladyslipper mix!

This is rarely necessary though, unless you get into really specialized and rare types. Generally, plan to repot your orchid every two years or so and, ideally, just after it has finished flowering. For all types of media keep in mind that the part which normally retains the most moisture is just below the plant, and it is really important to remove as much old media from this area as you can, when repotting, since it will be the most degraded. To that end, please don’t reuse old media - it has normally started turning itself into compost and will keep way more water than you want around the roots. It can also harbor sizeable populations of fungi, bacteria, insect eggs, etc. which, combined with its retained moisture, gives your orchid an uphill battle as it settles in.

You can, however, reuse pots if you clean them well and disinfect them between orchid inhabitants - a soak in a mild bleach solution followed by a good rinsing and then letting them dry out is an easy and inexpensive way to disinfect pots before reuse. We grow almost all of our orchids in plastic pots, but you’ll occasionally come across ones in clay or concrete pots, or mounted (we’ll go into detail on mounting below). Plastic pots don’t let water evaporate through them, and so tend to keep the plants more moist. Clay and concrete pots can let water through, both to take it up and to let it out - leading to drying. Some of the water which gets into the pores of clay or concrete pots will also, inevitably, carry in minerals and salts which build up over time and sometimes show up as hard white deposits like you see in your shower or sink. These block the ability of the pot to let water through, and can also sort of burn the roots which come in contact with them through their high salt concentrations.

Consider retiring pots which have a decent amount of this build-up. However, retired clay pots can be smashed to provide filler at the bottom of plastic pots for decreasing trapped moisture, much as styrofoam is used for (more details on this below). And smashing the pots is often therapeutic when dealing with a tough day or a plant which refuses to flower. If you’re feeling less violent, these pots often make good ‘sleeves’ for slipping plants in plastic pots into, which can provide a solid base for top-heavy plants prone to tipping over.

Bark

A good all-purpose medium. For orchids which don’t like staying moist (like Vandas or Angraecoids), large chunks are best. For orchids which like it really moist (like slippers), small chunks are best. Medium chunks are the most common, and good for the majority of orchids. You can also mix bark with other types of media to decrease or increase the amount of retained moisture. Some folks swear by soaking bark beforehand, others insist on using it dry - we split the difference and recommend rinsing it briefly, to remove dust and debris, shortly before repotting.

Sphagnum Moss

Very common for orchids you buy from supermarkets, and for baby orchids - where drying out might lead to death. This medium holds a lot of water and, if not monitored, can lead to rot. That being said, this is a good option for growing orchids which like it a little more moist or for folks who can forget to water their orchids for weeks at a time (no judgment here!). It’s sold dry and then needs to be rehydrated by soaking in water. After soaking it is critically important to squeeze out as much water as you can and then fluff it up - please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t put your orchid in dripping-wet sphagnum! For orchids growing in sphagnum it is particularly important to check the moisture before you water it; if you look below the top layer it should be just barely moist by appearance or touch, to the point where you’re second-guessing yourself about whether it’s moist or if you’re just imagining it. If the sphagnum looks moist, hold off a little longer before watering. 

Lava Rock / Cinder

This medium doesn’t break down, but the many pores can hold a little bit of water (although way less than plant-based media like bark or sphagnum). It’s often mixed in to provide more air/drainage space when potting in bark. You can grow a plant which likes just a little moisture in pure cinder, but since it doesn’t break down into nutrients you’ll need to fertilize it a little more. There are also some trace minerals, which might be uptaken by the roots. The edges of cinder are often rather sharp, and can scratch you up a little bit while repotting - consider using gloves and/or protective nail polish to protect your hands and fingernails, especially if you don’t have a lot of callus. 

Perlite

Another media which doesn’t break down, and with fewer pores than cinder so it tends to retain less water.. This is a common addition for ‘lightening’ media, to increase air and water flow. It’s also generally cheaper than most of the media covered here, but rarely used as the sole ‘ingredient’ in potting mixes. Handling perlite often creates small clouds of white powder, which is easy to inhale and then leave you coughing or sneezing it out for the next few minutes (or hours). We strongly recommend either wearing a mask when handling it, or wetting it down before, and as, you work with it. 

Styrofoam / Packing Peanuts

Many a new grower has been surprised, when repotting an orchid, to find styrofoam packing peanuts in the very bottom of the pot! These are provided to create a little space at the bottom of a pot, to prevent the media/roots there from staying wet from the pooled water when pressed up against the plastic. Even orchid experts sometimes use these for species which need really good drainage. They can be reused if you clean and sanitize them, or you can rinse off others you have lying around and put them into the potting before adding the plant or media. Please only use styrofoam packing peanuts for this; we encourage you to use the eco-friendly peanuts for shipping things, but in the bottom of a pot they break down into a mush which is a perfect breeding ground for diseases.