When is the best month to start shading orchids
The editor introduces the best month to start shading orchids and the introduction of green plants and flowers about the best time for orchid fertilization. Next, the editor of the website will introduce to the netizens.
The relationship between light and orchids
Orchids cannot grow without the sun, which is the law of plants, and orchids are no exception. When I talk about my experience in growing orchids, I often emphasize the importance of light for orchids. Orchids with poor lighting for a long time not only have weak seedlings and are prone to diseases, but also do not easily bud and bloom. This loses the original intention of growing orchids, and no one wants to raise a pot of orchids that do not bloom.
About how orchids should correctly bask in the sun? The amount of light is not weight or length and cannot be expressed with an accurate number. Our understanding of orchids' lighting needs is through the natural growth of wild orchids.
Everything in nature is subject to survival of the fittest, and existence is reason. There are no better explanations or reasons. Most wild orchids grow in mixed areas of broad-leaved forests and pine needle forests, and broad-leaved forests shed leaves in winter.
Every Qingming Festival, the trees on the mountain start to sprout, and the light for orchids gradually decreases, which indicates that the season is reminding orchids to be shaded.
In the summer broad-leaved forest, it is shady and cool. Since the trees in the orchid mountains are not too short, the place where orchids grow is definitely cool with a breeze. I have experienced the cool breeze beside orchids in the summer many times.
After autumn, the broad-leaved forests begin to shed leaves annually, and the light for orchids gradually increases. When the last leaf falls in the late autumn, orchids are basically exposed to full-day sunlight. Of course, the daylight hours in winter are much shorter than in summer, which is an important season for wild orchids to accumulate nutrients.
If orchid enthusiasts are entangled in how much sun orchids should bask in, they might as well refer to the natural shading method of wild orchids and decide whether to set up a shading net for orchids by observing the changes of leaves on the mountain.
Set up a layer of 40% shading net in early April, and then add another layer of the same shading net in mid-June; remove a layer of shading net in late September and all of them by early November, allowing orchids to bask in the sun.
Of course, the above months and the arrangement of the shading nets are based on the Jiangnan region. Orchid enthusiasts in other regions can arrange them according to the local climate changes.
When is the best month to start shading orchids
What has been said above is how orchids bask in the sun and how to change the light amount of orchids during the changes of seasons. But not all sunlight is suitable for orchids. Orchid enthusiasts might ask: What? There is sunlight that cannot be basked in?
There really is. In some periods or specific environments, orchids cannot be exposed to the sun. In lighter cases, the orchid seedlings will stop growing, and in severe cases, the orchid plants will collapse. This is not just talk without evidence; it is supported by practice. So, what kind of sunlight is not suitable for orchids? I have made some statistics and now classify them as follows.
First, the sunlight during the slow seedling stage
One to ten days after planting orchids is the slow seedling stage, during which the orchid roots basically do not participate in work, and the whole orchid plant is in a state of only consumption without absorption. If exposed to the sun during the slow seedling stage, the excessive evaporation of water from the orchid leaves will lead to the orchid plant losing water. The most obvious sign is severe withering, and the orchid seedlings become more withered.
I have always suggested not to expose orchids to the sun within 10 days after planting and keep them in a shady and well-ventilated place for maintenance, which makes it easier for orchids to go through the slow seedling stage and survive smoothly.
Second, the sunlight after consecutive rainy days
This issue was not discovered during the planting of orchids but while planting other fruits and vegetables. After consecutive (more than 7 days) rainy weather, if the sun is very strong on a sunny day, the plants are very prone to withering, which is known as "seedling blight" in plant pathology.
In fact, sometimes this disease is not caused by bacteria but by the plant adjusting its own ecosystem during long periods of rainy weather. If it suddenly encounters harsh sunlight, the plant cannot adapt immediately, which can lead to cell disorder and cause rapid loss of water, resulting in plant withering.