For the past year, most of the topics I've covered in my monthly orchid care tips have come from questions I've received at my classes and presentations. I would now like to open this up to anyone who may have a question on orchid care. Send your question to my email address listed at the bottom of this page. I will go through the questions I receive each month and pick one to address here. 

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June Orchid Care Tip

Bl Yellow Bird
​Blooms in July of each year

Lc Loog Tone
​Blooms in March of each year

Raising Show Quality Orchids
 
Last month, I discussed how orchids are judged by the American Orchid Society (AOS) at orchid shows. I also mentioned that I teach an orchid class called, “Raising Show Quality Orchids”. For anyone interested in showing their orchids, here are a few of the highlights of this class:

• If you intend to show an orchid, buy a good quality orchid from a grower. You definitely get what you pay for in orchids. The cheap store-bought orchid is great if you just want flowers on your table, but you want a healthy, well-bred orchid to show.
• If you buy a hybrid, ask the grower what traits the hybrid was bred for: longer bloom life, larger blooms, more blooms, etc.
• Buy an orchid that you know will be blooming when you want to enter it in the show. For the average person who raises their orchids in their home, an orchid that blooms once a year in July will be very difficult to coax into blooming in March.
• The closer you can come to providing an orchid with its native growth conditions, the healthier and more vigorous your orchid will be. Make sure you buy an orchid genus where you can meet its growth needs. For example, I love Vanda orchids, but don’t have the conditions in my house to grow them successfully. While I may be able to keep one alive, I can’t give it the conditions it needs to be show-worthy.
• Finally, remember the most important phase for an orchid is its growth phase. This is when it will make all of the carbohydrates it will use to bloom. Make sure you maximize its growing conditions.