If you are wondering why your orchids aren’t blooming, here are some of the reasons and solutions to solve the problem!
The reasons why your orchids aren’t blooming are often multifaceted and involve reasons like the balance of environmental factors, care routines, light exposure, fertilizer needs, and so on. This comprehensive guide will highlight the most common and some less obvious reasons why your orchids aren’t blooming and provide solutions to help your orchids flower!
Why Your Orchids Aren’t Blooming- Reasons and Solutions
1. Knowing the Right Blooming Period
This is the first and foremost thing to learn about your Orchids. Most orchids bloom in summer, and many in the fall, followed by winter and spring bloomers. So when you buy or get an Orchid plant, identify the variety and know about its growing and blooming period.
Vanda orchids bloom two to three times a year, with each bloom cycle lasting up to six weeks. Besides, the Cattleya and Cymbidium orchids only bloom once a year in the spring. Similarly, there are many other varieties, and their blooming cycle is different, so identify your Orchids first!
2. Light is a Crucial Element
Light plays the most important role in the process of blooming and this is applicable to all flowering plants. Similarly, orchids need sufficient light sources to utilize the energy required for flowering. Please check the location of your orchid and make sure the spot is bright and gets partial or indirect sunlight.
Again, you can place your orchid plants near the windowsill where they will get enough sunlight and also keep rotating it so that the plant can absorb the light from all sides. Again, you can install grow lights for your orchids and adjust the lighting period accordingly.
3. Improper Watering Routine
When orchids are underwatered, the leaves tend to gradually turn brown from their ends and if overwatered then the leaves will become soft and soggy, also root rot will start turning over! So it is essential to set a proper routine for watering them depending upon factors like temperature and humidity of the region.
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Overwatering
If you give your Orchids too much water, they will not be able to bloom and eventually die. When Orchids are about to bloom, if they receive too much water at that moment, they may shed their buds. Most orchids need to dry out between watering, and you should avoid giving them wet feet.
Pro Tip: If the roots are turning brown, you’re watering too much. Wrinkled leaves can be a sign of too little or too much water.
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Underwatering
Some Orchids hail from humid forests and are accustomed to regular gentle rain showers. If your Orchid plants become too dry, the leaves will absorb water from their developing buds in an attempt to self-preserve. In this case, the buds will turn yellow, shrivel, and drop, so keep up with watering.
Pro Tip: Perhaps, Orchids prefer to be watered in the morning so that it has the rest of the day to soak up the water as well as absorb the light before the soil gets too warm.
4. Lack of Proper Temperature and Humidity
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Temperature
When orchids are placed outdoors or under direct sunlight, or during summer they experience high temperatures which behaves as a barrier in forming flower buds. Again, in the blooming season, if they are exposed to direct sunlight, then also they might absorb a lot of heat, which will eventually delay the formation of buds and flowers.
Orchids prefer to thrive and bloom in temperatures between 65°F-75°F (18°C-24°C); however, tropical orchids enjoy growing well in temperatures slightly more than this. Perhaps, when kept as a houseplant then the optimum temperatures must be between this range only to promote the formation of flower buds and start flowering.
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Humidity
“Imagine breathing in a dry, hot desert when you’re used to the tropical weather – that’s exactly how an orchid feels when humidity levels drop too low.” They ought to thrive on moisture in the air. Moreover, low humidity levels can lead to bud drop and hinder blooming.
Some indicators include crispy leaf edges or an overall dull appearance pleading for hydration from somewhere other than its roots alone. Humidity environments, typically between 40% to 70%, are favorable for Orchids.
Boost the humidity of your home or greenhouse by placing several other plants near your Orchid or a pebble tray filled with water.
5. Poor Soil Quality
The medium for growing orchids should be a mixture of dry tree barks, coconut coir or chunks, very little sandy soil, sphagnum moss, and coco peat. In addition to these ingredients, orchids are also seen to grow in liquid mediums with nutrients.
As orchids are epiphytes, they need nutrients and support from other tree trunks and barks, so besides the above ingredients, they do not seem to do well in garden soil or compact soil. So, please try to make the soil loose and airy with enough space for the roots to grow accordingly.
6. Ignorance of Fertilizer
A lack of essential nutrients can prevent your orchids from blooming. Ensure that you fertilize the growing medium with a balanced orchid fertilizer available in the market and spray the mixture from time to time accordingly.
You can also prepare fertilizer spray at home from banana peel by soaking the peels in water for 2-3 days, and when the mixture turns brown, your banana fertilizer is ready to use. Dilute this mixture in a 50:50 ratio with water and spray it on your orchids. This fertilizer helps to develop new and healthy roots.
7. Not Providing a Resting Period
Believe it or not, even plants need a break from working so hard, keeping up with the maintenance of nutrients, growing, and developing buds and flowers. Without these breaks, they won’t be able to revive for the next blooming period.
You need to encourage a resting period that involves reduced watering slightly while maintaining good lighting conditions. Skipping this method can lead to continuous leaf growth at the expense of blooms.
8. Infestation of Pests or Diseases
Lastly, let’s talk about the uninvited guests, diseases, and pests, including fungal infections sucking the nutrients out of your orchids, spider mites spinning webs, or infectious fungal growth or mealybugs rotting the roots.
Prevention starts with properly monitoring your Orchid plants, cleaning them, scrutinizing new additions, quarantining the suspicious ones, and so on. Otherwise, in the case of any such trigger alarms, act immediately with organic pesticides or other chemicals if available.
