I've fallen, and I can't get up!

March 12, 2012 1:56 PM

My orchid likes to grow sideways...

When the flower shoot starts growing, I always wait to long to train it to go up - with the result being a flower stem so long and heavy it tends to break under it's own weight.

Can anyone recommend some sort of support system to support the flower stem a good 12 inches to the side of the pot? Right now I'm using a stack of books and a small vase to rest the flower stem on, but I'm trying to find some sort of support 'stand'?

Any other options?

posted by matty to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

It's probably growing toward the light. You can also try to rotate it so it doesn't continue growing the same direction. Why can't you still train it? Put a bamboo pole in the pot and tie the stem to it. Don't yank it all at once but you can slowly draw it toward it.
posted by no bueno at 1:59 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yep, we rotate our orchid so it grows in a spiral above the leaves. While the stem is shooting I turn it about every week or ten days.

We also keep it in an arrangement with several other plants. They're in separate pots, but are placed so close together that they all sort of support each other. One of the aloe vera keeps an end of the orchid stem up.
posted by carsonb at 2:34 PM on March 12, 2012

My buddy is an orchid fiend. I have a few of the easy ones (phalaenopsis) in my windowsill. For these, whenever I get a 6-8 inch spike, I use those teeny-weeny hair clips that my orchid fiend friend gave me. These clip around the stem of the spike and a another stick that pokes up out of the planting medium (bark, for me), essentially, a stake.
American Orchid Society website has a lot of info for growing them.
Enjoy!
posted by bebrave! at 9:00 PM on March 12, 2012

These should do the trick. Just clip them to a bamboo stick or a plant stake like this and it should work great.
posted by chatelaine at 3:55 PM on March 15, 2012