{"id":13118,"date":"2012-10-04T06:30:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T14:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=13118"},"modified":"2013-03-31T15:49:43","modified_gmt":"2013-03-31T23:49:43","slug":"autumn-orchid-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/04\/autumn-orchid-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Autumn Orchid Care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Autumn colors include the vibrant hues of orchids. For many varieties, shorter days and cooler temps spur new growth and blooms. The change in season requires changes in orchid care, so check these autumn reminders:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bring outdoor orchids inside before <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/temperature.html\">temps<\/a> fall too much. Remove any leaf and flower debris, and check for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/problems\/index.html\">pests<\/a>. Closely inspect the undersides of leaves and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/potting.html\">potting media<\/a>. To prevent infestations, spray with insecticidal soap, pesticidal oil, or rubbing alcohol (surgical spirits) before bringing plants indoors.<\/li>\n<li>Many orchids, except for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/identify\/orchids\/phalaenopsis.html\">Phals<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/identify\/orchids\/paphiopedilum.html\">Lady Slippers<\/a>, are moving into <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/dormancy.html\">winter dormancy<\/a>. Start to reduce <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/water.html\">water<\/a> for those types with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/12\/pseudobulb\/\">pseudobulbs<\/a>. Begin to cut back on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/fertilizer.html\">fertilizer<\/a>, too.<\/li>\n<li>Home and office heaters dry the air, which encourages pests like scale, mealybugs, and spider mites. Pay extra attention to maintaining <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/care\/details\/humidity.html\">high humidity and good air flow<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Unless you live in the tropics, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/22\/seasonal-light\/\">increase light levels to compensate for the weakening sun and shorter days<\/a>. Move plants into brighter light gradually over 2 weeks. Even shade-lovers like Phals and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/identify\/orchids\/masdevallia.html\">Masdevallias<\/a> can tolerate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/29\/let-the-sunshine-in\/\">some direct sun <\/a>in fall and winter.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t worry if lower leaves yellow or die. Deciduous <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/identify\/orchids\/dendrobium.html\">Dendrobiums<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/27\/chinese-ground-orchid\/\">Bletillas<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/20\/feed-me-seymour\/\"> Cycnoches<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/25\/thunia\/\">Thunias<\/a> will lose all their leaves by winter. Continue to give them bright light and good humidity, and new leaves will emerge in spring.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/27\/fall-phalaenopsis-facts\/\">To help Phals into bloom, give them slightly cooler temps.<\/a> For 3 &#8211; 4 weeks, keep them below 80\u00b0F (27\u00b0C) during daytime, and at night, let them drop to 60\u00b0F (16\u00b0C.) Then return them to their normal 65\u00b0F (18\u00b0C) minimum. Healthy plants will start to grow a new flower spike within a month. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/identify\/orchids\/cymbidium.html\">Cymbidiums<\/a> also want cooler nights to flower. Many won\u2019t bloom if they\u2019re kept too warm in autumn.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Autumn colors include the vibrant hues of orchids. For many varieties, shorter days and cooler temps spur new growth and blooms. The change in season requires changes in orchid care, so check these autumn reminders: Bring outdoor orchids inside before temps fall too much. Remove any leaf and flower debris, and check for pests. Closely [&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":[9,5,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dormancy","category-fertilizing","category-growing","category-watering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13118","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=13118"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14864,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13118\/revisions\/14864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}