A new concept of planting materials for cultured orchids

Orchid cultivation is inseparable from plant materials, so the discussion on plant materials has never stopped, and there are many related discussions, so there is no need to talk about it here, but we have tried many types of plant orchids in the past five years, which can be said to be both joyful and sorrowful. Today, there is a little less worship, but a little more doubt.

I. draining water and permeating air-- the consistent standard of orchid planting materials

Throughout the discussion and discussion of all kinds of plant materials, "draining water and breathable" has always been the "four-character True Sutra". Because Langen is a fleshy root, stuffy and damp can easily cause orchid root rot, resulting in the failure of orchid cultivation. Almost every orchid friend has experienced the lesson in this respect. The author often makes such a mistake when he first learns to raise orchids for three years. Today, sometimes I can't help making such a mistake.

Around "draining water and breathable", people have selected all kinds of plant materials, explored various proportions, have achieved success, and classified the plants as hard, medium and soft for orchid friends to emulate, but novices often have to experience failure before they can succeed. The author thinks that a friend of W Orchid, who has more than a hundred pots of orchid, is still worried about the plant material for more than ten years. When I first learned to raise orchids, I heard that the red soil was good, and he all used red loam, and as a result, many orchids died. Later, he used immortal soil plus willow bark, which was often irrigated because of too fine grinding and too many pots. Later, he used immortal soil plus willow bark coarse particles, which evaporated too fast in summer and had to be watered almost every day. He was often so tired that he had backache and a little slack, so he could not pour through only soaking pots. Now he is adding vegetable garden soil to the plant material, and I don't know what the effect will be. Over the years, it can be said that his orchid cultivation has not been successful in planting materials, and the benefit is naturally not very good. It is said that he used a loan to raise orchid, but he still owes nearly one million yuan. According to the principle of "draining water and breathable", he should be most satisfied with the use of immortal soil and coarse particles of willow bark, but he raises orchids on the roof, watering more times in summer, and is tired of dealing with it all day long, so there is no fun, let alone nourishing his heart.

Coincidentally, a man named Lan you, surnamed J, is purely a hobby. He doesn't know much about what plant materials need to "drain water and breathe air." they are all a hodgepodge from east to west, 1/3 of which is dust. He used to raise orchids on the balcony this year, but achieved success, the single seedling emergence rate is more than two seedlings, the root is also growing well. But his plant material is really not "draining water and breathing air", which makes W surprised and can't laugh or cry.

Second, how much water is drained and how much air is breathed-- the doubts of novice orchids

It is often said that the use of good plant materials is equal to half the success of raising orchids. Similar to the experiences and lessons of the above two orchid friends occur frequently, why on earth is this? First of all, it must be reiterated that orchid materials must be "drained and breathable", which is understandable, which is determined by the characteristics of Langen. The crux of the problem is how much water and how much air is most suitable.

This problem should arise after the orchid failed to be domesticated for the first time. But after thousands of years, novice orchids still don't think about it. Because although it is the most direct and simple, it is the rational thinking of people, not the appearance of sensibility, which cannot be realized without a few years of practice.

If we associate it with this, we will find something else. In our daily life, we often plant both orchids and other flowers and trees. Orchids need to breathe by their roots. Do other flowers and trees need them? The answer is yes. Lan is afraid of long-term dampness, but are other flowers and trees afraid? The answer is also obvious. In other words, other flowers and trees, like orchids, also need to "drain water and breathe air." This is the same as people, no matter men and women, old people, children, yellow people and Caucasians, all belong to "spiritual palms" and naturally have common attributes, and there will not be much difference in terms of "food, clothing, housing and transportation." Orchids and other flowers and trees belong to plants. Air, sunlight, water and nutrients are all needed, and all of them are indispensable. If in nature, orchid may have no other desire for its own living conditions as other plants. It's just that when we get to the human home, especially when it's not planted on the ground, it will certainly be different. Because a loam of soil can not contain water to store gas, but also can not tolerate heaven and earth, people need more pampering and care.

How much water to drain is just right, and how much air is most appropriate? There has been no fixed standard and accurate measurement. For the orchid master, you can know just by looking at it and touching it. For the novice orchid, it may take several years to explore and pay a certain tuition fee to complete it. Because there are environmental temperature, humidity, pots, orchids and many other factors, it is necessary to fully consider and deal with the relationship between them.

Third, "draining water and breathable" and "moisturizing and dipping mud"-- A new concept of orchid plant material

"leaking water and breathable" often gives people an illusion that orchid plant material is through efforts to drain water without paying attention to moisturizing, strive to be breathable and do not pay attention to Langen "mud". Mud is a saying in my hometown that plants are home-grown, and that if their roots are not combined with mud, they will become trees without roots and will not survive well. )

And try their best to drain water to breathe, so that orchids often do not get adequate water supply and affect their growth, and orchid roots do not "touch mud" and affect rooting. He suddenly remembered that he once talked to Xiao Yilan Yuan on QQ about whether it was necessary to increase the number of air vents in plastic pots for orchid cultivation. He thought that it was not appropriate to increase the number of air vents. At that time, he was deeply influenced by the theory of "leaking water and breathable," and he disagreed, and now it makes sense to think about it. In particular, the balcony and roof orchid, may have its rationality and applicability.

How to make orchid growers, both novice and veteran, can accurately grasp the main points of orchid planting materials, the author thinks that we should do the following.

1. Learn to think dialectically and return to the survival nature of Lan.

From the above, it is not difficult to see that too much emphasis on "draining water and breathable" is suspected of being overcorrected. In fact, every orchid farmer is repeating a practical process that people have raised for thousands of years: never know-- know very little-- know-- blend. This is like the process of human embryonic development repeating the process of human evolution. If you do not pay attention to the change of ideas, but blindly follow the script and follow others, even if you have raised orchids for 20 years, you are only a novice, just like the aforementioned W Lanyou. If you do not only focus on books, but also pay attention to accumulating your own experiences and lessons, you will soon become an expert.

Starting from the common characteristics of plants, I think orchid plants should be "drained and breathable" and "moisturized and muddy". Because the root of the orchid is fleshy, the leaf of the orchid is leathery, coupled with a large Reed head, which can maintain a certain amount of water, but the plant is too watery and breathable, which is not conducive to the growth of orchids. Water is the source of life, orchids as a green life, naturally can not leave the water. Therefore, the plant material must have a certain water retention capacity. People often see that some orchids grow very vigorously, which is related to the moderate water retention of plants, only moderate "dry", in other words, only moderate "wet", that is, "moist", can raise orchids well.

2. Establish a new standard for orchid planting materials.

For a long time, plants have been divided into three categories: hard, neutral and soft, or organic and inorganic. There is nothing wrong with these classifications. I just didn't find the crux of the problem. "watering for three years", the most difficult thing to cultivate orchids is watering. What if we think from this point of view and change the classification standard of orchid plant materials to water retention? It's bound to come up with a different classification. I think it can be divided into three types: wet, wetting and dry. Wet plant material means that the water retention performance of plant material is particularly good, such as simple pine soil, water moss, etc.; wetting plant material means that the water retention capacity of plant material is just right to meet the growth needs of orchids, such as pine chestnut king, fairy soil, snake wood, burning soil, Erye leaves; dry plant material refers to the poor water retention of materials, which can not meet the normal growth of orchids in a certain period of time, such as pebbles, burning soil and other plants.

Of course, there is an important factor worth considering-the environment of raising orchids. Different plants may be classified into the same type in different environments, and the same plants may be divided into different types in different environments. For example, orchids raised by pebbles may be classified as dry plants if they are on the roof or balcony, and may be regarded as moisturizing plants if they are planted in the greenhouse or on the ground.

This kind of establishment standard and classification method is not the originality of my whim, nor the originality of grandstanding. Its advantage is that it attracts the focus and focus of orchid farmers to the fundamental problems of planting materials without overcorrecting them. Let people always think about the eternal proposition of orchid and water, and make people strive to explore how to achieve more and better results with half the effort. The most practical benefit is to reduce water consumption and labor.

3. Select suitable moisturizing plant materials.

Different orchid environments have different requirements for plant materials, in short, it is necessary to drain water, breathable, moisturizing and muddy. This requires each orchid farmer to decide according to the specific situation, and can not be generalized. Below, the author talks about the experience and lessons of raising orchids on his own balcony.

Environment: balcony of urban buildings, semi-closed. Humidity: average 60 per year. Temperature: 5 degrees Celsius in winter and 30 degrees Celsius in summer. Plant materials: fairy soil, snake wood, burning soil, pine chestnut king. Orchid species: spring sword, spring orchid, lotus petal, summer orchid, cymbidium. Pots: tile pots, plastic pots.

(lesson) 1, using tile pots, drying too fast in summer; 2, switching to plastic pots, drying basin noodles too quickly in summer, increasing watering times, high humidity at the bottom, rotten orchid roots, big snow topping seedlings; 3, using basin surface water, orchid leaf coke tip.

(improvement measures) 1, increase the ventilation hole in the plastic basin; 2, use the increased hydrophobic cover inside; 3, fill the bottom with stones below; 4, allow dust in the plant material; 5, spread the basin surface with water moss; 6, increase the water storage plate; 7, soak the basin once every half month.

(effect) the orchid grows normally, especially the hair root is good, the root crystal head does not appear blackhead phenomenon, such as Jianyang butterfly this year's new seedlings are expected to grow into big seedlings. There are many flower buds.

(experience) 1, the pine chestnut king plant material raises the orchid well, joins the fairy soil better; 2, the plastic basin should pay attention to the basin surface moisturizing, can use certain fine soil or water moss; 3, the large particle fairy soil and the pine chestnut king generally do not need to fill the orchid basin bottom, can use snake wood or stone, because it contains too much water after soaking, it is easy to rot the root; 4, the mixed use of large and small particles, not layered use, so that the orchid root is fully covered with mud.

(still inadequacies) 1. The humidity of the basin bottom is different in summer, which is difficult to solve in the natural state; 2, the growth of new buds of single seedling is slow; 3, the balcony is dusty and it is difficult to wash leaves in summer.

(conclusion) by making great efforts to create the internal and external environment of moisturizing plant materials, orchid cultivation is basically successful, but it still needs to be continuously improved.

The above are the author's superficial views, there must be many inadequacies, please criticize and correct them. I will publish orchid knowledge and pictures every day, take you in-depth understanding of orchids, teach you to easily raise orchids, you can always ask me or leave a message below if you don't understand orchids. If my knowledge brings you help, I hope you can help me or forward it to help more people!