Planning your vacations? What about your orchids?

[La Casa]

A frequent question we get is what to do with your orchids while you’re away traveling.  It all depends on how long you plan to spend far from home and the weather where you’re leaving your plants.  If you’ll be gone for 10 days or so, you have nothing to worry about!!  But if you’re going to be away longer, there are some steps you can take:

Before leaving, you need to water your plants abundantly until the media is saturated and place them farther from the windows where they can still receive light, but softer light.    If your zone is very hot and dry, you can soak your pots in water with fertilizer for about 20 minutes and then let them drain.  Place them about 6 feet away from the windows, where they’ll get softer light, but still be getting light.

If you leave for two weeks, you can also apply a coat of drenched Sphagnum moss on the top of the media (if you’re not growing in Sphagnum moss already), surrounding the base of the plant and the upper roots.  This will provide more humidity to them and will keep your plant hydrated longer.  You can also place the pots on home made humidity trays (check out our article: “Tips to increase Relative Humidity”).

If you are lucky enough to leave for more than two weeks, you need to ask someone to look after your plants!! Try to find someone that knows how to water orchids… you can thank them with a souvenir from your trip ” class=”spSmiley” /> !!

*PS. These tips also apply when transporting your plants and if the journey is long, like moving from one town to another.

[Autor]

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