Growing an orchid in water: what is this method and how much should you keep it in this condition at home, as well as how to care?

Can this flower be kept in water? In nature, these flowers grow on trees and sometimes they do not need soil at all. There are all the necessary conditions for normal growth, reproduction and flowering.

Soil is important at home, it is much easier to care for the flower. But he also feels great in water. The essence of this cultivation is to constantly find the root system in water.

Prepare a glass or other suitable container, it should not be too large, but spacious, now you can start planting and caring for the plant.

How to grow a flower by this method?

In order for the orchid to bloom regularly, not just water, but a fertilized liquid is needed. All added substances must have a calculated amount, then the nutrition of the flower will be uniform.

The content of orchids without the use of soil is divided into the following types:

Hydroponics - the culture is grown on water.
Hydroculture - the substrate is added to the water.
Aeroponica - Water is no longer used here, because the plant is grown in the air.

Reference! Since orchids in the wild do not grow in the soil, but grow mainly on trees and rocks, so the aquatic environment is their usual state.

Advantages and disadvantages

Hydroponic orchid planting has a significant advantage over soil cultivation:

Lack of rot or soil parasites. This is very important for this culture. Since its root part is subject to decay processes. With the hydroponics method, a large amount of air is in the water; moreover, a constant fluid circulation prevents the rotting process.
There is no need to regularly transplant the flower.
The plant does not suffer from excessive or too little fertilizer.
Regular enrichment of water with nutrients allows the flower to be strong and healthy. The roots do not suffer from drying out and lack of oxygen.

There are also inconveniences of growing a flower in water, but on the other hand there are not so many of them as, for example, when growing plants in the soil:

Make sure that the water is cool.
It is worthwhile to ensure that the water level does not fall below the beginning of the root system. In this case, it is recommended to add fluid.
Feeding is carried out during the entire growth of the orchid.

Thus, it is worth noting that the care of a flower in the water should be regular.

How long does it take to keep a plant in this state?

How much to put a flower in water? Since the purpose of this method is the constant presence of a flower in water, it is necessary to keep it in this state constantly. Fluid change is carried out once a week. Water must be rain or filtered.

If you use different substrates, then watering is done in different ways:

When using expanded clay, before thoroughly watering, initially the flower and root system are completely sprayed.
If the soil is based on iatomites, perlites, or grinmix mixtures, the root of the plant is initially sprayed, and then it is made so that water flows down the walls of the container with the orchid.

Attention! Nutrient solutions are selected depending on the type of flower.

Growing at home

To propagate an orchid, the following steps should be taken:

Cut the peduncle of the main plant.
Prepare a bottle with a cut neck (5 cm). Place the plant in water so that it covers only 4-5 cm of the peduncle. 1 tablet of activated carbon is dissolved there. Water should be not just from the tap, but previously purified or rain.
A semicircular flake of an orchid is cut with a sharp blade. So the closed kidney is released. After this, the cut site is smeared with cytokinin ointment, it is sold in every flower shop.
Ointment is applied every week for 1 month.
Change of water and the bottle itself is carried out once a week.

What else to add to the substrate?

Throughout the growth of orchids, the plant is fed. Fertilizers are added the same as in soil cultivation. It is necessary to observe the concentration, which is equal to half the norm of the concentration, when watering orchids in traditional culture.

Cleaning and inspection

When a water change is made, it is worth examining the roots of the flower, if they have green algae, then they should not be removed, they improve gas exchange in the water when it stagnates.

You can also see dead roots, no need to be scared, in their place, according to the rules, others must grow. Especially often this happens when transplanting orchids, in this case, the plant adapts to new conditions of "living".

Planting in a new pot

First, the roots of the plant are cleaned of old soil and washed under running water.
The pot is half filled with substrate.
After that, the flower is steadily placed in it and the soil is top-filled.
If you transfer the orchid to perlite, then the pot is covered with expanded clay to the level of the hole, and then the culture is planted.
Then perlite is poured on top so that only 1 cm recedes from the neck.
To compact the soil in the root area, the pot is temporarily lowered into the water.

Possible problems and solutions

As with any other plant, problems with orchids can occur:

Wrinkled edges at the flower indicate a too high room temperature. The difference between day and night air temperature should be 8 degrees.
If the roots of the plant dry or rot, this indicates abundant watering or a too narrow pot that compresses the root system of the crop. Another reason for this condition of the flower is abundant watering after a long period of time.
Lack of flowering. Try to make the orchid heat stress, that is, the temperature difference between day and night should be a difference of 8-10 ºС.

Care

If the window where the orchid is planted faces the south side, then the plant needs to create blackout. In the summer you need to create a cool environment, and Winter indoor temperature should not exceed 25 degrees.

The percentage of humidity in the room should be 25-35%, sometimes it is brought up to 40-45%. This is especially important when new sockets appear. To do this, the pot is installed in a pan with water, and the substrate is sprayed with a spray.

When new outlets appear, watering should be plentiful. The leaves of the plant are not recommended for spraying, otherwise yellow spots will form on them. Fertilizer is also added at the time of the appearance of new outlets through irrigation. It is recommended to add fertilizers no more than once every 2.5-3 weeks, otherwise an overabundance of nutrients will negatively affect the flower.

If you are new to floriculture, consult with professionals first. They will teach you how to water an orchid, how to care for it. After all, even top dressing can depend on the type of plant and the phase of growth. And only then will this exotic flower regularly delight you with its flowering.