How many times a year does the gentleman's orchid change the soil?

Recently, it has been found that many orchids enthusiasts exchange topics about whether it is necessary to change soil and pots once a year.

Among them, some people think that it is not necessary to change the basin once a year, but it can be changed once every three to four years.

However, according to my experience and lessons of cultivating Magnolia for many years and the opinion of most experts, I think this view is not correct enough.

Cymbidium is an exotic flower, and its growth characteristics are not well understood by many novice cultivators, so it is necessary to talk about the necessity of changing pots once a year.

Potted gentleman orchid, due to the constraints of conditions, no matter what the material of the flowerpot, ventilation is not ideal. The well-developed root system of Cymbidium needs not only water and nutrients, but also sufficient oxygen to breathe. Therefore, most of the new roots germinated every year grow close to the inner periphery of the flowerpot. If you observe carefully when changing pots, it is not difficult to find that the more distant the root system is, the thicker the root system is, and the root system gradually decreases, especially in the middle of the flowerpot, where there are basically no new roots. The root grows on the inside and outside of the flowerpot, and the problem of breathing oxygen is solved. However, the following problem is that the edge of the flowerpot has no soil and no moisture. For a long time, the growth is bound to be seriously affected. The gentleman orchids of many friends do not blossom, which has a lot to do with not changing the soil all the year round.

It is also suggested that when changing the soil basin, it is best not to break the original soil mass, for fear of damaging the root system of the orchid. In fact, this view is not correct enough. The gentleman orchid changes the basin or the naked replacement is better, had better be completely replaced with new soil. Succulent root plants can store water and leave the cultivation medium for a short time without any effect at all. At the same time, the bare root to change the basin, but also easy to cut off the old root residual root and diseased root.

With regard to the time when the gentleman orchid will change its basin, theoretically, it can be either spring or autumn. However, according to my experience in cultivating magnolia, autumn is better. Most balcony gentleman orchid bloom ends, about in the middle of April. At this time, it is the peak season for the growth of the leaves of Cymbidium, and then it enters the summer. Summer is the dormant period of Magnolia. The growth and development of leaves in spring is not mature, which seriously affects the ornamental effect and bud pregnancy. In addition, if the replacement of potted soil is not fully fermented and encounters high temperatures in summer, it is bound to burn roots. The metabolism of the root system of Cymbidium is basically completed in the summer dormancy period, especially the old root and weak root wither and rot in summer. In view of this, it is more appropriate to change soil and basin in autumn.

It is my opinion that if you change the basin, you should disinfect the root of the orchid with potassium permanganate. In fact, if it were not for serious root rot, it would be totally unnecessary. Any creature has its own instinctive ability to resist disease. in other words, Magnolia itself also has a powerful function of self-purification, without the need for drug disinfection. In addition, potassium permanganate is harmful to magnolia in the end, probably no one has tested. As the saying goes, medicine is three-thirds poisonous, and it is not unreasonable to use it here. People who wear clothes probably don't need to be sterilized.

The last point is about the problem of high temperature disinfection of the soil used for the cultivation of Cymbidium. The cultivation of magnolia basin soil, after high-temperature disinfection, not only eliminated the bacteria, but also eliminated the microorganisms conducive to growth. It also does more harm than good to plant growth.