Growing orchids without the fear

In the houseplant world, orchids have gotten a bad rap.

Many people shy away from growing them, figuring they're too exotic, too demanding, too expensive.

Orchid lovers Cynthia Druckenbrod and Mary Bell have a message for those horticultural scaredy cats: Get over it.

Growing orchids successfully is a matter of finding the right plant for your conditions, said Bell, who grows about 500 orchids in the greenhouse attached to her home in Coventry Township, Ohio. Not all orchids are easy to grow, but there are plenty of choices that are, she said.

And many of those orchids have become so affordable that you don't have to make a long-term commitment, she said. If you don't want to spend the time and effort coaxing one to rebloom, just replace it.

Even with hundreds of plants to care for, Bell said she tends to her orchids only once or twice a week. She adds fungicide and a weak dose of fertilizer whenever she waters, treats for insects when she needs to and repots every couple of years, or sometimes sooner. But otherwise her orchids are fairly fuss-free.

Bell, who started with five orchids in the late 1970s and has been growing them in earnest for about 15 years, said she used to think of them as delicate. Then she visited Brazil and saw how some of the exotic types grow in nature, often in what seemed to be inhospitable conditions.

Bell's orchids grow in a variety of conditions that mimic their natural preferences — some in hanging baskets high in the greenhouse, some under grow lights, still others clinging to pieces of tree bark, without even any growing medium. They stay in the greenhouse in winter and go outdoors in warmer weather to a lath house in her back yard.

Orchids grow naturally in most parts of the world, including Minnesota. But the fetching types most people prize are natives of warmer climates and need to stay indoors in the North in winter, Bell said.

Her favorite orchids are showy vandas and cattleyas, but a better choice for beginners is the moth orchid, said Druckenbrod, an orchid enthusiast and the director of horticulture and conservation at Cleveland Botanical Garden.

Moth orchids, properly called phalaenopsis orchids, are easy to grow indoors and bloom for a long time. They thrive outside in warmer weather, provided they're protected from the rain. If water gets to a moth orchid's crown, the plant can rot, Bell said.

Moth orchids are also accessible, Druckenbrod noted.

And best of all, they're beautiful. Their long flower spikes and flat, elliptical flowers give them a graceful, glamorous appearance that belies their low-fuss nature.

Put a moth orchid in indirect light and never in direct sun, Druckenbrod advised. The orchids like humidity, so let them spend some time in a bathroom now and then. (Got a bathroom window that gets indirect light? You have the perfect spot for a moth orchid.)

Go easy on watering, Druckenbrod advised. Moth orchids are epiphytes, she said, which means they grow in nature on other plants and don't need or want a great deal of water.

She suggested following the advice of Green Circle Growers: Water simply by placing three ice cubes in the pot each week. While it hasn't been scientifically proved, Druckenbrod believes the ice provides a little shock of cold to the roots that helps the plants retain their flower spikes and triggers reblooming.

Moth orchids are easier to get to rebloom than other kinds of orchids, but sometimes they're stubborn. Druckenbrod recommended giving the plant about a year to rebloom; if it doesn't, you might want to buy a new plant.