One of the ornamental plants known by the whole world is orchid, one type of flower that is Epiphytic type, in its natural habitat, the orchid will live attached to the trunk of woody plants.
This is what then causes difficulties when this flower will be cultivated or planted to beautify the house. Orchid flowers consist of at least 20,000 species and as many as 1000 species of hybrid species have been discovered, this number will continue to grow with more and more people crossing various types of orchids that already exist, to get new species of orchids.
One of the easy methods applied in growing orchids is to use coconut coir. How to :
1. Prepare the coconut coir growing media
At the earliest stage, is to prepare the planting media in the form of coconut coir, try to choose coconut coir that is old and dry, with the characteristics of dark brown fiber, after that soak coconut coir for approximately 6 hours, soaking with water is done so that tannin compounds that are has toxic properties in the coconut husk is lost, after that repeat again soaking using a fungicide to remove fungus on the coconut coir so it does not interfere with the growth of orchids, after soaking with fungicide solution, then lift and dry until the coconut coir is not too wet and not too dry .
2. Choosing and preparing Orchid Seeds
Orchid seeds that you want to grow can be obtained by buying from a plant shop or your own cultivation, choose orchid seeds that have healthy and sturdy roots and leaves, with bright green leaf characteristics. and make sure there are no defects or sores on the roots of orchid plants.
3. Preparing the Pot
Pot that is usually used in growing orchids is a pot that comes from soil material, things that must be considered are the cleanliness of the pot, including ensuring that there is no fungus that can interfere with the growth of orchids, this can be done by soaking or washing the pot with a fungicide solution before use to plant.
4. Planting orchids in coconut coir media.
After coconut coir media, healthy orchid seeds and are not deformed, and pots are available, the next step is to plant orchids on coconut coir, the method is:
- Add wood charcoal to the bottom of the pot
- Then wrap the roots of the orchid plant on the coconut fiber
- Then put it in a pot
- Place it in a place and try not to be exposed to direct sunlight.
- Flush the orchid plant after one week of planting it in a pot.
5. Care and maintenance
Caring for and maintaining orchid plants is not too difficult, some of which are:
- Sprinkling
Watering the plants is done twice a day in the morning and evening, pay attention to the temperature and weather in your area, if it is the rainy season then you should not do watering, because one of the characteristics of coconut coir is that it can store water well, do intensive watering during the dry season or summer.
- Fertilizing
You can start fertilizing orchids if they are one month old after planting, fertilizers that can be used are organic fertilizer or Slow release fertilizer (SRF), and can also use leaf fertilizer at a dose of 5 grams / liter every 3 weeks.
- Replacement of planting media
Although coconut coir is a good growing medium for orchids, it still needs to be replaced, because coconut coir is easy to decay and rot, and can cause orchid growth to be sub optimal, replacing the coconut coir planting media every 4-6 months, be careful when replacing so that the roots of orchids are not damaged.
That's how to grow orchids using coconut coir media, hopefully useful and good luck trying at home.
