Facts and Pictures Of Orchids II

An orchid is any member of the family orchidaceae, a group of attractively flowered plant of the generic order Orchidales. The word orchid is derived from the Greek word (orchis) for testicles because of the shape of the root tubers in some species of the genus orchis.


Orchids are found all over the world except Antarctica. It is most abundant in forest of mostly tropical islands. Inside this forest, orchids grows on branches of trees as well as areas on top of their roots. In North America and in European countries some orchids grows on prairies and this species of orchids are called terrestrial orchids. And yet some orchids grows inside crevices of rocks.


Orchids are self-sufficient plants. It grows its own food. by growing fungus around its roots. Other species live on dead organic materials. For orchids that anchors its roots in between crevices of rocks and on branches of trees, gets its nourishment's by absorbing nutrients from surrounding air.


After Flowering, remove any dead flowers and old flowers and sheaths, but take care not to damage the pseudobulb from which the inflorescence grew, in the case of Phalaenopsis, the flower spike would have grown from between the leaves on the plant body, it should be cut back to within an inch of where it appeared, or if you wish to flower the plant sooner, and the flower spike is still alive (perhaps an odd flower left on it) then look for a small node or bump below where the first flower appeared along it and trim just above there, if you are in luck it will produce a new spike from there and flower more quickly.



Orchids generally do not suffer from the usual plethora of ailments which affect many of our favorite garden plants, this is for two reasons, firstly many of the species and hybrids we grow are alien to our local atmosphere, and consequently also alien to many pests and diseases we find outdoors, and the second one is that because of the fact that we grow them mainly indoors they are not exposed to the problem in the first place.


Orchids can fall foul of leaf rot, mildew, botrytis and many other pathogens, by and large, providing there is a good air movement around the plant, and that by nightfall the leaves are fairly dry, then fungal infections should not be a problem, and correction of the bad condition, along with a fungal spray (check with the garden centre that it is safe for orchids) should do the trick, a fast fix for a localized leaf infection is to dust a little cinnamon onto the infected area.