{"id":1103,"date":"2013-08-11T22:05:36","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T06:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2013-09-20T21:48:05","modified_gmt":"2013-09-21T05:48:05","slug":"shrinking-orchids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/11\/shrinking-orchids\/","title":{"rendered":"Shrinking Orchids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are your orchids shrinking instead of growing?\u00a0Changing your orchid care can help your plants grow larger. Healthy plants expand over the years. Added leaves can translate into added flowers. While bigger isn&#8217;t always better, it&#8217;s often an indication of vigorous plants.<\/p>\n<p>Address any of these potential problems which can cause orchids to shrink:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Low <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/light.html\">light<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; Many varieties can survive for a long time in low light without blooms or new growth. They may shrink slowly enough to avoid notice, but eventually they die back. Healthy orchid leaves should be a light or medium green color; dark green leaves can mean inadequate light levels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Low light in winter<\/strong> &#8211; If your plant grows during spring and summer, but shrinks during winter, add <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/22\/seasonal-light\/\">supplemental light<\/a>. In autumn, move plants gradually into brighter positions, or add fluorescent lights. In spring, move plants back into normal light.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/water.html\">Watering<\/a> problems<\/strong> &#8211; The wrong amount of water can cause orchids to shrink. Whether it&#8217;s too little or too much water, roots become damaged, inhibiting growth. Never let orchid roots sit in water or stay saturated, or they may rot.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Low <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/humidity.html\">humidity<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; Orchids don&#8217;t like dry air. Raise humidity levels by grouping plants together, using a spray mister, or keeping pots on trays of pebbles and water, with the pots always kept above the water level.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Old <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/potting.html\">potting material<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; Decomposing, stale potting material damages new roots, and stunts plant growth. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/14\/repotting\/\">Check these tips to see if your orchid needs repotting.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/problems\/index.html\"><strong>Pests or disease<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; Insects and infections can kill all or part of a plant. Try <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/15\/beneficial-insects\/\">beneficial insects<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/27\/creepy-carnivorous-plants\/\">carnivorous plants<\/a>. Use non-toxic pesticides when necessary, like Neem Oil, BT, pyrethrins, or rubbing alcohol\/surgical spirits. Address underlying concerns which encourage pests and disease, like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/humidity.html\">low humidity or poor air movement<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Not enough <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/fertilizer.html\">fertilizer<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; Orchids don&#8217;t need much fertilizer, but nutrient deficiencies will inhibit growth. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/17\/weakly-weekly\/\">Fertilizing orchids weakly, weekly<\/a> works best.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are your orchids shrinking instead of growing?\u00a0Changing your orchid care can help your plants grow larger. Healthy plants expand over the years. Added leaves can translate into added flowers. While bigger isn&#8217;t always better, it&#8217;s often an indication of vigorous plants. Address any of these potential problems which can cause orchids to shrink: Low light [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fertilizing","category-growing","category-problems","category-watering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103"}],"version-history":[{"count":54,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16846,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions\/16846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}