Maybe it’s not you — maybe it’s the ice and floral foam
I bought my first orchid from a big-box hardware store when I was in high school. It was a light-purple phalaenopsis, or ‘moth orchid’, and I was obsessed. Unfortunately, this beautiful plant met her end fairly quickly in the hands of my inexperience. I was devastated and it was a very long time until I tried to care for an orchid again.
A few years after that experience, I was in a grocery store when I saw a mini-phal near the checkout and decided it was time to try again. Not wanting to face the same heartbreak, I made sure I studied the tag until I was prepared to give this little baby the best possible care. Every Sunday I put a juicy ice cube on top of the medium as instructed. The little phal died anyway.
Sound familiar?
I’m not going to lie to you and tell you orchids are as easy as ZZ plants or snake plants, but there’s something kind of nasty going on with those ubiquitous moth orchids that you can get just about anywhere toilet paper and birthday cards are sold. While you need to give your orchid proper care (more on that later), you might be swimming upstream when you buy an orchid from these places.
First — the ice cubes.
Orchids are tropical plants. They savour the heat and humidity. Ice cubes are the opposite of what they want, but you’re likely to find a nice little tag on your grocery store orchid saying “just add ice.” No, no, no!
Whether it’s a deliberate scheme to get you to burn the heck out of your orchid’s roots and send it into a state of shock, or a note on the desired quantity of water, it’s blatantly wrong. The marketing has been incredible and you may even have your most savvy plant-rearing relative willing to argue with you on this.
While water requirements may vary by type of orchid, you’re generally going to want to treat your plant to warm temperature water. Saturate the medium and make sure it’s able to dry out. The roots will tell you when your plant is happy. If they’re chunky and green, they’ve had enough water. Brown and slimy means they’ve had too much.
Speaking of potting media, there’s another nasty surprise in these bulk-grown orchids that you need to watch out for: floral foam.
For the most part, orchids are happy growing on moss and bark. They’ll grow on trees in the wild in the proper climate. They don’t want to be in a pot of soil because their roots need to breathe. Therefore, they can’t survive when they’re growing amongst a big chunk of foam. I suppose it’s in the interest of mass-production, but many of these bulk-grown orchids have their roots packed into floral foam.
If you have an enterprising spirit and want to rescue these little babies, go for it! Take the floral foam out slowly while being very careful with the roots, and get some nice moss or bark in a well-draining slotted pot and hopefully you can change the fate of that orchid.
You don’t have to be scared of caring for orchids. I would recommend buying from a reputable grower or garden centre and asking said grower for a culture sheet. Or, visit the American Orchid Society’s website. They have lots of wonderful resources for growers of all skill levels.
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