Kinds of Orchids For Beginners to Grow

One of the most common questions that a person who is interested in growing orchids at home asks is what are the kinds of orchids that I can grow? It can be an intimidating task for a person new to cultivating these flowers to actually pick a plant from out of the many kinds of orchids available. The care required is great for some species and practically any thing will make another one bloom. So to narrow it down to a few choices that you can pick your first orchid plant from, read on.

Novices need special kinds of orchids that are easy to handle. One is the Oncidium intergenerics. The flowers of this species are generally fragrant and you can see the fruits of your efforts in two rounds of blooming in the year. An orchid of this species is called Comnara Wildcat and is one of the kinds of orchids that looks after itself. Plus, it is highly adaptable and beautiful. The flowers can last up to three months on this plant. Another orchid from this species is the Oncidium Sharry Baby, which has the distinction of smelling like chocolate. The flowers also pop up several times during the year and so are quite rewarding to the beginner.
The Cattleya Orchid group is easy to grow and equally rewarding among the different kinds of orchids. This type of orchids needs adequate amounts of light. Some kind of supplementary light system needs to be put up for these plants, any artificial plant light will do. The plants in this group are larger than the Oncidium species plus the blooms don't last quite as long either.

Phragmepediums are another lot that a beginner could experiment and learn from. These kinds of orchids need much brighter light than most other orchids. They are also a lot more sensitive to watering and fertilizing needs. In fact too much fertilizer can actually make its leaves turn brown. That is when you must let the fertilizer that has accumulated disperse before adding any more. In rare cases you might even have to wash and re-pot. Try to avoid this and use only as a last resort.

Two more kinds of orchids are the phalaenopsis and the paphiopedilum hybrids. They are the original and prototypical beginners orchids. They will bloom well under any windowsill conditions that they face. They don't need too much light and their lighting conditions are similar to those of African Violets. They are also highly adept at managing to flourish under any level of humidity. Both these kinds of orchids do not have pseudobulbs. You must also be careful with their watering. Don't underwater them or over water them. They store the nutrients they need and the moisture in their leaves and roots. Any nutrient problems will thus show up very quickly. So you need to be on the alert for them as sometimes they show up far too fast for you to be able to reverse the situation.

The adaptability of the orchid plant is a lesson in tenaciousness that one could learn from. These cultivated orchids are naturally not the same as the wild orchids found in nature. They are stunted in most cases to allow for easy handling and transporting. That is the main reason that a lot of people are able to grow these kinds of orchids at home.

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