How to propagate an orchid at home

Orchid is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Orchid family. Under natural conditions, the flower can be found in moist, warm forests. The plant has 3-6 wide leaves, which are located on the stem alternately. Between the foliage grows a flexible long branch - peduncle. The color of flowers for each variety is different. Abundance of flowering depends on the quality of care and the variety of plants.

Orchids are very beautiful flowers, so after acquiring a plant from a grower, a desire to replenish your collection necessarily appears. After mastering the basics of caring for a flower, the question arises of how to propagate orchids at home.

When to breed

In order to get a positive result on the result of orchid propagation, it is necessary to observe some important rules.

Orchid propagation

Before you begin to study the material on how the orchid propagates, you should determine the planting time, temperature, humidity, and choose a plant from which the flower will borrow planting material.

Decisive factors for favorable breeding:

• The best time to breed orchids is to complete the flowering phase. At this point, the faded plant is as ready for reproduction as possible. Sometimes a flower is bred in the spring, after a period of dormancy.
• Ideal humidity during propagation is 50-80%. Sometimes flower growers carry out the procedure even at a moisture content of 25-85%, but a violation of the optimal parameters can adversely affect the plant.
• It is worth taking care of the temperature regime. It is best to carry out the procedure at 28-30 ° C. It is permissible to slightly exceed the norm, but lowering is not recommended.
• Only healthy flowers can participate in reproduction. It is contraindicated for sick plants that have blackened, covered with mucus or yellowness foliage. In the presence of such symptoms, the procedure is postponed until the flower is completely healed.

Plant propagation methods

Orchids are bred in many ways. Propagation by cuttings and dividing is most popular, but some gardeners use seeds, air layers or plant a flower with the help of children for this.

Division

This is a fairly simple and versatile breeding method. Division propagation is suitable for most flower species. Before the procedure, care must be taken that the soil in the pot is well saturated with moisture.

Orchid propagation by division

Algorithm of actions:

1. Carefully remove the flower from the planting container.
2. Clear the roots from the ground and cut them so that on each of the halves you get 3 pseudobulbs. It is not worth dividing the orchid into smaller parts.
3. To process sections of the plant and plant it in the soil. Charcoal is usually used for processing.

This reproduction method is best suited for transplanting plants or when pseudobulbs appear on the surface of the soil.

Cuttings

Propagation of orchids by cuttings is a more complicated method. But the question of how to propagate an orchid at home in this way, among flower growers, sounds much more often than others.

The procedure for propagation by cuttings:

1. Prepare a few 10-15-cm side shoots. In this case, it is important to understand how to properly take the shoot from an orchid. To cut off the cutting tool (for example, a knife) with alcohol and cut off the top shoot with it.
2. Slices of the mother plant and the cuttings themselves should be treated with charcoal.
3. Seed the cuttings in pots with slices in the ground.
4. Take care of the shoots, like adult flowers.

Air lay

Some types of home orchids are best propagated by air layering. This method is most often used in the cultivation of varieties Dendrobium, Epidendrum and other owners of a high gradually exposed stalk.

Propagation by air layering

The method of propagation of orchids by air layers:

1. During the period of active growth, tilt the elongated, bare stalk to the prepared pot and fix it well there.
2. To prepare the substrate, you should use moss sphagnum, coconut fiber and small pine bark.
3. Put the pot in the greenhouse. Provide for a hole for the stem to be cut on the top.
4. Periodically ventilate the greenhouse and moisten (spray) the stem.
5. When 2-3 leaves appear on a sprout grown from a kidney and 5-centimeter roots grow, it needs to be separated and planted in another container.

Kids

At home, orchids can be propagated by root children, however, for this, it is necessary to organize optimal conditions for keeping the plant, both at the time of the procedure and after it.

Reproduction by children is suitable for monopodial species of orchids:

• Phalaenopsis;
• Wanda;
• Vanilla;
• Brassavola.

Beginning flower growers often have difficulty growing orchids from the roots and do not always understand how to plant an orchid in this case. It is very difficult to grow a flower from the root in a natural way, so the procedure is more often performed when the orchid dies or its rejuvenation.

Orchid propagation by children

To get root children, you need to divide the bush horizontally. The method is considered extreme, therefore it is important to adhere to the rules:

• The root mass of the plant must be healthy.
• On the trunk should be at least 3 aerial 5-8-centimeter roots.

Breeding orchids for children:

1. Remove the flower from the pot and examine the roots.
2. Designate the cutting area - leave the 2 lower leaves, and cut off the upper half with the air roots.
3. Slices treated with an antiseptic. Phytosporin or crushed activated carbon is best suited.
4. Plant roots with leaves in an old container with old soil. Watering reduced by 50%.
5. Root the upper part in a new pot with a substrate.
6. The first time you can water the top only after four days. Feeding is carried out a month after planting.
7. You can support a divided plant with succinic acid (wipe or spray the foliage). This will allow him to multiply better and faster.
8. Look after the usual flower. After the appearance of the first green shoots on the "stump", the plant should be started to be fed with the root method once every two weeks.

Seed cultivation

This method is complex, it takes a lot of time. Orchid seeds are very small and lack nutrient tissue.

Seed cultivation

In the wild, germination occurs as a result of feeding from the root sponge. An artificial method to achieve this is not easy, but possible.

Procedure:

1. Pollinate the flower and wait for the seed box to ripen.
2. Sow seeds in a nutrient medium.
3. Depending on the type of plant, after 3-8 months, the first sprouts will begin to appear.

Transplant Care

In order for the flower recovery period to go well, it is necessary to organize certain conditions. A pot with a plant is recommended to be placed in a shady place (preferably on the east side), protecting the orchid from exposure to sunlight. The optimum temperature of the flower content is more than 21-22 ° C.

The first watering is carried out only after 4-5 days after transplantation. Foliage needs to be moistened, so periodically you need to spray the flower with purified and warm water. After 30-35 days, the orchid is fed with useful fertilizers.

Possible breeding errors

To plant orchids is very difficult. Some violations during the breeding procedure may lead to an unsatisfactory result.

Breeding errors

The most common mistakes of inexperienced gardeners:

• Infection. If you do not follow the rules for cutting cuttings, during the procedure you can bring an infection that will lead to decay of the mother plant. To prevent this from happening, before cutting off the necessary parts of the flower, it is necessary to disinfect all cutting tools, and treat the twigs with activated carbon powder.
• Wrong separation of children. Separate the children from the mother flower must be very careful. Otherwise, the risk of damage to the plant, and then death, is increased. Before planting, you need to separate the children from the peduncles, otherwise when the remaining part of the peduncle decays, they too will begin to rot.
• Mistakes in the care of young flowers. It is especially important to observe the norms of humidity, frequency of watering, temperature and lighting. Orchid children are less resistant to the environment than adult plants. Improper care can ruin them.

Propagation of orchids is a process that affects the development of a tropical flower, on which the future life and health of the plant depends. Proper care of young offspring will allow them to quickly pass the recovery period.