Winter is the perfect time of year to enjoy the sumptuous color and fragrance of orchids in your home.

What a perfect time of year for growing orchids. Outside, the wind is blowing and snow is falling, but it is a veritable paradise with the scent of apple blossoms inside Connie Richmond’s home in Union. And, oh, those wondrous blooms providing a palette of sumptuous form and color in stunning contrast to the black-and-white winterscape.

To the novice orchid grower, it is comforting to know that Richmond killed her first orchid. But that didn’t stop her from becoming an accomplished orchid grower. She has been growing orchids for over 20 years, and currently has about 50 orchids with more than half in bloom.

Richmond offers these tips for growing orchids:

1. Always buy an orchid in bloom. This lets you know exactly what you are getting and that the orchid has the ability to bloom. Some orchid plants just don’t.
2. Buy the largest size you can afford. Large plants are easier to grow and bloom more. For a beginner, the best place to buy is at a specialty store like Hoosier Orchids or Orchids by Hausermann. Order their catalogs online. Hausermann has orchids from $6.50 for a 2 1/4-inch pot all the way up to $50 for a 10-inch pot, depending on the variety. These specialty stores have knowledgeable sales staff and can answer your questions. Sometimes you can buy orchids at Menards, Lowes or Sam’s Club. There you can get a good size orchid for $20 or $25, but don’t buy plants off the bargain table, because they will be harder to grow.
3. Always isolate a new plant to make sure it doesn’t have any insects like spider mites or scale or diseases. You don’t want to infest the rest of your collection.
4. Re-pot your plant once a year using a good orchid potting mix. Richmond finds that the number one problem with orchids is that people don’t repot them. Soil mixes deteriorate over time and start to suffocate orchid roots. Richmond uses two mixes ordered from Hausermann: one is a general orchid mix for Moth Orchids and Cattleyas; another for Lady Slippers, which likes a less fine bark with charcoal and a little perlite to hold moisture.
5. Water your orchids once or twice a week. Lift the pot to determine if it is dry. The lighter the pot the drier it is. Let the water run through the plant and out the bottom. Richmond grows her orchids in trays with gravel on the bottom so the plants don’t sit in the water, but benefit from the moisture surrounding the gravel. Richmond has a humidity gauge on her orchid stand and if it is under 40 percent humidity, she waters her plants.
6. In order for orchids to bloom, they need a 10-degree differential between day and night temperatures.
7. Fertilize every time you water. Since orchids are grown in a soilless mix, they need nutrients to be good bloomers. Richmond uses a high nitrogen fertilizer (15-5-5), and when they spike and go into bud, she uses a Bloom Booster (10-50-20) that is higher in phosphorous. Fertilizers are available through specialty houses. After they bloom she gives them a resting period during which she doesn’t fertilize them for a couple of months.
8. Air movement is important. Richmond uses an overhead fan as well as another fan to keep the air moving in her growing area. It discourages disease and bacteria.

1. Orchids like light. Some orchids will flower in east windows, some in south windows protected from harsh midday sun. They like a lot of bright light.

   Richmond recommends experimenting with placement to see what works best for you. Cattleyas like more light; the Paphiopedilum and Phalaenopsis like less. In the winter she grows all of hers under artificial light and takes them all outside in the summer. She found the southeast corner of her deck is perfect. Her orchids get the eastern and southern sun, but are shielded from the harsh western sun.

   Rita Henehan, a freelance writer from White Pigeon, is a member of Midwest Energy Cooperative. She is an Advanced Master Gardener from Purdue University and writes for newspapers and magazines. E-mail her at rchenehan@voyager.net.