Don’t throw away the Phalaenopsis orchids that have withered after the Chinese New Year. Wrap them in bread crumbs and they will…

Do you buy Phalaenopsis orchids for the Chinese New Year? Do you throw them away after the flowers bloom ? I used to do that - I think Phalaenopsis, a southern plant, cannot survive in Shanghai.

Until a few years ago, I forgot a pot of Phalaenopsis orchid on the south balcony. After a month or so, it seemed to be alive, so I watered it casually. Unexpectedly, half a year later, it grew many creepy tentacles .

Crickety Phalaenopsis

I took a photo and asked the gardening group, and the boss said: Your Phalaenopsis is very healthy!

I looked at it for a long time without knowing why: How can I tell if it is healthy? Why does its appearance seem to be not good for my health?

Later I learned that these were the aerial roots of Phalaenopsis, which usually grow downwards, but I watered them too little, so they all burrowed into the (humid) air of Shanghai like garden eels. In other words, it relied on the northwest wind to live in a way that others could not (eh).

It suddenly bloomed again last summer and the flowering period lasted about 4 months.

Last summer, it bloomed again in this unloving family environment, and it bloomed quite big. During this time, I also figured out the undemanding character of Phalaenopsis - what is this called, a kid who stutters can go to Harvard! I can raise 10 more of this kind of kid! While I was slapping my thigh in frustration at the Phalaenopsis I threw away in the past, I was staring at the retired orchid that the gust of wind picked up from the property management (✧∇✧).

A few years ago, a friend of mine gave me a retired orchid from a company property. After resting on top of the cabinet for a year, it also sprouted flowers.

Lazy Man's Friend Phalaenopsis

Phalaenopsis is native to the tropics. It clings to trees with its aerial roots and lives with the fungi that live in symbiosis with its roots in the moist and warm air under the canopy. This means that it is adapted to an environment with no soil, no sun exposure, no water accumulation, and not much nutrients (fertilizer) .

The air is moist but not stagnant, the sun is strong but not too hot or too cold, the space is open but not too ventilated - this is also the most comfortable corner in a human home (not the bed). So if you want to grow a Phalaenopsis, find this place, put it there and don't move it .

The Phalaenopsis orchids on my windowsill are some of the ones I picked up. They bloomed from November to August.

I accidentally left my Phalaenopsis in the corner of the south balcony. The temperature is between 10-30℃ all year round, the humidity and sunshine are just right, and I have avoided the most common problem of novices: overwatering . Nine out of ten Phalaenopsis orchids I have heard of died because they were overwatered, and one was released outdoors by my family on a 42-degree hot day for some reason...

I have been raising plants for many years and have collected a lot of strange ways of death, but this one is still worth noting separately: do not suddenly change the living environment of the plant.

Experience of resuming spending without much trouble

If you bought a pot of Phalaenopsis during the Chinese New Year, don’t rush to throw it away. It’s not difficult to keep them alive and even continue to bloom . Here are my careless maintenance experience:

1. Look at the roots first

If there are green roots, it means it is basically healthy. Don't replace the sphagnum moss on the soil - although it may look disgusting, the Phalaenopsis itself is very strange (?), so it is normal that its friends look a little bit unpleasant to look at...

The green things pointed by the arrows are the roots. As long as they are still green and not black and rotten, try to leave the sphagnum moss alone.

Commercial Phalaenopsis usually uses sphagnum moss as a substrate to maintain the root system. After a period of time, the sphagnum moss will have fungi that coexist with the root system . If you easily replace it, the roots will lose their friends and be bullied by unfamiliar fungi. (If the roots have rotted but the petiole is still intact, there will be an emergency measure later.)

2. Give the basin a base

The Phalaenopsis orchids I picked up were not placed in proper flower pots. Phalaenopsis orchids and the disposable plastic containers and garbage at home are really a perfect match!

I usually use a translucent container to hold the roots of Phalaenopsis orchids . I use whatever I have on hand, and it is also convenient to observe the root status. Anyway, they will not appear in a prominent position in the home as ornamental plants for a while. Reusable plastic bags are particularly good. The soft outer wall may be more suitable for the root system to expand. It is convenient to put the bag into the ornamental pot after the flowers bloom.

Then put a base on the outside of this unrefined pot. In principle, any container that can hold a little water will do, such as a cup, a plate or a bowl. After watering, the small amount of accumulated water at the bottom of the cup can continuously provide it with moisture without soaking the roots and causing root rot.

I often use milk tea cups because my colleague gave me a dozen. Other ready-made containers are also fine. You don’t need to buy orchid pots, let alone milk tea…

3. Forget about it (but water it occasionally)

Find the auspicious corner of your home for the Phalaenopsis, leave it there, and water it when the dust on the bottom of the outer container is completely dry. Another indicator is that you don't need to water it as long as there is moisture on the wall of the pot .

I water my plants about once every two weeks in Shanghai. My friend told me that it's once every three days in Beijing, and some places even need to use a humidifier; while in many places in South China, you can just let the plants hang out on the trees and rely on the weather. You can explore based on your own coordinates.

During the Spring Festival, Phalaenopsis orchids bloomed in Shenzhen trees, but people north of Guangdong should not imitate them.

After this wave of flowers during the Spring Festival has faded, be mentally prepared: for the next half year or a year, it will spend the next year in the form of a pot of plastic green leaves , with a thin layer of dust on the leaves, like a assembled Lego toy.

At this time, just keep it in a place with a temperature of 10-30℃, stable temperature and humidity, bright but not exposed to the sun, and you can forget about it! But don't forget too much, you still need to water it occasionally . (For detailed maintenance tutorials, search "兰花留手" on Station B.)

Orchids all say that the top of the shelf is good. I feel that the roots in the plastic bag perform best, perhaps the soft outer wall is closer to its native environment. They will be forgotten here for half a year, and watered every few weeks.

After half a year or a year, if you find small tips like this at the base of the leaves (see the picture below), it means that the plant has come to its senses .

At this time, if you have Huaduoduo or Aolv manure, you can apply a little fertilizer very thinly, about 1:2000-3000 water-soluble fertilizer. (If you don't have it, forget it, I don't have it either.) Watering is still the same as before , and it will bloom in a few months.

First aid plan

If you find that the roots of the Phalaenopsis are completely rotten, but the base of the petiole is still intact and has no black spots of corruption , it may still be saved.

After removing the sphagnum moss, suspend the plant in a container (a beverage cup with holes on the side in the picture below), add a little water to the bottom of the container, just keep the air in the cup slightly moist, and don't soak any part. If the conditions are right, new roots will grow in about a week or two.

The green dots in the circle are the new roots that sprouted after a week of rescue.

When the new roots grow long, you can stuff sphagnum moss into them (it’s okay if you don’t, depending on the condition of the plant itself), and then maintain them normally.

After a few weeks, new roots will grow.

It doesn’t matter if the rescue fails, just keep an eye on the property and pick it up next time |ू･ω･` ).

Bulb plants can also bloom again

In addition to Phalaenopsis, there are many other flowers that have the ability to bloom again, it just depends on whether we give them a chance. For example, bulb plants.

Hyacinthus is a bulb plant with beautiful flowers. Many people will buy a pot of hyacinth during the Spring Festival.｜John O'Neill / Wikimedia Commons

Many people buy bulbs in autumn and winter, expecting a colorful and fragrant early spring. However, after they bloom, the bulbs are half deflated and look lifeless. Many people may think it is tasteless to plant them and a pity to discard them. In fact, bulbs are easy to bloom again . The standard operation is to dig out the plants after they wither, put them in a ventilated and cool place, and hide them until around November before planting them again. I don't like the trouble, so I keep them in a large flowerpot, and whoever wants to bloom can bloom in the second year.

My experience over the years has been that for hyacinths, ranunculus, lilies, grape hyacinths, daffodils, crocuses, and snowdrops, you don't have to worry about them at all, as long as you water them in November, they will bloom to some extent the following year .

The only problem is that they may forget that there are bulbs inside and plant something else - I have a Jade Plant that I haven't repotted for 5 years, and every spring one or two Grape Hyacinths pop up next to it . I don't know what the Jade Plant thinks about this, but it doesn't say anything.

If you don't do any maintenance, the flowers in the second year (right) may not be as big as the first year (left), but 80% of them can bloom, and they will grow more and more under good conditions. Hydroponics have too little nutrients and it is not easy to bloom. It is recommended to plant them in the soil.

Occasionally, there will be hyacinths that suddenly become dead in the second year (why does this sound familiar?), I wonder how many heads will bloom?

Since they can bloom again, they can also be picked up. When the park near my home was arranging early spring flowers, a cart of post-flowering bulbs was thrown away. My mother asked the gardener for a handful while strolling. This blind box will not be available until March this year... I guess she has forgotten it. Next month she will wonder where the pot of tulips came from at home.

You ask me why I am so skilled? Of course it is because I have to open the bulb boxes from March to July every year, and I never know what will be in the next spring.

In the spring, I am busy putting vases on the balcony, and no March knows about it.

It’s not just bulbs and orchids that can bloom again. As for plants, if you understand their needs and wait long enough, they will always bloom in abundance. Leftover cabbage cores and radish tops, a handful of cilantro and green onions with roots, rose branches trimmed in the park, a handful of grass seeds collected from the roadside, fruits brought by birds - occasionally give them water to drink, and before you know it, you have so much that you have to give it away.

The Spring Festival has passed, so why not start from this spring and give the New Year flowers a permanent home?

Author: Dadazi and Hammer

Editor: Mai Mai

Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations are provided by the author

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)