How to grow children orchids: what to do in order to make the flower give offspring, as well as what to take as a basis for further care at home?

Orchid is a fabulously beautiful flower that has long won the hearts of true connoisseurs of beauty. It propagates in the following ways: seeds, dividing the bush, cuttings and "kids".

The last option is the most popular among gardeners. Let us consider in more detail what needs to be done to form the appendix. What conditions are needed for its cultivation. What difficulties may arise in the process of growing a new flower.

Is it necessary to artificially stimulate?

Orchid babies usually appear on their own. But sometimes even a healthy plant for a long time does not give them. In such cases, artificial stimulation is required. To stimulate the growth of the baby, a cytokinin paste, which contains phytohormones, is often used. How to make an orchid give a baby? The procedure should be as follows:

You must select the upper and lower sleeping buds on the peduncle and carefully open them by removing the scales with tweezers (toothpick).
Use a cotton swab to apply a small amount of paste on the kidney. Do not apply the paste to more than 3 buds of one plant.
Put a pot of orchids in a warm, bright place.
To avoid drying of the paste, the treated areas should be sprayed regularly.

Before the onset of shoots, it is necessary to feed the plant once a week with nitrogen fertilizer. This is best done with ammonia (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water). The resulting solution is sprayed with peduncles and leaves. You can use special nitrogen fertilizers, for example, Uniflor-growth.

A prerequisite for the use of paste is to ensure high temperature (+27 - 30 degrees). At a lower temperature, the probability of the formation of not a baby, but a peduncle is high. That is why the best time to stimulate is summer. Usually, babies appear within 2 to 3 weeks after it.

Important! It is recommended to stimulate the growth of a baby only on a healthy plant, which is 3 years old or more.

What to look for during this period?

The appearance of children is a very important event for the plant (to find out where children most often appear in orchids, click here). And although it does not have negative consequences, during this period it is worth providing enhanced care. Young shoots, until they are separated from the mother flower, "live at its expense." So that the mother orchid is not depleted, at this time, the intensity of irrigation and the frequency of fertilizing with fertilizers are increased.

In detail about the rules for the care of orchids and children, we talked in a separate article.

The necessary conditions

The optimal conditions that must be provided to the plant for the appearance of children:

high humidity;
air temperature in the region of +27 - 30 degrees;
good lighting;
regular watering.

Step-by-step instructions on how to make a flower sprout

Do I need to cut the peduncle first?

The first thing after flowering is to shorten the peduncle. It needs to be cut to the upper sleeping kidney, a couple of centimeters above it.

Watering

Proper watering of an orchid is to monitor the moisture of the substrate and water it as needed. In winter and autumn, it is enough to water once a week. In summer and spring, the frequency of watering increases to 2 to 3 times a week.

It is recommended to water the orchid with settled water at room temperature. You can pre-pass it through a household filter.

In the hot season, you can arrange a warm shower for the orchid. To do this, a pot with a plant is installed in the bathroom, and then poured with warm water from the shower for 5-7 minutes. This procedure favorably affects the flower and can contribute to the appearance of children.

Fertilizer

The best fertilizers for orchids are soluble mineral fertilizers. All vitamins and minerals are optimally balanced in them.

Important! It is necessary to apply the recommended dose, since an excess of fertilizers is dangerous.

After blooming most of the flowers, you need to feed the orchid 1 time per week. After it fades, fertilizer can be applied within a week, and over the next 14 days, do not disturb the plant.

What else is needed?

For the appearance of children, orchids play an important role:

Temperature. The optimum temperature for the orchid is + 27 - 30 degrees. However, sometimes sharp diurnal differences are favorable for the appearance of children. For example, at night +15 degrees, and during the day +30 degrees.
Humidity. To stimulate the appearance of young shoots, it is useful to arrange a "drought" - do not water the flower for 1.5 to 2 weeks. The humidity should be high. At this time, the flower pot should be kept in a well-lit place, but not in direct sunlight. The temperature of water for irrigation should be a couple of degrees higher than air temperature. Such conditions have a beneficial effect on sleeping kidneys and provoke them to awakening.
Pot. The pot must be "right", i.e. optimal size and with drainage system.

When to wait for the result?

The result directly depends on many factors:

ambient temperature
proper care;
individual characteristics of the plant.

But usually with proper care and the necessary stimulating measures, the children appear after 3 to 4 weeks.

How to take a young shoot?

It is necessary to separate the baby from the mother plant when her root gets stronger and 4-5 leaves will appear. Usually this happens no earlier than 6 months after its appearance. Let's consider how to take a shoot.
This is done as follows:

A young process is carefully cut off with scissors or secateurs disinfected in alcohol. Cut it off along with part of the peduncle (about 1 cm).
The cut points should be sprinkled with crushed activated carbon.
Transplant the baby into a separate rooting container.

Watch the video on how to separate the “baby” from the orchid:

Possible problems and solutions

Consider the most common problems in raising children and ways to solve them:

A long absence of children. If a completely healthy plant does not have children for a long time, you should review the surrounding conditions and ensure proper care.
The young shoot does not release roots for a long time. It often happens that the shoot formed on the peduncle for a long time does not give them. In such cases, the roots grow in special ways.
Children appear on a sick orchid. With such a problem, the first thing to do is cut off the peduncle and put into activated carbon water. After the flower stalks wither, young plants are transplanted onto moss.

Reference. Some experienced flower growers do not recommend growing roots using special methods, but they advise you to wait for their natural appearance.

Home Care

When the baby is on the mother plant and exists at its expense, she does not need special care. It is only necessary to carry out proper care for the orchid-mother. And after separation, the first thing it needs to be rooted. The baby takes root in a separate transparent container, on the bottom of which drainage and crushed pine bark are poured. A greenhouse is created, which is aired daily.

After rooting, it is necessary to transplant the process into a pot. Drainage (for example, pebbles) is placed at its bottom, on top of which pine bark is poured and a baby is laid. Then it is covered with a mixture of coal, moss, bark and peat. You can not water a young plant immediately after planting, but only after 2-3 days.

So, you have learned how to grow a baby. Further care for her is no different from caring for an adult orchid. Subject to all the rules and recommendations, after 3 or 4 years from a young sprout, you can grow a chic orchid that will delight with its beautiful flowering.