Orchid cultivation and watering in the north

Whether orchids can be raised successfully or not is the basis for choosing what kind of plant materials. Once selected, whether orchids can be fed and watered well is the key. The author has visited several orchid cultivation experts of the Beijing Orchid Research Association, and the plant materials they use are not exactly the same, such as immortal soil, peat soil, gold plant stone, river sand on rotten leaves, etc., because of their rich experience, they have mastered the right time to water, and the orchids are raised very well. Many orchid classics or literature emphasize that orchids are "happy and moist but afraid of dampness", "happy flat but afraid of dryness", "better dry than wet". For orchids in the north, especially those who are not very experienced, how to judge whether they should be watered or not is not an easy task, because "moistening" and "dryness" are difficult to quantify. In the end, what kind of "moistening" and "dryness" behave in the plant material depends entirely on years of experience, which brings great confusion to those who start to raise orchids. If you don't pay attention to it, you will fail. The easiest thing for beginners to grasp is that watering every few days is appropriate, which is a more quantitative operation, so we often hear the question of "watering once a few days". However, many orchid masters or articles about orchid cultivation are generally opposed to positive answers, because orchid watering is related to many factors, such as plant materials, flowerpots, weather, season, orchid varieties and plant growth, and so on. When the orchid pot is watered and when it is not watered, the scale is very clear, "dry" and keep the plant material in the basin "moist". However, how to judge? This problem is extremely important in northern orchid cultivation, because when the northern air is dry and watered, the basin plant material dries quickly, but the plant material in the basin and the bottom of the basin is not dry, so it is necessary to judge whether it should be watered or not. the author has taken to pick up the basin to weigh the weight, looking at the water loss, really can not make up his mind, just pick up the basin surface to see the plant water content, but if there are dozens of pots, this is too inconvenient. Sometimes it's not accurate. Later, toothpicks or wooden chopsticks were inserted into the basin and dialed out to have a look. If the chopsticks were still wet, they would not be watered, otherwise they would be watered. Although this method is more accurate and reliable, it is not very convenient. In this way, it seems that the key to whether it should be watered or not is to judge the problem. If the judgment is correct, the watering is right, and the judgment is not accurate. Although we know that "dry" is watered, and "moist" is not watered, it is also in vain. Orchids like to be moist but afraid of dryness, and how to understand "moisturization" and "dryness" is the key. For this reason, the author has done such an experiment. When using the same plastic basin to simulate planting orchids, they are filled with different air-dried plants and weighed together. 30% ballast is added on peat, gold and rotten leaves. Add 20% of the rotten leaf soil to the river sand and all the rotten leaves, and then soak the pot for 1 hour in order to achieve the maximum water holding capacity of the air-dried plant material. Then plug the bottom hole to quickly take out the basin, weigh and measure all the water after half an hour, calculate the pores of the plant, and then weigh it every other day for half a month. At the end of the experiment, the daily change of plant water content was calculated, and the results are shown in the table below.

From this result, it can be seen that in Beijing area, after different plant materials are watered, the change of water content in plant materials with time is different, with the fastest evaporation of phytolith and the slowest decrease of total rotten leaves. The decrease of plant water content is related to the maximum water holding capacity of plant material, and the water content of plant material in the basin decreases slowly when the maximum water holding capacity is high. In addition, it can also be seen that the rate of decrease of plant moisture in orchid pots in Beijing is also different in different seasons, and the evaporation of room temperature in August is faster than that in April. The table also shows that the porosity of different plants is different, the highest in peat soil and phytolith, and the lowest in rotten leaves with 20% river sand. The plant material with more pores is more conducive to the regulation of water and vapor in the basin, and there will be no problem if more water is poured frequently in the short term, and if there are few pores, there will be adverse reactions, which indicates that those who use the latter planting material to raise orchids should have a higher level. otherwise improper watering will cause rotten roots.

When the author encountered setbacks in raising orchids, he eagerly read more than a dozen books about orchids, and always seemed to understand the measurement of "moist", "dry" and "dry". Some books point out that "moist" is less moisture than wet, "dry" is less than "moist", and "dry" is more short of water than "dry". This is true, but how to master it is beside the point. Also see some books, pointed out that the soil water content in 15%-20% should be watered, which is more quantitative, for inexperienced people, as long as determine the water content of the poor orchid, you can grasp the best time to water. Later, in the introduction of the orchid cultivation experience of Mr. Wei Yasheng, a successful orchid farmer in Beijing, he used the "weighing method" to judge how much water lost in the orchid basin and thought that it should be watered when the water content of the plant material reached 40%-50% of the maximum water content. Combined with the measured results of the author, it can be seen that if the water content of the plant is reduced to 50% of the maximum water holding capacity is "dry", that is, the time of watering, whether the specific time interval of watering can be found. Specifically, the watering interval of the above five kinds of plants in Beijing should be controlled within 15 days, 9 days, 15 days, 15 days and 15 days in April, and 9 days, 3 days, 9 days, 9 days and 9 days in August. Of course, because the experiment is done in a pot where orchids are not planted, the evaporation of plant materials is less than that of plants, so it should be modified according to the size of the pot, the growth of orchids, climatic conditions and placement environment, that is, the interval of watering should be appropriately adjusted than the number of days in the table. If the family does not raise orchids much and use the same plant material, then it will take a little time to do one of the above measurements to find out the watering time interval. Of course, for those with rich experience in raising orchids, this method is superfluous. But for beginners, it is undoubtedly helpful. When I first raised orchids, I received the introduction of watering in a book: whenever the basin matrix is slightly less than white, it should be watered. As a result, it has failed many times, which is certainly true in the wetter environment of the south, but it is not comprehensive to the climatic characteristics of the north. Later, after continuous study and exploration, watering orchids in the Beijing area began to find some feeling. (Yu Fengyi)

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