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If you want to learn how to grow orchids, but are slightly intimidated by the seemingly fragile nature of these beautiful, exotic flowers, you need not worry. Honestly, if you take the time to learn just a few simple tips & educate yourself on a few basic ideas about how to care for your orchids, you will reap the reward of having beautiful plants, year in, year out.

Generally speaking, orchids are no more hard to manage than your average house plant–you just need to understand what they want, & once you provide the correct environment for them, they thrive on minimal maintenance.

I would like to share one very important & simple step you can take to insure your orchid has a healthy & happy :) start to life in your home.

Here is a valuable bit of advice to remember regarding watering your orchid: it is better to under-water your orchids than it is to over-water them.

To be fair, looking at an orchid with its roots exposed, sitting in a wood-chip growing medium, looking very dry & odd, it is not very hard to think that those exposed roots must need water! We think: “Just look at that, my orchids roots look bone dry! I should give that plant some water!” Because we have been taught to keep plants in moist soil, we think the same thing applies to orchids. It does not.

Orchids grow in naturally humid climates, receiving much of their required moisture from the ambient or airborne humidity. Orchids tend to grow in areas that will naturally drain off the majority of any precipitation they receive, & this is why you will see orchids growing on tree bark, or held out into virtually into thin air by their elaborate root system, or otherwise growing in ways that keep them out of constant exposure to damp, moist conditions.

Depending on the type of orchid you are discussing, most orchids need to water be watered every seven to 10 days. Again, some orchids need more water, others less, but all of them need to be kept out of excessively moist, damp conditions or their roots will quickly rot.

Air circulation around the plant is important, too, so be sure your orchids have room to breathe & are not tucked away in a damp corner near the window in your basement. Humid conditions will breed bacteria & fungi that may well harm your orchid, frequently resulting in the plant’s demise.

Take time to check to roots & rootlets of you plant to be sure they are not looking overly shriveled, or are showing signs of rotting. Sometimes over-watering will begin to rot the roots inside the growing medium (wood chips, peat, etc.) & as those roots rot, the plant begins dying & the surface roots will appear shriveled, making us think it is dry & needs more water owing to these dried out looking roots. Do not actually be deceived! This is a trick, & will cost you the price of your lovely plant.

If you stick to watering your plant every seven to ten days, remembering to give it a fertilizer once per month, you should avoid a most common problem for most orchid growers, starting out, & will be well on your way to having a healthy happy :) plant.

John Miley is an orchid enthusiast & former “orchid’s worst nightmare”–but has now learned some of the finer points of orchid growing & is more than happy :) to share his tips & tricks with you, helping you to grow beautiful orchids at home, with ease. You can read more about John’s orchid tips on his blog http://www.LearnHowToGrowOrchids.blogspot.com