Orchids are notoriously tricky to care for – but these two items could guarantee beautiful blooms.
If you’ve got any orchids in your house, you’ll know how difficult they can be compared to other houseplants. You can’t leave an orchid on a windowsill and let it fend for itself in the same way you can a succulent, and you need to know exactly how to care for the plants to keep them from withering.
One of the trickiest parts of caring for an orchid is getting the plant to actually flower. If you’re struggling to see any blooms on your plant, you should never give up and throw the plant away, as with good care it should continue to grow and flower year after year. And according to one gardening fan online, there are only two items you need to guarantee beautiful blooms.
The green-fingered social media user took to the Orchid Tips and Tricks page on Facebook to share pictures of her five orchids, as she said they have all been blooming nonstop since we moved in July 2021. Before long, the woman was inundated with comments asking her how she achieved her impressive flowers, and she was all too happy to share her tips.
She revealed she only waters her plants once a week, but makes sure to add two important ingredients to her watering can – Epsom salts and baking soda. The woman wrote: I have had most of them for about 10 years. I water them once a week for about half an hour.
Soak with well water, Epsom salts and baking soda. They have been continually in bloom for over two years. When asked how much of each ingredient she uses, the woman said she puts half a teaspoon of both into two litres of water.
You can pick up Epsom salts for £3 from Boots for a 1kg bag. They are also available on Amazon, where a 450g bag will cost you £2.64. Baking soda is the cheapest at Sainsbury’s where it costs just 59p, however if you want the convenience of ordering both items directly to your door from Amazon, you can get bicarbonate of soda in a 500g bag for £2.
Depending on how fast your orchid’s potting bark dries out, you may find you need to water more or less frequently than the woman who shared the hack. On average, orchids need watering every five to 11 days. And the gardening fan’s trick was backed up by a gardening expert, too.
Melissa Strauss, an orchid enthusiast from the Epic Gardening blog, said incorporating Epsom salts into your orchid care is a great way to boost blooms. She said: Epsom salts are a valuable and inexpensive way to give your orchids, and other plants, the valuable nutrients they need. Their use in plant care contributes to bigger, healthier, more robust plants, with larger, more colourful blooms.
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