Some Helpful Tips on How to Best Take Care of Orchids After Using Them for Events Like Weddings

Orchids are highly popular among flowers and gardening enthusiasts because of their delicate and beautiful nature. Whether indoors or outdoors, their presence can easily elicit an atmosphere of romance. This is also why it’s perfect for use as decorative flowers in events like weddings.

Should you decide to incorporate orchids in your wedding flowers–in your bouquet, on the aisle, or even as table centerpieces and giveaways–it’s advisable to also know how to care for them afterwards so that they can last for longer. Meanwhile, if you’re a guest and you do see orchid cuttings, probably from the decorations or even the bridal bouquet, you can also take them home for yourself and plant them to grow your own orchids collection. You never know, it just might be the start of a blooming hobby with flowers.

Minimize Watering

Ideally, orchids should grow naturally with roots out in the open for fresh air, because the roots become vulnerable to diseases if they remain wet or exposed to moisture. However, orchids usually come already in bloom in their potted plants when you get them from flower shops.

Be that as it may, do not attempt to repot them, otherwise the flowers will get stressed and most likely lose their blooms. To prevent moisture build-up in the potted orchids, simply hold off on watering them in the meantime. Don’t worry about them drying out because delicate though they may appear, they actually are very resilient and can retain moisture for as long as a week. This is also why watering them sometimes merely requires a few spritzes.

If you want to be sure about whether it’s time to give them water or not, stick your finger into the growing media of the plant. Unless it feels absolutely dry, there’s no need for water yet.

Keep in a Cool, Dry Place

Heat will dry out the plants fast, which can harm their blooms. If outdoors, keep them under some shade where they can still catch some sun without suffering directly under it. The same goes for if you’re keeping them indoors. While it is not advisable for these flowers to be exposed directly to sunlight as this can cause leaf scorching, they do love being in a bright place. Also do keep them away from items that exude heat.

Post-Bloom Care

Blooms usually last a few weeks. Afterwards, you should cut off the old flower spike using garden snips. You can also leave it on if you would like to give me a chance to rebloom. As the orchid grows, you might also want to consider repotting the plant into a more comfortable pot, one that won’t cramp up the roots. Normally, repotting can be done once every other year anyway so it shouldn’t be that stressful for the plants.

Keep in mind that orchids can’t be exposed to too much moisture so if you are to repot them, you can try adding in other growth-assisting, water-draining elements like moss, charcoal sand, fir bark, and more.

Anti-Pest Care

As with any other types of plants, orchids are also susceptible to pest infestation. The usual suspects include aphids, mealybugs, spider mites, and scales. This is why it’s crucial that you check each and every orchid plant every single day to make sure that there are no pests affecting it. They will usually leave trails or maks, anyway, such as the mealybugs, for example, that leave white cotton-like residue, that are actually their egg sacs.

Scale plant insects, meanwhile, usually can be found underneath the leaves and leave joints. Large amounts of honeydew signal the presence of soft scale bugs. It’s not the honeydew that’s the problem per se, though, but rather the growth of black mold arising from the presence of honeydew, which then affects the process of photosynthesis.

You can use pesticides and insecticides to control their presence in your garden, particularly on your orchids. For aphids, however, it would be better if you encourage their natural enemies, such as ladybugs and lacewings. These are friendly to garden plants like orchids, while dangerous for pests.

A flower shop like River Oaks Plant House can offer orchids as well as other flowers that will be perfect for your wedding day or growing garden. Get started with choosing what kind of orchids specie you would like to have first.

Sources:

Orchid Growing Tips: How to Take Care of Orchid Plants Indoors. GardeningKnowHow.com.

How to Care for Orchids. TheSpruce.com.