Pruning Orchids
Beginner's Guide To Pruning Orchids
Pruning orchids is a task that must be done as part of the basic care of your orchid plant. While pruning can be a bit intimidating to a novice gardener, if it is done correctly it will not cause any harm to the plant. In fact, pruning is an important part of keeping your plant healthy. It is an opportunity to remove dead and diseased parts of the plant, to shape the plant and control its size, and, ultimately, to encourage healthy flower development. While it may seem contradictory that cutting away part of a plant will make it healthier, pruning away unnecessary areas will allow the plant to focus its nutrients and energy on maintaining its health and producing new growth.
Before you begin the process of pruning your orchids, make sure you have the proper tools. While you don't need many tools for pruning orchids, the ones you do need should be sterile and of a good quality. Wash your hands before you prune, or wear a pair of sterile gloves. You will want to use a pair of scissors or pruning shears with sharp, sterile blades. You can sterilize the blades by washing them in a solution of diluted bleach. Just like a surgeon performing an operation, it is important that you use sterile equipment to keep your orchid plant healthy.
Pruning orchids in the fall is always a good choice, but it can also be done periodically throughout the year. The only reason you may not want to prune a green orchid plant is that you may lose some flower stalks that were going to bloom. If that risk doesn't bother you, feel free to prune your green orchids to maintain the proper shape. If you prune just the top of the bloom stalk, to about 1/4 of an inch from a node, you may retain enough of the stalk for the orchid to bloom again. In some instances, the nodes on the orchid stem will produce new shoots or even baby plants that can be transplanted. There is no guarantee this will occur, so you may just wish to prune the entire flower stem or spike. To do this, wait until the flower stalk has turned a brown or yellow color at the end of the blooming season. At this point, you can be sure that the plant is not going to bloom again that year. To prune, cut the flower spike about an inch from its base, near the plant's leaves.
These are basic guidelines for pruning orchids, but there are some varieties of orchid that should be pruned differently. The bloom spike of the Phalaenopsis orchid should be cut to its base as soon as it has finished blooming. Dendrobium orchids should not be cut back all the way, or they will not bloom again. However, both Dendrobium and Cymbidium orchids should have their roots pruned in the fall. Pruning of the roots should be done with a sharp, sterile razor blade or scissors. This only needs to be done if the roots are dead and a brown color instead of gray. Prune a little at a time, and stop if you discover you are cutting into live root.
In general, if you want to maintain a healthy, blooming plant, you cannot skip the task of pruning; orchids are certainly no exception to this rule. Luckily, pruning orchids is a relatively uncomplicated procedure. Once you know what type of orchid you have, all you need to keep your plant perfectly pruned is a sharp pair of pruning shears and a pair of gloves.